Track day car 10k? With stipulations
Discussion
I can't justify buying any more cars, I have no where to put them, neither of the two I have will fit my children in and I rarely get to use them unless a good blast at the weekend but I am going to buy one.
Speed limits being what they are, ditto the highway code plus the fact that I have to drive from central London on a Sunday to find decent roads I have decided a track car is the answer.
Now I could use my GT3 RS, it was after all made for the track and I probably will but I think getting a few track days under my belt with a car I can share with friends without any desperate worries of what an 'off might entail might be best, and allow for another car and the fun of choosing one.
Now the stipulations:
It must be able to be parked on the street in central London, not worried about theft but more the elements etc.
I must be able to actually drive it to the track days, in relative comfort with a friend.
It must be reasonably robust, any work carried out by me will be rudimentary to say the least but I will obviously take care of it using professionals.
I am happy to make a few changes to the car, brakes mainly but something out of the box will be useful.
What do we think?
Speed limits being what they are, ditto the highway code plus the fact that I have to drive from central London on a Sunday to find decent roads I have decided a track car is the answer.
Now I could use my GT3 RS, it was after all made for the track and I probably will but I think getting a few track days under my belt with a car I can share with friends without any desperate worries of what an 'off might entail might be best, and allow for another car and the fun of choosing one.
Now the stipulations:
It must be able to be parked on the street in central London, not worried about theft but more the elements etc.
I must be able to actually drive it to the track days, in relative comfort with a friend.
It must be reasonably robust, any work carried out by me will be rudimentary to say the least but I will obviously take care of it using professionals.
I am happy to make a few changes to the car, brakes mainly but something out of the box will be useful.
What do we think?
I used a Scooby last year for road and track. See my garage for spec. I sold that for 8K. Phenominal pace for the money. However, they do understeer a bit. You also have the benefit of being able to take a spare set of wheels with you - two in the boot (plus jerry can) and two on the rear seat.
Edit
They are hard on tyres and brake pads which has been mentioned above. However, my tyre wear dropped dramatically once I had some tuition
Edit
They are hard on tyres and brake pads which has been mentioned above. However, my tyre wear dropped dramatically once I had some tuition
Edited by paulmoonraker on Saturday 30th June 09:14
Seeing as how you already own the ultimate track focused road going Porsche there is only one answer - take the 911!
Maybe buy some extra insurance and some lessons if you feel you need it and get it on the track ( where it is intended to be not posing up and down the high street at which point it's just a very expensive ornament).
Maybe buy some extra insurance and some lessons if you feel you need it and get it on the track ( where it is intended to be not posing up and down the high street at which point it's just a very expensive ornament).
You don't need to sped a lot of money to have a laugh on track, you really don't. Especially if you are just using this as a learning experience (which is the right way to go IMHO). My suggestions would be:
MX-5
E36 M3
E36 328
Porsche Boxster
The only thing you need to change on the first three are the brakes, you'll need harder pads/discs and also decent tyres. (that's not to say better suspension etc won't help...)
I'd start with the MX-5 or 328. So cheap that if things go horribly wrong it doesn't matter much, but still good enough to be fun. Then upgrade to the Boxster if you feel the need. A standard Boxster S (well within budget) makes a great track day car, as long as you'd be OK leaving it outside and it has storage space for helmets...if you want more of a project then an E36 M3 is an excellent base. You could build a very nice one for less then £10k.
MX-5
E36 M3
E36 328
Porsche Boxster
The only thing you need to change on the first three are the brakes, you'll need harder pads/discs and also decent tyres. (that's not to say better suspension etc won't help...)
I'd start with the MX-5 or 328. So cheap that if things go horribly wrong it doesn't matter much, but still good enough to be fun. Then upgrade to the Boxster if you feel the need. A standard Boxster S (well within budget) makes a great track day car, as long as you'd be OK leaving it outside and it has storage space for helmets...if you want more of a project then an E36 M3 is an excellent base. You could build a very nice one for less then £10k.
Edited by varsas on Saturday 30th June 12:24
To be honest I'd just use the Porsche and go somewhere there isn't much to hit to start with. You can pirouette to your heart's content on most of these airfield car control days and then move on to something with barriers when you feel more confident.
Failing that ... an ex-race Caterham Roadsport A and an outdoor car over, maybe? Consumable costs barely any higher than an MX5, hold their value well and deliver an authentic track car experience straight out of the box.
An S1 Elise/Exige is a good call too and arguably a better primer for the RS.
Failing that ... an ex-race Caterham Roadsport A and an outdoor car over, maybe? Consumable costs barely any higher than an MX5, hold their value well and deliver an authentic track car experience straight out of the box.
An S1 Elise/Exige is a good call too and arguably a better primer for the RS.
Don't spend 10k on a car on its own - you want to get something that you can then strip, cage, modify the suspension and brakes, tweak the engine, possibly install an LSD if there's not one already, and apply natty stripes to it, all included in the £10k. So look lower down the list and go for something a bit cheaper. It'll pay dividends if you send it backwards into the Armco.
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