Best 1ST Track car for novice???
Discussion
Hi...I have never been on a track but love cars...what is the best car for say £2000 or less that will allow me to learn how to race properly..I am thinking light and agile rather than allout power?...I do have a MK4 Supra n/a auto that I was thinking of stripping out...is that a good idea...or are there better machines to learn from?...I am an average driver at best...I would like to be excellent...
Whatever you have.
Most folks on track aren't even close to getting the most out of what they have - or to put it another way, the instructor could probably drive your car a lot faster than you. Once you start to sort *that* bit out, then worry about the car - just my 2p!
Alternatively, get something light so it doesn't eat tyres, brakes and fuel.
Most folks on track aren't even close to getting the most out of what they have - or to put it another way, the instructor could probably drive your car a lot faster than you. Once you start to sort *that* bit out, then worry about the car - just my 2p!
Alternatively, get something light so it doesn't eat tyres, brakes and fuel.
Book a track day. before the start there is an hour of standing around waiting for something to happen. Try and seek out the experienced drivers and shamelessly blag rides with them and ask them to show you the lines and the driving style, turn in points, apexes etc. You will drive a lot better if you do and will enjoy it more.
Try an airfield event first time out - if you are trying at all, you WILL spin, so better to spin where there is nothing to hit. Don't worry about the thought of spinning with other cars around - there's far more space on track than you think, and good driving courtesy and overtaking rules will help you.
Avoid narrow tracks with the armco/tyre walls close to the track until you are very sure of your car and driving ability.
And I agree with the MX5 starter car - there are some reasonable ones around for £1000-£1500. Better not to trash the wife/girlfriend's pride and joy, just because someone said try a Clio.
Avoid automatics at all cost.....you need to change down for corners to set the car up correctly.
By the way, it's not about setting lap records - the fun is in driving the corners smoothly and enjoying yourself. You won't be the fastest thing out there, you will be the slowest, but it doesn't matter. Nobody is judging you. One of the best fun blagged rides I had last year was in a Vauxhall Nova with 63bhp. Driver was a pro test driver, and he went down the straights at 70-80 mph with everything streaming past him, and simply didn't slow down for corners, preferring to throw the car at the corners and deal with whatever happened. It was a total hoot.
Try an airfield event first time out - if you are trying at all, you WILL spin, so better to spin where there is nothing to hit. Don't worry about the thought of spinning with other cars around - there's far more space on track than you think, and good driving courtesy and overtaking rules will help you.
Avoid narrow tracks with the armco/tyre walls close to the track until you are very sure of your car and driving ability.
And I agree with the MX5 starter car - there are some reasonable ones around for £1000-£1500. Better not to trash the wife/girlfriend's pride and joy, just because someone said try a Clio.
Avoid automatics at all cost.....you need to change down for corners to set the car up correctly.
By the way, it's not about setting lap records - the fun is in driving the corners smoothly and enjoying yourself. You won't be the fastest thing out there, you will be the slowest, but it doesn't matter. Nobody is judging you. One of the best fun blagged rides I had last year was in a Vauxhall Nova with 63bhp. Driver was a pro test driver, and he went down the straights at 70-80 mph with everything streaming past him, and simply didn't slow down for corners, preferring to throw the car at the corners and deal with whatever happened. It was a total hoot.
Edited by QBee on Monday 25th February 16:41
Yes, more or less as said. Get something light with good handling as standard. We have an MX5 and a Clio 172 amongst other things.
Spend a little money if you can on prepping it to make it track suitable like decent track pads/fluid so you do not lose your brakes as you may use them too much at first, get the geometry set up, harnesses will help hold you in so you can concentrate on steering rather than holding yourself in the seat and a set of decent track tyres.
You will then just get better with seat time. Initial instuction will be worth it's weight in gold.
Hope that helps
Eddy
Spend a little money if you can on prepping it to make it track suitable like decent track pads/fluid so you do not lose your brakes as you may use them too much at first, get the geometry set up, harnesses will help hold you in so you can concentrate on steering rather than holding yourself in the seat and a set of decent track tyres.
You will then just get better with seat time. Initial instuction will be worth it's weight in gold.
Hope that helps
Eddy
Edited by fast eddys on Tuesday 26th February 12:59
E36 325/328...I had one for abouyt a year living in Deutschland and its only purpose was to drive the Nurburgring! I did something like 200 ish laps inc doing the VLN/24hrs ciruit with it.
The only consumables were tyres/oil change/petrol and general battle damage bouncing off the kerbs!
You can pick a tidy BMW E36 for less than a grand and treat it good it'll be a trooper all day long!
The only consumables were tyres/oil change/petrol and general battle damage bouncing off the kerbs!
You can pick a tidy BMW E36 for less than a grand and treat it good it'll be a trooper all day long!
