perfect track car....
perfect track car....
Author
Discussion

alphonso

Original Poster:

306 posts

219 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
hey guys

what's the perfect track car on a reasonable budget, not too much fiddly stuff back home in the garage, robust and road legal?

Stu_00

1,529 posts

243 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
alphonso said:
hey guys

what's the perfect track car on a reasonable budget, not too much fiddly stuff back home in the garage, robust and road legal?
Perfect timing: http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/roadtests/doc.asp?c=4...

Or some kind of Elise based machine e.g. Elise/Exige/2-11!

Edited by Stu_00 on Thursday 13th August 16:40

sniff diesel

13,124 posts

236 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
Gotta be a Caterfeild.

Toltec

7,179 posts

247 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
sniff diesel said:
Gotta be a Caterfeild.
A Fury or Striker if on a tighter budget?

BoxheadTim

101 posts

212 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
sniff diesel said:
Gotta be a Caterfeild.
That won't exactly conform to the "not too much fiddly stuff in the garage" requirement, would it?

Nurburgsingh

5,486 posts

262 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
Best bang for buck??

Being slightly biased in my suggestion but.... 944/968.

I went from 964 to Caterham to 944 to 968.

Yes the Caterham was ballistic, ( more the car than me )but when it rained it was grim, when it needed fuel every 10 mins it was grim, when it broke it was grim, when my tyres were running close to the limit I couldn't take spares-grim.
When I drove to the 'ring it was worse than the road to hell.

the 944/68 on the other hand have been practical to the max, versatile beyond belief, and quick enough on track to make me smile lap after lap after lap....

Paul.B

3,949 posts

288 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
Nice easy question - A bit like how long is that bit of string combined whith Just what IS the meaning of life?

One of those Lotus 2-11 rocket ships would be nice if £40k was your budget.
A Caterham if £20k
An E36 M3 if £10k

You need to give up a bit more info. Likes/dislikes. What you have driven in the past etc. I have an E34 540 and would not suggest one as the ideal track car. I however think it's great.

Good luck

Paul.B

Stephanie Plum

2,797 posts

235 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
2-11 biggrin



/biased

agent006

12,058 posts

288 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
Every post in every "what track car" thread will be from someone recommending their own car.

Toltec

7,179 posts

247 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
agent006 said:
Every post in every "what track car" thread will be from someone recommending their own car.
Wrong. smile

shim

2,051 posts

232 months

Thursday 13th August 2009
quotequote all
volvo 244 (burgundy)

ffs dont get the estate version as they are babba

kev87

2,111 posts

211 months

Friday 14th August 2009
quotequote all
106 xsi, cheap to run and maintain. Good performance for a beginner, cheap to modify.


Stu_00

1,529 posts

243 months

Friday 14th August 2009
quotequote all
kev87 said:
106 xsi, cheap to run and maintain. Good performance for a beginner, cheap to modify.
Not exactly a perfect track car tho is it!

chris7676

2,685 posts

244 months

Friday 14th August 2009
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This thread is going nowhere now that you removed your budget criteria and have not specified much else

jleroux

1,511 posts

284 months

Friday 14th August 2009
quotequote all
alphonso said:
perfect track car on a reasonable budget, not too much fiddly stuff back home in the garage, robust and road legal?
Define "perfect", "reasonable", "fiddly" and "robust"!

Chris71

21,548 posts

266 months

Friday 14th August 2009
quotequote all
BoxheadTim said:
sniff diesel said:
Gotta be a Caterfeild.
That won't exactly conform to the "not too much fiddly stuff in the garage" requirement, would it?
Why?

A Seven is about the least fiddly car on the market - much easier to get to service items than in an Elise or virtually any production car. If, on the other hand you mean 'it's not mass produced it'll break down' then that's also a misdemeanor as they're phenomenally simple cars and the only things that can really break are the bits churned out by the hundreds of thousands by people like Ford and Rover. Rant over.

OP: Depends what you want. If speed (lap times) is critical then you will notice the aerodynamic effects of an open wheeler like a Seven - cars that were comfortably behind you at the beginning of the straight will be streaming past by the end. They're also not known for their wet weather gear if that's a consideration, but the same could be said for most open track cars.

Something like a Seven or a full-body version like a Fisher Fury/Sylva Stylus is very light - even in comparison to an Elise - which will cut down on consumable costs if you plan to spend a lot of time on track.

kriss

246 posts

243 months

Friday 14th August 2009
quotequote all
Easy!



Lightweight c.500kg, c.160+ bhp 12k rpm (R1 engine), paddles, R888's, LSD and plenty of Carbon

You could buy, tax, insure and track a good few times a year for less than £10k

kev87

2,111 posts

211 months

Friday 14th August 2009
quotequote all
Stu_00 said:
kev87 said:
106 xsi, cheap to run and maintain. Good performance for a beginner, cheap to modify.
Not exactly a perfect track car tho is it!
depends on circumstances, its perfect for me. op didnt specify much

BoxheadTim

101 posts

212 months

Friday 14th August 2009
quotequote all
Chris71 said:
BoxheadTim said:
sniff diesel said:
Gotta be a Caterfeild.
That won't exactly conform to the "not too much fiddly stuff in the garage" requirement, would it?
Why?

A Seven is about the least fiddly car on the market - much easier to get to service items than in an Elise or virtually any production car. If, on the other hand you mean 'it's not mass produced it'll break down' then that's also a misdemeanor as they're phenomenally simple cars and the only things that can really break are the bits churned out by the hundreds of thousands by people like Ford and Rover. Rant over.
OK, maybe I misunderstood what the OP was after - I agree that Caterfields are generally fairly easy to work on, but a lot of them at the lower end of the market do need to be worked on fairly regularly so they're kept in top condition. As actually need most cars that are used on the track regularly...

That said, I used an MX5 as a track shed for a while and that didn't require a lot of additional work...

Jamz

408 posts

217 months

Friday 14th August 2009
quotequote all
kriss said:
Easy!



Lightweight c.500kg, c.160+ bhp 12k rpm (R1 engine), paddles, R888's, LSD and plenty of Carbon

You could buy, tax, insure and track a good few times a year for less than £10k
Yummy, would have one of them any day! (if i had the money)