Cheap and cheerful track day - what's best?

[TeaVR]

Firstly, sorry if this has been done before.

Myself and a couple of mates have decided to get into track days.

To save some money we thought we'd buy a cheap car (about £3K), splitting the cost three ways.

The other two chaps are set on an MX-5. Their arguments are

a) MX5s are cheap
b) Easy on tyres
c) Reliable
d) Easy to mod

Although I agree with all of the above, I'm far from smitten by the MX-5.

So, MX-5 best - or is there something better?

BTW: Well get a trailer and tow the car to the track, so it will purely be for track use.

[red_zed]

205 gti
106 rallye
clio 172 cup

all stripped out for max weight saving.

speaking to a guy at oulton back in feb who had a stripped out 106 xsi i think- went like stink, way waaaay quicker than me!

his mate had a very quick crx too i think it was. again, stripped out for max effect.

[Jibberingloon]

I would have to say an MX5 is a realllllyyyyyy good fun car for track days.

Ive learnt thay you dont need to spend a huge amount of money on a car to enjoy track days....

In standard form i.e 1.6 and 1.8 they are great.

Put a set of coil overs and a supercharger and its fking awsome!

I did exactly what you are thinking but on my own and i weighed up all the options and the MX5 came out on top.

As standard you can change all the geometry of the 5 (Camber / Caster / Toe)

Its also Front Engine Rear wheel drive which makes it tail happy.

And as you have said easy and cheap to upgrade.


My MX5 has a MP62 Charger / Teins / Roll Bars and a few extras......


The only thing i would say is that it still have a "Hairdresser Car" image, but when you destroy other cars on track and you can do 0-60 in about 6.5 secs you can tell people to shut up.

For example Dale form Bridge To Gantry can do a ring time of 8mins 46sec in a 1.6 wiht 100bhp...

http://bridgetogantry.com/index.php?option=com_con...

Datalog to prove

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9194/8min46sii5...



VIDEO LINK for some fun donuts!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v75/markymarky/?...

Edited by Jibberingloon on Thursday 24th April 10:50

[Munter]

Jibberingloon said:

For example Dale form Bridge To Gantry can do a ring time of 8mins 46sec in a 1.6 wiht 100bhp...

http://bridgetogantry.com/index.php?option=com_con...

You link for me says "your not allowed to see this"

But this is that same story/car I think.

http://bridgetogantry.com/index.php?option=com_con...

[Jibberingloon]

oppss...

Also if you are interested in MX5s...


www.mx5nutz.com

Good forum for lots of mods etc etc

or if you like to be Owners Club Oriented!

www.mx5ocforum.co.uk

[Toltec]

A mate and I bought a 350i wedge to do the same thing about 3 years ago and paid £3K for it, we uprated the brakes, replaced the steering bearing and a few suspension bushes and it was great to drive on the track. A bit juicy on petrol but otherwise pretty cheap to run and most parts are also cheap.

It might be too similar to your Chim for you though.

[the atomic punk]

A friend of mine has just done exactly the same thing that you are contemplating. He has used his daily commuter MX5 though, and has been having massive fun with it. As noted above, rwd is probably more fun than fwd; light weight makes for lower running costs (tyres, brakes); the standard mechanicals on the car are pretty robust, and there is plently of tuning potential if your driving improves to the point that you want more power.

[chevin]

I agree
FWD = safe and controllable
RWD = fun and challenging

[swtmerce]

Friend and I bought a 328i Sport for £2250 and it's a giant killer on track now it's been stripped and had a few modifications.

[rallycross]

we did the same,shared a car between a few of us over the past 4 yrs.

we'd previously had a golf gti and a 205 1.9 but wanted something rwd

considered;

elise (too much ££ for us to risk)
M3 (again, lots of ££ and too heavy)
RX7 turbo (could be expensive)
MR2 - Mk1 too rusty Mk2 to twitchy and slow and roll cage v expensive
MX-5 owned one before looked at it again, feebly slow so discounted that
944 - in our price range potentialy too old and expensive when things break
325/328; tempting option but limited oomph

We went for a 200 sx and was the right thing to go for, totally reliable, plenty of power (makes an MX5 feel like a pedal car)

now for sale as have moved to racing;

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/308173.htm

[anonymous-user]

chevin said:

I agree
FWD = safe and controllable
RWD = fun and challenging

you need a 205 gti and a faster car infront to chase down then you wil lfind FWD = fun and challenging...

[BenElliottRacing]

mx-5 or mk1 mr2 - both great fun and cheap to run.

there are also race series for these cars which may tempt you later.....

[Munter]

BenElliottRacing said:

mx-5 or mk1 mr2 - both great fun and cheap to run.

there are also race series for these cars which may tempt you later.....

Yep but the MX5 series is limited to the 115bhp 1.6 engine. So if you buy the faster 1.8 for trackdays you'd have to do an engine swap/sell it and buy a 1.6.

If he was contemplating trackdays with a view to racing then the MR2 might be the better option. Swing/Roundabout.

[Chris71]

At the risk of being predictable, an 8v 944 would be realistic for £3k too. IMHO, they're a better handling car than the MX5, although there's much less tuning potential and you might find parts are more expensive (although they're not as pricey as you'd expect).

In theory an old 200SX would be good too, but I've heard a lot of stories of turbos giving up on 'budget trackday' examples.

[Jibberingloon]

Porsche = Expensive Bills especially if you track it.

Mazda = Cheap Cheap Cheap

Nissan = A bit of both depending on what blows up!

[anonymous-user]

if you are trailering it there i would go for the 944. the bits are not as expensive as you might think, all OEM parts can be bought from "German, Swedish and French", you can strip it pretty much bare and the engines are quite solid.

[Chris71]

Jibberingloon said:

Porsche = Expensive Bills especially if you track it.

Mazda = Cheap Cheap Cheap

Nissan = A bit of both depending on what blows up!

Have you owned any of the front engined cars? Admittedly mine wasn't tracked, it was just general maintanence and a suspension upgrade, but I found it was cheaper than, well, a Toyota Corolla. That said - I did get some horrendous labour quotes, but I wielded the spanners myself in the end and took advantage of cheap parts.

[mattikake]

A CHEAP trackday car must be;

Light/small. RWD. Normally aspirated.

Anything else is a bonus.

So that would make as said above mk1-2 mx5's, mk1-3 MR2's, 944, MGF. Of all those, you want proper race handling and race feel, get one with an engine in the middle. If you want to go to drift trackdays, get one with an engine in the front.

[Chris71]

The MR2 is a good point too. The mk1s are obviously quite celebrated (ahevn't been in once since uni, but I remember being quite impressed at the time), but I think the comparitively poor reputation of the mk2 is a little unjustified. My housemate has a slightly tweaked JDM mk2 at the same time as I had my Mk1 MX5 (an RS-LTD, no less) and I think I preferred the Toyota. His certainly wasn't the sort of 'dumbed down' shed they're sometimes made out to be. It cost him all of £900 IIRC.

[swtmerce]

A few people have touted the 3 series as heavy but I don't think it's as heavy as some people think. My 328 still has a fair way to go in terms of stripping and it's currently 1230kgs including 2 buckets excluding cage. I estimate a further 60kgs is easy. A friend of mine has his 325 to around 1155kgs inc two seats and ex cage.