Which track car next?

[e46m3c]

Suggestions for a new track car please.

Been running an E36 m3 evo, fully stripped, custom gaz, buckets, cage etc for the past year. Its great car, but perhaps time for a different experiance.
Previously ran gc8 sti impreza
e36 m3 evo full weight
e46 m3 full weight

What would people suggest?
my ideas:
e46 m3 full weight but supercharged 550bhp
bike engined caterham
vx200 with engine swap to about 240 bhp
radical type: http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
GT type 911 or s2000

Currently drive the e36 to the track. if i get something which needs trailering. will it be that much more fun?

lets say budget 12k ish (note i already own the charged e46 so that 12k could get spend on a beater)

[iguana]

I'd go-

-non bike engined Caterham, your budget won't go far for a Caterham tho, need to up it for somat spikey, R400 ish, you can try westie etc more bang for buck, to me tho not in the same league handling & feel wise.

- Honda'd Elise.

[PTF]

e46m3c said:

Suggestions for a new track car please.

Been running an E36 m3 evo, fully stripped, custom gaz, buckets, cage etc for the past year. Its great car, but perhaps time for a different experiance.
Previously ran gc8 sti impreza
e36 m3 evo full weight
e46 m3 full weight

What would people suggest?
my ideas:
e46 m3 full weight but supercharged 550bhp
bike engined caterham
vx200 with engine swap to about 240 bhp
radical type: http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
GT type 911 or s2000

Currently drive the e36 to the track. if i get something which needs trailering. will it be that much more fun?

lets say budget 12k ish (note i already own the charged e46 so that 12k could get spend on a beater)

caterham gets my vote too. i was at cadwell in mine yesterday and it was pretty much the fastest thing there apart from on the straights. 1.6 k series with about 120 bhp.

i'd suggest buying an ex-race car as it will already come with options that you'd want on a track car - brake bias valve, race springs with adjustable ride height/corner weighting, tillet seats, etc.

keep an eye out in the classifieds. there are cars within your budget out there.

or check out race club websites like this: http://www.graduates.org.uk/forsale.asp

there's one on there for just under £10k with straight cut gears, widetrack suspension, etc. you could then spend the remain cash on a bit of cosmetic tidying or tweaking it to your needs.

[furtive]

e46m3c said:

vx200 with engine swap to about 240 bhp

Why would you do an engine swap when you can get that power (and much more) easily from a Turbo or Supercharged car?

[Robert Elise]

e46m3c said:

Suggestions for a new track car please.

Been running an E36 m3 evo, fully stripped, custom gaz, buckets, cage etc for the past year. Its great car, but perhaps time for a different experiance.
Previously ran gc8 sti impreza
e36 m3 evo full weight
e46 m3 full weight

What would people suggest?
my ideas:
e46 m3 full weight but supercharged 550bhp
bike engined caterham
vx200 with engine swap to about 240 bhp
radical type: http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
GT type 911 or s2000

Currently drive the e36 to the track. if i get something which needs trailering. will it be that much more fun?

lets say budget 12k ish (note i already own the charged e46 so that 12k could get spend on a beater)

i really don't think a full weight e46 would be fun at all, 550 or not.
your e36 sounds great, difficult to move on from that. only way is lighter, more agile, more fun. Caterham, lotus, radical.
cliche i know, but don't underestimate MX5s if your ego can take it! supercharged NA would be very capable and huge fun.

[Samjeev]

furtive said:

e46m3c said:

vx200 with engine swap to about 240 bhp

Why would you do an engine swap when you can get that power (and much more) easily from a Turbo or Supercharged car?

As above, a remapped turbo will make 220ish and a Supercharged NA or Stage 2 tuned turbo will make 250 easily

[e46m3c]

Sounds good.

Anyone gone e36 to caterham or elise and can comment on the change?

One thing that worries me about getting a caterham is i like doing winter trackdays in the M3. Do you guys just stick to summer or is it not that bad in winder?

vx220 could add some weather proofing to tolerate winter abuse but offer similar thrill to caterham?

