Which 'track day' car would you get for £4-5K?

[Prancing Hippo]

I am thinking of getting a car that I can use on the road and also on track days, so I need to be able to drive to the track, have some fun / training and then drive home. I race a Clio Cup car, so my preference is a Clio, but wondering if I am missing something. Any other suggestions with a budget of £4,000 to £5,000? Also will use it as a runabout popping to the shops when I should walk etc. Thanks.

[V8mate]

Having built a most excellent E36 track car, I'd recommend an Integra Type R.

[LightningMat]

I would probably choose a Seven type car (If you can find a half-decent one for that money).

[mdm1uk]

I here the Megan 265 is good fun never driven one myself but for that money it should get you an early one.

[motor mad]

V8mate said:

Having built a most excellent E36 track car, I'd recommend an Integra Type R.

I'd agree with this.

[dapearson]

I took my DC2 integra on track at Donington and it was useless.

Brakes were better than my mate's GTI-6, but it kept falling just below the VTEC line on upshifts. Handling was alright, but not as fun as the GTI-6. LSD meant no skill required to modulate the throttle either. Didn't like it.

I'd imagine a civic would be better because of the 6 gears and cheaper to buy in the first place. Plus easier to find parts for.

If you want RWD there are the obvious candidates (mx-5, etc).

Keep an eye out for ex-race cars too. Quite a few are road legal and will come fully prepped.

If you don't need to use it as a road car and have space for a 2nd car and trailer then you can't beat something like a cheap caterham/westy. Live axle caterhams are available for £7k-£8k occasionally and are cheap to run (whole year of trackdays on one set of rubbish tyres, but big grins).

[AndrewO]

Wouldn't you find it boring going around the track in another front wheel drive ? no doubt slower than the clio cup.

Got to be a BMW 3series, possibly a leggy E46 M3

I don't understand the attraction of MX5s

[dapearson]

AndrewO said:

Wouldn't you find it boring going around the track in another front wheel drive ? no doubt slower than the clio cup.

Got to be a BMW 3series, possibly a leggy E46 M3

I don't understand the attraction of MX5s

I owned an MX-5 briefly in 2011 as a trackday car. It had adjustable suspension, but that was about it. Great fun on track. It could have done with more power, but it meant it had to be grabbed by the scruff of its neck.

For the money (it cost me £1700) it was excellent.

The worst thing would be to blow so much on buying/prepping and then running a trackday car that you might as well have taken up racing!

[JRBM5]

Cheap E46 M3.

Strip the car back to bare essentials and off you go.

I did the same with an E34 M5 and had a blast for a couple of years. E46 would be lighter and faster and cheaper to run than the E34.

[OlberJ]

motor mad said:

V8mate said:

Having built a most excellent E36 track car, I'd recommend an Integra Type R.

I'd agree with this.

What's the reasoning here? About to buy our own track car and E36 328 is leading the way.

Cost to maintain/upgrade? Not as good as they seem on track? Too heavy?

Needs to be RWD so teg is out of the question. Mx5 is no go as one of us is too tall to fit.

[V8mate]

OlberJ said:

motor mad said:

V8mate said:

Having built a most excellent E36 track car, I'd recommend an Integra Type R.

I'd agree with this.

What's the reasoning here? About to buy our own track car and E36 328 is leading the way.

Cost to maintain/upgrade? Not as good as they seem on track? Too heavy?

Needs to be RWD so teg is out of the question. Mx5 is no go as one of us is too tall to fit.

It depends on where you want to go with it. If you have even the slightest desire to take the car racing at some stage, I'd suggest that the E36 is not as competent across a whole year of seasons (weather) and circuits as a similarly fettled FWD car. What you gain on the nice dry days at circuits with nice long straights, you'll lose in spadefuls at the twistier circuits when it's pouring with rain.

The little Renaults and Peugeots are good too, but the Hondas have a nice competitive edge with their rev range. IMHO, naturally.

Just my observations from track days and watching the entry-level competition, the MSV Trackday Trophy over a couple of years.

And trust me, I love my Beemer! (about to be dismantled since my son found an armco magnet )

[OlberJ]

Ah, fair enough. It'd be purely for fun although it might stretch to some hillclimbing if i get the chance.

Driving pleasure ranks much higher than speed/times.

