Advice on a track toy - under 5k?

[krunchkin]

So I'm quite new to track days and am already hooked - but obviously there is than inherent feeling when you are driving a car that you also use on the road for other reasons that you dont want to stack it, crash it or have some tt hit it (this was brought home to me this weekend when I witnessed a particularly ugly incident at Bedford involving a total in a Porsche wiping out some poor guy in an Elise).

So I am toying with the idea of spending 5k MAX on something fun, chuckable, fast, and all the other good stuff you want from a great day out on the track, but that I can relax about scratching, grazing, bumping, etc etc and can also play with and tweak and upgrade.

All thoughts welcome. And gold star to whoever says MX5 first.

[Hol]

1. Decide, if you are driving, or trailering the car to the circuits of choice.
2. Spend £4k on something ready built for the track on eBay, and save he other £1k for upgrades that you will want to do immediately to whatever you buy.

Edited by Hol on Sunday 21st July 21:20

[TVR Tommy]

You could do what I did and build a car from a cheap snotter http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... The RX7 has cost £3000 to get it where it's at present.

Rx8's can be picked up very cheaply.

[krunchkin]

but then the wankel goes bang doesn't it?

[SpudLink]

If not the obvious, how about some mid-engined fun?

MR2 found in the classifieds...
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/t...

[TVR Tommy]

krunchkin said:

but then the wankel goes bang doesn't it?

They do but they aren't that expensive to rebuild. I had a later RX7 before that one and had it for 2 years and not one thing went wrong with it. Except it drank lots of fuel.

If they are looked after they aren't as bad as the internet suggests.

[Munter]

You could get a Westfield for that....

[krunchkin]

yes - i was thinking along those lines myself. Or would it be a nasty shed for that money?

[mattshiz]

claiming goldstar....


Stripped, turbo'd mx5? Should be well under budget. Consumables are cheap (tyres, pads etc), good on track.

[IanOE]

How about a slightly unloved or CAT D/C VX220?

If you look around for a while then you may see one for under £5k.

Another advantage is that they're lightweight so they shouldn't get through consumables such as tyres and brakes too often.

Or as described before a decent turbo/supercharged MX-5 you should be able to get a fair bit cheaper.

[Terzo204]

Clio shouldn't be ruled out. Great car and fast in the right hands.

MX5 or westie if you want RWD.

My choice would be the Westie, but then I am biased...

[rovermorris999]

Something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251305708931?ssPageName=...

For the best fun and cheap to run you want to go for lightness. I have a Sylva Riot (465kg, 140-ish bhp) and an MX5 MK2 1.8RS (around 1000kg and 140-ish bhp), the MX5 has track-spec suspension. Both are great fun but the MX feels like a tub of lard after the Riot.

[Canabo]

TVR Tommy said:

They do but they aren't that expensive to rebuild. I had a later RX7 before that one and had it for 2 years and not one thing went wrong with it. Except it drank lots of fuel.

If they are looked after they aren't as bad as the internet suggests.

Hey! Yeah my first post lol..

I got RX8 and use it on road as well as on track ( did 5 track days this year )
You can get very good Rex for 5k these days far under under 50k miles and with proper maintenance ( top up / change oil frequently, dont run in cold etc.. ) car will serve you well over 100k miles easy

And ofc with that superb handling and reasonably power ( about 190whp with 231hp version )you will be not disappointed!

Good luck and peace out.