TWINTURBODAVE said:
Hi...I have never been on a track but love cars...what is the best car for say £2000 or less that will allow me to learn how to race properly..I am thinking light and agile rather than allout power?...I do have a MK4 Supra n/a auto that I was thinking of stripping out...is that a good idea...or are there better machines to learn from?...I am an average driver at best...I would like to be excellent...
I wouldn't bother with an Auto for trackdays. You'd be better off getting something manual. Older BMW 3ers seem popular due to them being common, decent power, rear drive and parts not being too hard to come by. Something like a 328i seems popular.A front wheel drive hatchback, Clio being a good choice, quick enough that you wont get bored of it too soon ( unlike an MX5 , which IMO are dog slow ). Why people suggest BMW,s when these questions come up I dont know, they are heavy, tail happy , not particularly fast, and very hard and heavy on consumables like brakes and tyres.
juansolo said:
Mx5 - The answer to everything.
Then when you're ready, chop it in for a Caterham.
Job done.
This.Then when you're ready, chop it in for a Caterham.
Job done.
You'll learn more in a light RWD car than you will in a FWD hot hatch. I did trackdays for years in my Fiesta and Megane before getting a Caterham - it made me realise how much the cars did for me, especially the Megane. It's such a competent car, you don't need to be very good to drive it fast, while the Caterham will only be as good as the person behind the wheel!
I have a stripped out E36 323 snotter - cost £400, but coilovers, new oem brakes and a new gearbox has pushed the overall expenditure up - but now the major bits are sorted it shouldn't cost much to maintain. Obviously factor in insurance costs into your budget if you are using the car on the road at all.
Plenty powerful enough for me to learn how to drive on track, is great fun, and has the nice straight six noise. As per the above comments, if I want to spend money to go any faster, it's best spent on driver instruction, but there are a few cheap mods I could do if I absolutely needed more power. TBH, I can't see myself upgrading any time soon unless it falls apart.
Plenty powerful enough for me to learn how to drive on track, is great fun, and has the nice straight six noise. As per the above comments, if I want to spend money to go any faster, it's best spent on driver instruction, but there are a few cheap mods I could do if I absolutely needed more power. TBH, I can't see myself upgrading any time soon unless it falls apart.
Anybody who thinks an MX5 is slow has obviously never sat in one while it's being driven by somebody who knows what they're doing. It pisses all over silly FWD hatches.
And before anyone says that's my opinion it's not, it's a fact, I've got past cars with double the power, many times, really easily (and don't say it's my driving I'd never pretend to be better than average!).
And before anyone says that's my opinion it's not, it's a fact, I've got past cars with double the power, many times, really easily (and don't say it's my driving I'd never pretend to be better than average!).
^^^not always the case.
i would much prefer to drive the mx5 than any fwd hot hatch but youd need a pretty special one to compete with the hot renault megane. they are quick cars, and although im not the best driver, im not much quicker in my rwd fury.infact im probably not quicker at all
i would much prefer to drive the mx5 than any fwd hot hatch but youd need a pretty special one to compete with the hot renault megane. they are quick cars, and although im not the best driver, im not much quicker in my rwd fury.infact im probably not quicker at all
I love rwd and have had an R500 and a 997 GT3, but in my 182, MX5s only serve as chicanes. Fun yes, but even well driven they aren't quick in standard form. Ultimately, I do track days to go quickly, so whilst an MX5 will teach you stuff, so will an hour in an empty car park with most rwd cars.
What I would say in answer to the original question is, you won't be a novice for very long (just a couple of days with some instruction or pax rides will upskill you very quickly), so don't go buying something that will leave you cold after a month or so and then need changing. Even after my much quicker cars, the Clio is still keeping me amused after 12 months.
What I would say in answer to the original question is, you won't be a novice for very long (just a couple of days with some instruction or pax rides will upskill you very quickly), so don't go buying something that will leave you cold after a month or so and then need changing. Even after my much quicker cars, the Clio is still keeping me amused after 12 months.
Evangelion said:
Anybody who thinks an MX5 is slow has obviously never sat in one while it's being driven by somebody who knows what they're doing. It pisses all over silly FWD hatches.
And before anyone says that's my opinion it's not, it's a fact, I've got past cars with double the power, many times, really easily (and don't say it's my driving I'd never pretend to be better than average!).
Either you've a really well sorted MX5 or you're a driving god. I've never had any trouble from an MX5 on track, whereas I've struggled go stay with a few Fiesta STs. In fact, the quickest thing I've seen go round Brands Indy is a Clio.And before anyone says that's my opinion it's not, it's a fact, I've got past cars with double the power, many times, really easily (and don't say it's my driving I'd never pretend to be better than average!).
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