Track Day Car Options

[mikearwas]

Evening all,

I'm looking to purchase my first track day car in the coming months and have come up with a few options that I would like to discuss.

Option 1 - Mazda RX8, go in with eyes open and hope for the best. Budget 2k

Option 2 - Clio 172/182 - Great little cars but can i get a good 182 for 2k?

Option 3 - Spend a little bit more and try and get into a high mileage Civic Type R.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

Cheers,

Michael

[RWD cossie wil]

Mk2/3 MR2 , MX5, BMW E36 M3 or 328, personally I would want my track car to be rear wheel drive.

[Pebbles167]

French, 16v. Most fun ive ever had.

306 GTi6/Rallye
106 Gti
Saxo VTS
Xsara VTS
Clio 172
Clio 182

Plenty more too. All great cars

All available in good nick for under £2k with enough left to get some fair rubber.

Of course if you want rear wheel drive thrills then the french are not the guys to go to. But they do make cars with great handling, surprising reliability and that can corner with immense speed.

[Welshbeef]

Any road use at all?or just track plus road legal?

[mikearwas]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-rx8-231-Track-day-...

This has caught my eye. Thoughts?

[T0MMY]

If you want it to be cheap and fun I'd go for small french hot-hatch or MX5 depending on drivetrain preference...personally I'd FAR rather go RWD. You won't be the quickest guy there but who cares, although for a 2k budget you can go turbo on an MX5 which will let you spar with some pretty quick cars. Actually even standard you won't be a rolling roadblock if you're a half decent driver.

Main thing for me is reliability as paying for a trackday only to break down in the first hour is no fun so I'd be put off an RX8 based on the stories you hear (although to be fair I've no personal experience of them).

I'd definitely steer clear of big heavy powerful cars if economy is at all important...sure BMWs and Jap turbo wagons can be made very quick but it'll cost a bomb in tyres and brakes and be less involving in my opinion. It may not seem like it but a bog standard MX5 is a lot more track suitable than a bog standard Impreza or 328i in my experience.

Edited by T0MMY on Tuesday 1st April 19:03

[lamboman100]

Saxo VTR or VTS.

Good handling in dry or wet, fairly reliable, repairable, and nippy. Perfect entry-level car for tracking.

[MarvGTI]

Are you handy with a set of spanners?

You should factor this into your car choice/budget.

[vanman1936]

I use a Mr2 Mk2 Turbo.......great fun (in the dry)