Reliable Street/Track Car under £20K

[Fahad_H]

Hi,

What are my options for a reliable street/track car under £20,000 in the UK?

[tertius]

Fahad_H said:

Hi,

What are my options for a reliable street/track car under £20,000 in the UK?

Almost limitless, can you narrow it down a bit?

Preferences for:

FWD/RWD? Number of doors? Number of seats? Turbo/NA? Overall practicality?

Personally for that money I'd buy a 944 turbo or an E36 M3 and have plenty of cash left over for mods and running costs.

[Fahad_H]

My first thought was a 1992-1998 BMW 320 to built it slightly for the track. Then thought I would buy a brand new car such as the Focus ST, to use it for track and long travel. I travel a lot to all over the UK, and few times per year to Italy and Spain.

I was talked out of it for a track car and long travel at the same time.

So now, I need two cars, one for street/track and one for street only.

First I am going to buy the track car, and will buy the street car later when I feel the need for it and when I have the budget.

My budget now is 20K but I don't want to spend it all on a track car, I still need to keep some for the daily drive car when I need it. I am thinking to buy the track car for 10K ready for the track and will modify it when I need to.

Currently I am thinking of the Focus RS, but don't know how good it is.
I still need a reliable car to drive all over the UK to visit the circuits. I am planning to race in all the circuits in the UK.

I am a racing driver, I have 4 years contract in the UK to race in the Formula Ford then F3. So, I need as much experience in UK tracks as possible.

I used to be a Ford tuner in Saudi Arabia, I can tune all type of Fords(SCT), diagnose, modify, rebuilt the engine and the trans. That's why I will feel comfortable with the Ford. My current idea is to get Focus RS for track and Focus ST for the street.

I was Porsche Saudi Arabia test driver, I drove all type of Porsche, diagnose, datalog, then send my reports to the mechanics to fix it. I can't repair the Porsche myself.


Hope this help to give an idea of my experience and what I am looking for.

Any feedback is appreciated.


Thanks,
Fahad H

[RMac]

My recommendation would be to get whatever you are racing to learn the tracks and a suitable tow barge like a 5 year old mondeo. I am guessing you can buy a Formula ford for less than £20k if your emplyers won't let you use the race car.

[Maxx]

Fahad,

As you are intending to race FF and F3 then my suggestion as the best track car for you would be a Lotus Elise. You could pick up an S1 for under £10k. The cars are cheap to run as they are very light (i.e. easy on tyres and pads etc.). The K-Series engine is generally very sound but you should budget to get it checked over before taking it out on track.

You generally won't be able to drive a single-seater on a trackday, there may be the odd one but you want to try and visit most of the UK tracks and most won't have that option (apart from test days which, if you have UK Competition License you could do). IMO the Elise driving experience is the closest you will get to a single-seater (moreso than e.g. Caterham), you will learn a lot and has the advantage that it is a reasonably practical everyday drive (i.e. you may not need a road car at all, at least in the summer).

Don't be fooled by the low bhp figures of the Elise, it is very light (around 700kgs) so go's very well and well driven would see off a focus RS at most tracks. If you budget allows you could upgrade the suspension and fit "trackday" semi-slick tyres to give an even more racecar like feel.

Info on S1 here : http://www.elises.co.uk/models/s1/index.html

Maxx

[exboxster]

ATOM

[Fahad_H]

Thank you guys. I've been thinking about the Lotus, but don't have any knowledge about it.

Should I aim for the 190HP? And what model year should I consider?

Thank you very much,
Fahad H

[Phil. S.]

If you want reliability from a K series you'd be better to stay around the 160bhp mark. A nice 111S S2 would do the trick. 160bhp as standard. Or an S1 160Sport, which would be lighter, but not as good as an S2 as an everyday car. You'd get an S1 Exige for under £20,000, but they have the VHPD engine, which isn't the most reliable engine in the world.

[Fahad_H]

Thank you very much, I am looking for something under £10,000, should I go with a 1997 for £7,000?
I think with £10,000 I can get a 2000.

I want to get a cheap car at first, then will get a better one if I liked it.

I am going to buy the car in the Spring.


Thanks,
Fahad H

[Maxx]

Fahad,

With the Elises Aluminium bonded chassis and fibreglass bodywork you don't really need to concern yourself with the year so much, a well looked after 97 would be a much better bet than a shabby 2000. K-series engines are cheap so a high mileage car at a good price is not really a problem. I also wouldn't worry too much about bhp, yes a 190bhp/160bhp would be great but likely cost more to maintain and be slightly less reliable. Because it's so light even a standard car feels pretty quick, certainly compared to the cars you mentioned before. Much better to get yourself a reliable car, have some cash to keep it well maintained and book yourself on as many track days as possible. Don't forget that trackday costs can soon mount up, easy to blow £1,000 a month of trackdays once you take into account fuel and wear and tear. A good place to look for Lotus opinion and advice is http://forums.seloc.org

Maxx

[Fahad_H]

Hi Maxx,

I will be looking for the Elise by February, I think I can find a well serviced pre-2000 for £5,000.

