Looking for a Track car
Discussion
A few of us have decided that we fancy getting a track car and having some fun, we are all beginners and have agreed that the budget is going to be about 1k.
We have been trying to decide on a car and have agreed on the following:
Needs to be RWD
Needs to have at least 115BHP/Tonne
Needs to be road legal.
We had a look at the Auto trader and within our budget it looks as though we can get the following:
E36 BMW 318 Coupe
Mk2 MR2
MX5
From the above we have all agreed that we think the Mr2 would be the best choice, any other cars we may have over looked?
We have been trying to decide on a car and have agreed on the following:
Needs to be RWD
Needs to have at least 115BHP/Tonne
Needs to be road legal.
We had a look at the Auto trader and within our budget it looks as though we can get the following:
E36 BMW 318 Coupe
Mk2 MR2
MX5
From the above we have all agreed that we think the Mr2 would be the best choice, any other cars we may have over looked?
IMHO the £1k budget is a bit on the low side - you may well be able to get a car meeting your criteria for £1k, but it'll probably have problems (worn out shocks is one example) that will bump up the running costs during your ownership.
Then there is the issue of safety - you'll probably want to make sure you walk away of a crash/roll...and at £1k it's unlikely you'll find anything that's been pre-modified. Even if you do, I doubt it'll be anything decent!
I tried this route before...paying a sub-£1k figure for a track day car, but ended up paying several times the initial purchase cost to get everything fixed and set up correctly for track use.
That said...I have a MR2 Turbo Rev 2 (1990) sitting in my garage. I can't let it go for £1k, but if I'm happy to negotiate if you're interested...
Then there is the issue of safety - you'll probably want to make sure you walk away of a crash/roll...and at £1k it's unlikely you'll find anything that's been pre-modified. Even if you do, I doubt it'll be anything decent!
I tried this route before...paying a sub-£1k figure for a track day car, but ended up paying several times the initial purchase cost to get everything fixed and set up correctly for track use.
That said...I have a MR2 Turbo Rev 2 (1990) sitting in my garage. I can't let it go for £1k, but if I'm happy to negotiate if you're interested...
Edited by A.Wang on Monday 8th June 12:18
I have to agree with the previous post. make sure you research all the costs before purchasing your car. Trackdays can be a very cheap way of experiencing motorsport but the level of costs is generally much higher than you initially expect.
There are not many track days around for £100. Many are now commonly closer to double that.
Travel to and from the track.
Petrol costs.
tyres and brake pads/discs.
Suspension will need doing at some point even if it is just to replace the bushes if the shocks are still good.
helmet purchase or hire.
camping or other accomodation if you are going to further away tracks.
when you factor in all these costs, especially if you want to do a handful of trackdays a year it becomes apparent that adding a little to the initial budget to get a better (whether that be more focused or safer) car is actually a fairly minor thing.
Having said all that I have thoroughly enjoyed using my mx5 on track over the past 2 years and I am realistically about to sell it for well under a grand.
For some idea of costs:
I bought mine for £2k just over 2 years ago when the market was high for them. Since then I have fitted new suspension, new front brakes, had a new radiator and water pump when I developed a leak and done some other basic maintenance such as oil changes and 4 tyres. etc. I have probably spent £1300 ish on that maintenance over the last 2 years. I could have been lucky and not had to do the suspension and not had the radiator leak but you will probably always find something needs work once you starting pushing it on track.
There are not many track days around for £100. Many are now commonly closer to double that.
Travel to and from the track.
Petrol costs.
tyres and brake pads/discs.
Suspension will need doing at some point even if it is just to replace the bushes if the shocks are still good.
helmet purchase or hire.
camping or other accomodation if you are going to further away tracks.
when you factor in all these costs, especially if you want to do a handful of trackdays a year it becomes apparent that adding a little to the initial budget to get a better (whether that be more focused or safer) car is actually a fairly minor thing.
Having said all that I have thoroughly enjoyed using my mx5 on track over the past 2 years and I am realistically about to sell it for well under a grand.
For some idea of costs:
I bought mine for £2k just over 2 years ago when the market was high for them. Since then I have fitted new suspension, new front brakes, had a new radiator and water pump when I developed a leak and done some other basic maintenance such as oil changes and 4 tyres. etc. I have probably spent £1300 ish on that maintenance over the last 2 years. I could have been lucky and not had to do the suspension and not had the radiator leak but you will probably always find something needs work once you starting pushing it on track.
318iS won't be quick or fun on track, not really. It's fairly heavy and needs a lot more power to feel fast. My 328i isn't what I'd call enough of a hoot to consider using it as a track car.
The 318 engine is very very intolerant of low oil level and with the cornering forces on track, if it drops below maximum your bottom end is definitely at risk.
Mk2 MR2s are pretty good but you're going to hanker after a turbo, which isn't in budget for purchase price or running costs.
I'd go for the MX5 every time, for fun and learning the limits of the car at relatively low speeds. They're also light and relatively easy on the consumables - tyres, pads - so if you're on a budget those things matter a lot.
Don't be susprised to want to improve the spec of the car, so price and availability of suspension and brake upgrades is worth researching. The cheapest way to tune a BMW, for example, is generally to fit a bigger engine...
You'll probably be after decent tyres fairly quickly, so look at tyre sizes and cost to replace them, it's a significant ongoing factor and you might be pleased to be saving £60 a set compared to another car on your shortlist, or being more able to get secondhand ones easily in 15" while 16" ones are like hens' teeth (for example).
The 318 engine is very very intolerant of low oil level and with the cornering forces on track, if it drops below maximum your bottom end is definitely at risk.
Mk2 MR2s are pretty good but you're going to hanker after a turbo, which isn't in budget for purchase price or running costs.
I'd go for the MX5 every time, for fun and learning the limits of the car at relatively low speeds. They're also light and relatively easy on the consumables - tyres, pads - so if you're on a budget those things matter a lot.
Don't be susprised to want to improve the spec of the car, so price and availability of suspension and brake upgrades is worth researching. The cheapest way to tune a BMW, for example, is generally to fit a bigger engine...
You'll probably be after decent tyres fairly quickly, so look at tyre sizes and cost to replace them, it's a significant ongoing factor and you might be pleased to be saving £60 a set compared to another car on your shortlist, or being more able to get secondhand ones easily in 15" while 16" ones are like hens' teeth (for example).
Capri 2.8i Special.
mattdaniels said:
Ford Capri 2.8i 
Trouble is that they've passed through the "horrid shed" phase (and I omitted to buy one, as usual) and have now become trendy. So the cheapest one on Auto Trader is £1250 and "needs work" and the most expensive one is (are you sitting down?), all but £13K. OK, it's a Mk1 3000GT that's had a lot of work done to it, but £13K??I watched a Special go the other day for £1200 and there's one on pistonheads classifieds for £1600 with MoT just expired for £1600. Neither a great example but if you're tracking it...
Really good ones go for maybe £7k but there's plenty that aren't really good.
They do need some work to get them up to muster on track though. They're not a car that will reward you on track in standard spec.
Really good ones go for maybe £7k but there's plenty that aren't really good.
They do need some work to get them up to muster on track though. They're not a car that will reward you on track in standard spec.
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