Ultimate sub 2000cc endurance racer

[benjj]

Gents,

I have rather fallen in love with endurance racing.

Currently trying to gather thoughts for a build over winter for a competitive car.

Working on the assumption it'll be properly prepped for consistent 8 hour plus running can anyone give me some ideas?

Headline points:

Really looking for a minimum power/weight of 185bhp/t minimum, ideally 200+

Big enough to take massive fat 6'3'' drivers

Parts readily available

Is cool

The shortlist so far is:

Mk1 Mondeo touring car rep
Audi TT DTM rep
Alfa 155 BTCC rep

Can you hit me with some interesting options?

Petrol only, ideally n/a but blown 2000cc acceptable.

[GravelBen]

I'm sure you could do something good with an MR2 or Mk3 MX5, or a GT86 if funds allow.

[fieldl]

Honda Civic FD2 thats what I'd be using

[andy97]

Got to be a Civic Type R, the EP3.

I helped a team out in Britcar for a while with one, and we came Top 8 overall and Class winners by a country mile 3 years running in the Brutcar 24 hour race. The car was reliable, handled well, very economical (saving pit stops) and quick.

Spare parts and upgrades are also easily available. No contest.

Edited by andy97 on Thursday 13th November 06:33

[n3il123]

A consideration must also be what events you want to enter? I'm not sure how many endures there are each year, however I know that quite a few are tailored to specific types of cars e.g. the lotus 1000km or the historic ones.

[benjj]

Interesting, thanks gents.

Hadn't considered the Civic, will have a look into that.

[drakart]

benjj said:

Interesting, thanks gents.

Hadn't considered the Civic, will have a look into that.

The sister car to the one mentioned above is currently for sale in the PH classifieds...

[benjj]

Hmm, cheers, will have a peek.

[TheArchitect]

If its been completely stripped etc then a clio 1*2 could be good enough as you can move the steering wheel and seat position to suit if your stripping it fully.

Otherwise id look at BMW 320s or MX5s as theres plenty of room under the bonnet to modify them.

[benjj]

The team boss man seems rather set on prepping this car. TT Quattro Sport. 240bhp, 1 of 800 specials made.

Guess a lot of weight would need to come out of it but then has some potential.





Add in a 120 litre enduro fuel cell, remove lots of weight, add awesome looking DTM plastic tat and, ta da...

[Kickstart]

Its worth looking at the VLN series at the Ring

[chevronb37]

Although based on last weekend's RoR efforts, I'd suggest any old diesel hatchback would be a decent bet.

PS - sorry I couldn't get down for RoR - got back from the US on Saturday morning and was jet lagged to fk! Will head down for the full weekend next year and do whatever I can from a journalistic perspective to raise interest in the event.

[davepoth]

benjj said:

The team boss man seems rather set on prepping this car. TT Quattro Sport. 240bhp, 1 of 800 specials made.

Guess a lot of weight would need to come out of it but then has some potential.





Add in a 120 litre enduro fuel cell, remove lots of weight, add awesome looking DTM plastic tat and, ta da...

Check the rules - as I'm sure you know they usually don't like AWD and it gets penalised pretty heavily. If you can find a FWD TT it'll be a lot lighter to start with, and 200hp is not going to be impossible to manage through the front wheels.

Rover 75s and MG ZTs came with a 2.0v6 which sounds very nice - about 158bhp standard in the MG. Plenty of weight to strip out there too though, but you could probably pick up the base car for less than £500.

[Notshortnottall]

Have you looked at Sports 2000? Well worth considering in terms of bang-for-buck I'd say and they're properly designed from ground up race cars.

[staceyboy]

I've found my Mini Cooper S ex-challenge car really good over long runs. I'm not small (as you know) and there is plenty of room.

It's the earlier supercharged one rather than the turbo car.

You're welcome to have a go in it fella

[andy97]

Nothing to do with me, but there is a ex Daniels Motorsport Civic Type R Advertised on the Motorsport cars for sale bit of this site. Already prepped for a Britcar and < £10k.

I'd seriously think about that if it was me.

[andrewcliffe]

Never under estimate the challenge of building an endurance race car, so rather than building one from scratch, I'd be looking for something already prepared for endurance racing in mind rather than building an endurance car from scratch or a race car built for 15-20 minute races.

Andy97's suggestion of that Civic in particular is a good suggestion.

[IanUAE]

Clio Cup Car as they are designed to run for ever by the factory, as mentioned EP3 or BMW 120d (3 sets of tyres for and entire 24hr event!).

[Prancing Hippo]

Clio Cup cars are good, but I would actually suggest a Ginetta G40. It's light so good speed, but 2 litre Zetec engine lacks toque so you will have to carry speed through the corners. They are good on tyres though and very reliable. I raced both in 2 litre or below class and the Ginetta is the quicker car. Consider though if you prefer front wheel drive or rear wheel drive (I prefer rear so am a bit biased in my view).

[Prancing Hippo]

Just read the bit about the size of drivers... You will need to check if you can get a seat that works and allows you access etc. Height should be OK - just... I think...