Thursday 22nd September 2016

Track day hot hatches: YKYWT special

£32K for a Mini Challenge? Pah. Here's a selection of track ready hot hatches from £2K up...

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The track day special, even the hot hatch track day special, is not a new concept. Indeed, the idea of a car refined enough to handle the drive to a circuit but capable enough to relish the drive around it seems to be growing in popularity. There's now a Mini you can buy that uses the same tyres as on a 918 Spyder and is fitted with Nitron adjustable dampers. But it still has air-con and Bluetooth to keep you sane on the journey home.

But both the Mini Challenge and Golf GTI Clubsport S are more than £30,000. The Golf you can't in fact buy any more. Which got us thinking. What is there lurking in the PH classifieds that can do track fun while retaining road legal status?

Wouldn't be a hot hatch story without the French...

A caveat first off: while all of these cars are road legal, they're all going to be rather less plush than the newer equivalents. An obvious point perhaps, but these are certainly cars focused on the 'track' bit of roadgoing track car; they're legal for the road, if not wholly suitable for the road. But when you see the fun on offer for so little money it'll make the investment in a fleece and headphones seem worth it.

Your entertainment starts at less than £2K in fact, with this Rover 100. Yes, really, a Rover 100. Oh sure, you could have a Clio instead, but where's the fun in following the crowd? This car has 160hp and is sub-800kg so should be plenty quick enough - the ad claims 0-60mph in 5.8 seconds in fact. The journey may be hard work, but imagine the looks in the paddock when this is terrorising the obvious suspects on track. Just don't crash it...

The French are always good for hot hatches, making them the ideal base for circuit projects too. This 306 GTI-6 includes decent suspension and brake upgrades, both of which help offset the rather dubious wheel choice. With that second seat a passenger can enjoy the ride too!

... or two of them. Or three in fact!

For an older, faster and even more revered fast Peugeot, how about a Turbo Technics 205 GTI? Fairly scabby outside but seemingly A1 mechanically, it's the perfect riposte to those pristine show cars no longer used. Offers are being invited around the £6K mark...

Perhaps the most exciting French track tool on PH currently though is this supercharged Citroen. Because how could a 260hp Saxo not be? There's far too much uprated in the car to list here, but suffice it to say this looks like a fantastically fast and hugely exciting little Citroen. It's yours for £5,495, which looks tremendous value given the work that has gone into it and the apparent quality of the finished product.

Bringing us back to Mini, and this R53 generation Cooper S track car. It's more expensive than the others at £10K but of course far newer. Built originally for track attack championships but only used so far on track days, this Mini is making 230hp and also includes a Quaife LSD, BC coilovers, brake calipers from an R56 GP and nearly new Dunlop Direzza tyres. Finally, yes, it can have an MoT.

So you're really are spoilt for choice if track hatches are your thing. The hours and money have been put in by someone else, leaving you to enjoy the result. It's hardly like you have to worry about future residual values now, is it? Get out and have some fun in any of these five!

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ROVER 100 VVC
Price: £1,895
Why you should: Fast, light, cheap
Why you shouldn't: Old, fragile, Rover

PEUGEOT 306 GTI-6
Price: £3,500
Why you should: A hot hatch icon that should now be even better
Why you shouldn't: Seems a shame to meddle with something so rare

PEUGEOT 205 GTI
Price: £5,975
Why you should: A 205 GTI to drive fast and enjoy!
Why you shouldn't: Turbo lag

CITROEN SAXO VTS
Price: £5,495
Why you should: Clearly a lot of time, money and effort has gone into it
Why you shouldn't: Perhaps a bit much for a novice

MINI COOPER S
Price: £9,995
Why you should: Built to a good spec and barely used!
Why you shouldn't: Rear-wheel drive may be tempting at this price

[Dion20vt]

A track day prepped car can be had for less than 2k! I bought a MR2 Turbo for £1100! buckets, cage, harnesses, semi slicks, uprated brakes- albeit with no MOT. I soon realised how solid the car was and £60 later it was MOT'd!

There's a lad locally selling a Saxo VTR that's track prepped (minus a cage) with 3 months mot left for £425...

[james_gt3rs]

Missed out the Clio 172. I don't think I've been to a track day in the last few years that hasn't had a Clio or 2.

[MikeGoodwin]

Pick up a Clio 172 for £1000 and remove the interior. Spend some money on coilovers and a decent setup and be done with it. When you bin it, scrap it and buy a new one and add what parts you can on the new one.

[slikrs]

The Saxo will need a BE gearbox / shaft upgrade to be reliable and able to use the power on track rubber - that'll set you back a fair bit.

[chrislloyd81]

I quite like the Rover, but you could buy an MGF VVC for half the money with mid engine & RWD.

[FN2TypeR]

MikeGoodwin said:

Pick up a Clio 172 for £1000 and remove the interior. Spend some money on coilovers and a decent setup and be done with it. When you bin it, scrap it and buy a new one and add what parts you can on the new one.

Yep, this.

Clio 172 (maybe a 182 if I was feeling flush)
Decent suspension
Decent tyres

Hi hoooooo.

[Ex X Power]

chrislloyd81 said:

I quite like the Rover, but you could buy an MGF VVC for half the money with mid engine & RWD.

and go a hell of a lot slower, especially in the wet.... Although the drive to the track will be a hell of a lot nicer.... Metro will be easier to work on too when the inevitable happens

[CampDavid]

slikrs said:

The Saxo will need a BE gearbox / shaft upgrade to be reliable and able to use the power on track rubber - that'll set you back a fair bit.

Not sure it will, I think the ATB diff replaces some of the less reliable aspects of the MA box so it may well be fine

[Neil-b3l6l]

Majority of folk will take the Mini or Golf (if available) though as they can't afford the £1895 for the Rover 100.

[TurboHatchback]

I agree that a list of track ready hot hatches without any Clios in it is incomplete. All of them from the Williams right the way through to the 182 Trophy are brilliant and unbeatable value.

[slikrs]

CampDavid said:

Not sure it will, I think the ATB diff replaces some of the less reliable aspects of the MA box so it may well be fine

I've never owned one with this level of torque but I have seen many tales of woe from similar set-ups (ATB diffs included) which would leave me less than confident about opening her up to her full potential - the most recent one I recall involved a photo of stripped gears The higher ration VTR / 106 S2 XS final drive (I can't recall if there are any longer final drives out there) may provide more reliability and more high speed focused performance which could be better suited to the power delivery. The BE conversion seems to be better figured out than back in the days when I first got into 106 ownership and cup car box/shaft/hub was the way to go - I understand we now have berlingo's etc. with a suitable BE. Not something I need to do as I don't plan on exceeding the MA's meagre torque limits.

[havoc]

TurboHatchback said:

I agree that a list of track ready hot hatches without any Clios in it is incomplete. All of them from the Williams right the way through to the 182 Trophy are brilliant and unbeatable value.

Agree entirely - the article's list seems rather incomplete.

Also shocked not to see any older Hondas there - much as with the Clio, how often do you go to a trackday that doesn't have at least one CRX or Integra? (or EG/EK/EP Civic)

[Frimley111R]

That Rover has been one sale for about as year! Imagine frightening people with that!