Track car on a budget

[Ali131]

Hello all! My first post here, glad to be a part of this community.

A friend and I have had an idea of making a track day car in a budget. We want as cheap as possible, yet fun and playful. We are looking at vehicles in the range of £1-£2k. Can anyone suggest any good cars, and possibly a rough cost of how much it will realistically be to do one. So far we have looked at doing up a Mazda RX8, but I was not sure on reliability of the rotary.

Any advice will be helpful! Thanks!

P.S. Sorry if this is in the wrong place on the forum.

[fat80b]

I know it's very PH but at the budget, I would go for an MX5 - choose the mk2 1.8iS and you get the LSD as standard and it will be bags of fun.

I'm onto my second now - first cost me about £1k, second cost much less.. Put in some seats, a TR Lane bar and do the suspension and you'll have a corker of a car weighing in at ~ 1000kg.

If something does go wrong, you will be able to part out the bits and get your money back.

If you do decide that you need more power, then there are plenty of options to add a turbo etc although I wouldn't bother myself.

Pick twisty tracks and you will spend most of the time showing up much more expensive machinery that can't handle corners as well as you can.

Bob

[MartyG1987]

I picked up and track ready Mk3 Fiesta RS1800 from the classifieds on here about a year ago for well within your budget, spare parts are readily available and its a great little car to drive, setup properly on a tight twisty track is really good fun!

Agree with the MX5 point of view as well, seem very popular for track days.

[markiii]

RX8 makes a good track car however it won't be that cheap

I bought a decent runner for £2k a year ago, so far taking aside the trackdays themselves and fuel, it owes me £3995 including purchase, maintenance and parts

[HorneyMX5]

MX5

[e36er]

E36 328i Sport. Pretty sure you can get a decent example for £2k.

£1200 on brakes
£1500 on suspension
£500 on seats and harnesses
£400 for some 2nd hand list 1b tyres
£300 on a geo setup
£100 for oil and RBF600 brake fluid

£6k all in and you'll be a hell of a lot quicker than most road cars on track, let alone an MX5.

[McSam]

First off, decide what sort of car you want. £2k actually has you plenty of options! Do you want something small, light and nimble and aren't worried about straight-line pace? MX-5 or MR2. Do you fancy a hatchback? Clio 172. Do you like touring cars? BMW E36 328i.

The latter is the correct answer, of course there are a lot of people on here with 328is that they picked up for a grand or so and have turned into track cars. The budget varies enormously between builds, but I'm firmly at your end and you can read all about my experience in the thread below. My total spend so far is around £1600 including the car and everything I've done to it, and it really is brilliant. You can certainly get yourself having fun out on track for £2k!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[smokeey]

e36er said:

E36 328i Sport. Pretty sure you can get a decent example for £2k.

£1200 on brakes
£1500 on suspension
£500 on seats and harnesses
£400 for some 2nd hand list 1b tyres
£300 on a geo setup
£100 for oil and RBF600 brake fluid

£6k all in and you'll be a hell of a lot quicker than most road cars on track, let alone an MX5.

And a hell of a lot slower than what 6k could get you in.

[McSam]

But then, my brakes are perfectly fine after just £130 of pads all round, and you'd have to be going some to spend £1500 on suspension on a budget track car. My full adjustable HSD coilovers are rather excellent for £550.

[ChevronB19]

Personally, no roll cage = no go. Much cheaper to buy something already built, ex cup Clios and Mg ZRs are getting cheap (all relative I know)

[HughG]

McSam said:

But then, my brakes are perfectly fine after just £130 of pads all round, and you'd have to be going some to spend £1500 on suspension on a budget track car. My full adjustable HSD coilovers are rather excellent for £550.

But if you're going to polybush, strut braces, roll bars etc. it soon adds up.

[mighty kitten]

The lighter the car the cheaper it will be to run , run for longer before brakes and tyres need a rest .

[Mound Dawg]

e36er said:

E36 328i Sport. Pretty sure you can get a decent example for £2k.

£1200 on brakes
£1500 on suspension
£500 on seats and harnesses
£400 for some 2nd hand list 1b tyres
£300 on a geo setup
£100 for oil and RBF600 brake fluid

£6k all in and you'll be a hell of a lot quicker than most road cars on track, let alone an MX5.

Did you read his post? He's got 1-2 k to spend.

[McSam]

HughG said:

McSam said:

But then, my brakes are perfectly fine after just £130 of pads all round, and you'd have to be going some to spend £1500 on suspension on a budget track car. My full adjustable HSD coilovers are rather excellent for £550.

But if you're going to polybush, strut braces, roll bars etc. it soon adds up.

Oh, absolutely. But that kind of thing is nice to add to the car over time as and when you think it needs it, there's no need to throw everything at it right away. If it's your first track car, you're improving a hell of a lot faster than the car is anyway!

[Roo]

And someone has moved a thread about buying a track day car from general motorsport to general gassing.

Good work.

[Poopipe]

172, get belts done, decent pads and youll be leaving mx5s and rotten old beemers for dust.

An mx5 will need suspension, brakes and protection doing to make it fun, an e36 will need the same and will still be a fat old boat in the end.

[GravelBen]

Poopipe said:

An mx5 will need suspension, brakes and protection doing to make it fun

No it won't.

[slipstream 1985]

Buy one someone else has already spent the time and money on.

[McSam]

Poopipe said:

172, get belts done, decent pads and youll be leaving mx5s and rotten old beemers for dust.

An mx5 will need suspension, brakes and protection doing to make it fun, an e36 will need the same and will still be a fat old boat in the end.

Yep, no possible advantage I can think of over a Clio...

[B'stard Child]

slipstream 1985 said:

Buy one someone else has already spent the time and money on.

Or buy something that was used in Motorsport or is frequently picked as a track car so that upgrade parts are easily sourced

As already suggested MX5, E36 in six banger format, 205 GTi or Clio 172 if you like to be pulled along rather than pushed

Don't pick a unusual car that no one else picks and has sod all aftermarket parts



and try and make a good track car out of it



Unless you are daft like me!!!