If you want something to frighten people with at trackdays, but a Caterham seems a bit too obvious, how about this? The
Brooke Double R
is an interesting addition to the road-legal track car market that bears a passing resemblance to a sixties Grand Prix car, albeit one that's been fattened to accommodate two people sitting side by side.
And with only 19 examples built it's also a bit more exclusive than your average Caterfield.
If you're wondering, the Double R name stands for Road Racing, and it's a pretty thoroughly engineered piece of kit, with adjustable double wishbone suspension, longitudinally mounted engine for optimum weight distribution and seating tub bonded into the laser-cut spaceframe chassis for extra stiffness.
Power comes from a 2.3-litre Duratec unit breathed on by Cosworth. The Double R's powerplants were put together by the same technicians as Cosworth's F1 engines, with power output varying from 200hp to a frankly scary 400hp-plus in the later supercharged models. In a car weighing a smidge over 500kg it's enough to propel it from rest to 60mph in a McLaren F1-bothering 3.33 seconds and on to 100mph in 7.68 seconds. Top speed is on the faar side of 150mph - without a windscreen...
This one's packed with over £7,000-worth of track-spec goodies, including a limited-slip diff, close-ratio 'box and uprated brakes.
But if that's a bit retro for you, and you fancy a bona-fide modern track warrior, how about this Hayabusa-powered Radical for a similar price? Or, for something a little more road-oriented (and with a windscreen) there's always a Caterham R300.
Alternatively you could spend £9000 on this Formula Ford and spend the change racing it...
Brooke Double R
Price: £23,000
Why you should: Super-quick acceleration, attention to detail, rarity
Why you shouldn't: Not exactly practical