[PTF]

e46m3c said:

Sounds good.

Anyone gone e36 to caterham or elise and can comment on the change?

One thing that worries me about getting a caterham is i like doing winter trackdays in the M3. Do you guys just stick to summer or is it not that bad in winder?

vx220 could add some weather proofing to tolerate winter abuse but offer similar thrill to caterham?

Guess it depends whether you'd drive it to/from the circuit.

I trailer mine, so beyond it getting wet, there's no problem with doing winter trackdays. There's nothing inside that won't tolerate rain, only that the tillet seats act as a bowl for water.

No heater in an ex-race car, but one could be fitted. The heat from the engine and through the transmission tunnel, plus the effort in driving the thing quickly keeps you warm.

If you want to drive a car to/from the circuit then i'd look elsewhere (elise/vx/etc) or just stick to summer, though i'm sure plenty of others would laugh at that.

I prefer having my towcar available to store stuff in, carry spare wheels, tools, etc.

In terms of the difference between an E36 and Caterham, i've not driven a track prepped BMW, but i would expect the differences to be that the Caterham will be more involving, more exploitable, and possibly more fun? Running costs should be lower too as consumables last longer and are cheaper. Resale will be easier too i would expect as even a standard caterham is pretty well track prepped, so you'd be selling a fairly standard caterham rather than something that's been specifically tuned for track work.

Edited by PTF on Monday 5th October 15:40

[furtive]

Hard top on the VX220 for winter use. Plenty of people who use them as daily drivers all year round

[iguana]

e46m3c said:

Sounds good.

Anyone gone e36 to caterham or elise and can comment on the change?

Yes, enjoyed it & still like the odd Caterham play- like when I met you at Donny when we had the renta, but owning wise I had it a bit & went back to e36s! plus sc mx5s, always have a weakness for them.

Is a tough one to explain, my Cat was 515kg wet & 180bhp vs a 1200kg 280bhp track e36 so are very different cars, is nowt much out there with the purity & feel of a decent spec Cat (maybe a LCC Rocket) you have to give one a go, I will have another, but you do have to invest a good few £ to get a decent grunty cat & I just can't justify that again for a while.

[braddo]

There is a S1 Elise with a 190hp Duratec conversion in the classifieds (should be around 240hp/ton with driver), which you might be able to get with a small stretch of budget.

I think the 2.0 Duratec is standard other than throttle bodies, so scope for more power (or a 2.3) down the line.

[Dakkon]

furtive said:

Hard top on the VX220 for winter use. Plenty of people who use them as daily drivers all year round

My VX220 Turbo is a daily which I do a few trackdays a year in. I run a seperate set of rims with some semi-slicks on for the trackdays and I have fitted better pads and fluid to avoid brake fade. Just in the process of fitting an ABS cut off switch to stop that messing about on track.

Plus the usual toe-link upgrade to stop them snapping under hard cornering with semi-slicks.

They are great cars and give you that little bit more protection than a Caterham, that said, Caterhams overtake me all the time on track, so depends what you really want in a track car?

For me the biggest weakness is me, I need to become a much better driver to appreciate taking faster cars round a race track.

Edited by Dakkon on Tuesday 6th October 13:36

[HustleRussell]

e46m3c said:

One thing that worries me about getting a caterham is i like doing winter trackdays in the M3. Do you guys just stick to summer or is it not that bad in winder?

vx220 could add some weather proofing to tolerate winter abuse but offer similar thrill to caterham?

One of the thrilling things about a Caterham is that without a screen or doors it is about as close as you can get to driving a single seater formula car on a common and affordable closed-wheel trackday. The windscreen is just another insulating barrier between you and the next braking zone / corner- doing away with it does away with doors, wipers, screen washer etc etc- superfluous guff which detracts from the driving experience.

The exposure and the visabiity this affords make the whole experience feel a level up from a Caterham with a screen, which is a level up from a tintop.

Fit an aeroscreen and team it with half doors, a half tonneau and a cage. When it gets cold, man up.

If it's going to be a trailered trackday car, the relative comfort of the VX220 is a waste of weight.