[V8mate]

OlberJ said:

Ah, fair enough. It'd be purely for fun although it might stretch to some hillclimbing if i get the chance.

Driving pleasure ranks much higher than speed/times.

Something smaller/lighter is surely better for hill-climbing? Pug 205? Clio 172?

[LordHaveMurci]

OlberJ said:

Ah, fair enough. It'd be purely for fun although it might stretch to some hillclimbing if i get the chance.

Driving pleasure ranks much higher than speed/times.

I have hillclimbed my 172 Cup, in my 4th season now. They're not the quickest out of the box but they are great fun. With a few mod's I suspect it could be a very competitive car.
I'm told they make much better track/sprint cars, this makes the most of the great handling & the relative lack of power is less of an issue.

[Herman Toothrot]

E46 M3 get a rough one for £5k

Mk3 MR2 (with a baffled sump), you could probably find a turbo or 2ZZGE powered one for £5k

Cat D/C VX220

As said fwd would likely bore you if you race a clio cup.

[iguana]

If £4-5k is the guys budget E46 M3 is a daft suggestion, £5k might, might, get a ropey example, + £10k later it could be a decnet basic track car.

Almost no one is too tall for an Mx5 if you sort the seat & wheel out at 6ft 4 I thought mine were pretty roomy, better than my Caterham anyway, I've had decent track prepped Supercharged & turbo'd examples for way less than that budget.

E36, its a well troden route, M or 328, lots of options, thats bit tight budget to get a decent prepped M, but can get a half way there track example, or a cracking 328.

[edh]

dapearson said:

I took my DC2 integra on track at Donington and it was useless.

Brakes were better than my mate's GTI-6, but it kept falling just below the VTEC line on upshifts. Handling was alright, but not as fun as the GTI-6. LSD meant no skill required to modulate the throttle either. Didn't like it.

I'd imagine a civic would be better because of the 6 gears and cheaper to buy in the first place. Plus easier to find parts for.

If you want RWD there are the obvious candidates (mx-5, etc).

Keep an eye out for ex-race cars too. Quite a few are road legal and will come fully prepped.

I'm surprised - The DC2 is closer to a race car as any production car I've driven (I've had a few ex-race cars as track cars)...and the Honda LSD works really well. No understeer & plenty of traction exiting corners. You do have to run the DC2 right up to the redline to keep it in VTEC.

They are getting a bit old now, so finding a good one may be less easy.

[iguana]

Even tho Ed hasnt mentioned it, a 944 fits nicely into that budget, S2 or Turbo, S2 would give more budget for track betterness bits, but at the expense of lacking a played with Turbos grunt.

Only trouble is pace, an S2 despite having utterly sweet steering feel that BMWs can only dream of, is only 328 e36 pace. A played with Turbo is well above that & even well above M3 pace, but not cheap to do properly.

Other car that has great potential is 200SX, yes many are chaved to hell & those that are not are drifted to oblivion, but done properly is a very potent & capable car.

Also 350z, just about gets into budget, but you couldnt do much mods wise with it if budget is tight.

Also S2000 worth a look.

[motor mad]

dapearson said:

I took my DC2 integra on track at Donington and it was useless.

Brakes were better than my mate's GTI-6, but it kept falling just below the VTEC line on upshifts. Handling was alright, but not as fun as the GTI-6. LSD meant no skill required to modulate the throttle either. Didn't like it.

I'd imagine a civic would be better because of the 6 gears and cheaper to buy in the first place. Plus easier to find parts for.

Had your car been re-bushed? I've driven a standard 306 GTi and a modded XSi and preferred the DC2, but then I really like the nature of vtec engines and the way the diff pulls the front round. Everyone is different.

Having owned both, the EP3 is a better road car, the DC2 is better on track. If anything a standard Civic is harder to keep in vtec but that can be sorted with a K-Pro ECU.

[BusaMK]

I'd really recommend getting a race prepared locost from the 750mc race class.

They regularly come up for sale on pistonheads. It will be race proven, around 5k, and give you the option to take your TrackDays into racing with minimal effort. If wanting a tin top something like a stripped bmw 328 will also be a capable, fun, reliable tool, and give you far many more cornering options than a FWD Clio 172(which also wouldn't be a bad option either)