I really wasn't expecting to budget £1,000 per month for the track. I will contact the circuits and get the calendar and fees.

I am also considering the Legends, they have 15 rounds in England and Wales (45 races). The arrive and drive costs are £700 for a single round (3 races, 1 practice) and £1,200 for a double round (6 races, 2 practice).

In January I should make my own calendar for the Legends and the Elise, so I would race on circuits before the Formula Ford race there.

BTW Maxx, what circuits do you work at? We might meet one day.


Thanks,
Fahad H
http://www.p1afr.com

[Sean Edwards]

I would agree on the Elise, great car for track days and racing. Ok, not the most practical road car, but still good enough, as long as you are not too tall

F3, must have some serious budget to do that! I presume your doing the National FFord championship?

[Fahad_H]

Hi Sean, good to see you here. You are really a good race driver at such a young age.

For the track car, I just need a reliable car to drive from the south to circuits in all over England.

I am 5'6", 110lb (130lb in the near future) so I hope I wouldn't have problems with the Elise.

I will do the British Formula Ford in 2008, then will move to the British F3 for few years. After that we will move to the USA and see how we will do there. We are aiming for the Champ Car.

I used to live in Oxford, now I am in East Sussex. Many motorsport guys live there. I lived next to Fernando Alonso's house for few months in Summer Town, Oxford. Then moved to Old Headington, Oxford (behind JR hospital). I love Oxfordshire, I will move back there in summer.

BTW do you have contacts in the British FF? we haven't signed with a team yet, and I would like to hear some advices about the teams and personals.


Thank you very much,
Fahad H

[Sean Edwards]

Fahad_H said:

Hi Sean, good to see you here. You are really a good race driver at such a young age.

For the track car, I just need a reliable car to drive from the south to circuits in all over England.

I am 5'6", 110lb (130lb in the near future) so I hope I wouldn't have problems with the Elise.

I will do the British Formula Ford in 2008, then will move to the British F3 for few years. After that we will move to the USA and see how we will do there. We are aiming for the Champ Car.

I used to live in Oxford, now I am in East Sussex. Many motorsport guys live there. I lived next to Fernando Alonso's house for few months in Summer Town, Oxford. Then moved to Old Headington, Oxford (behind JR hospital). I love Oxfordshire, I will move back there in summer.

BTW do you have contacts in the British FF? we haven't signed with a team yet, and I would like to hear some advices about the teams and personals.


Thank you very much,
Fahad H

Thanks

Then a good Elise will be fine for you and I am 6ft and fit fine in them, so you will be ok!

Cool, good luck to you!

Yes, it's a cool place, I live near Henley On Thames, in oxforshire as well.

Not really, but I will have a look for you and see what I can do.

[Maxx]

Fahad,

>I really wasn't expecting to budget £1,000 per month for the track. I will contact the
>circuits and get the calendar and fees.

Well, £1,000 is maybe a little ott but you can easilly spend that if you did say 3 trackdays a month when you account for everything, travel, fuel, tyres, brakes, wear & tear etc. especially with the heavier more powerful cars. An Elise should be one of the most economical in this regard especially if you join the specialist Lotus trackday club.


>I am also considering the Legends, they have 15 rounds in England and Wales (45 races).
>The arrive and drive costs are £700 for a single round (3 races, 1 practice) and £1,200
>for a double round (6 races, 2 practice).


The legends are a very different car to anything else, the handling and general driving style is more like the american sprint cars, great fun but not the best learning experience. For a similar budget you could do the MX5 Series or the MR2 Challenge, both are RWD cars and usually have big grids were you would learn lots about racing on UK circuits. There are a number of companies that do arrive and drive packages for both of these. Or you can buy a racecar for either of these series' for about £5k.


>BTW Maxx, what circuits do you work at? We might meet one day.

All of them, if you get a Lotus and join the Lotus trackday club we will definitely meet.

Maxx

Edited by Maxx on Sunday 16th September 09:17

Edited by Maxx on Sunday 16th September 09:18

[Fahad_H]

Thank you very much guys. Will do my research and make decisions in 2008.

Fahad H
http://www.p1afr.com

[chris7676]

Sean Edwards said:

I would agree on the Elise, great car for track days and racing. Ok, not the most practical road car, but still good enough, as long as you are not too tall

I am "too tall" at nearly 6-5 and can fit in.

[m3jappa]

yhm regarding my trackday m3

[Fahad_H]

Replied

[Tina K]

Fahad_H said:

Hi Maxx,

I will be looking for the Elise by February, I think I can find a well serviced pre-2000 for £5,000.

Woah! Check in the Elise section / buyers guides before you part with your cash. Chances are that a <£5k Elise will have been spectacularly unloved and need another £2-3k to sort it - or worse, been in an accident, ie:...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lotus-Elise-damaged-repairab...

Rumour has it the seller paid £2,200 for the car. The chassis on an Elise is not repairable, and a new one will cost you north of £6k, unless you can find a second-hand one undamaged.

However you can bet that someone will attempt a bodge job and that car will appear on ebay in a few months time. Beware.

Edited by Tina K on Thursday 20th September 00:48