PH Trackdayers, would you rather have...

[seiben]

B is great until you clatter it into a barrier, in which case A suddenly looks much more appealing!

[Fonzey]

As said there's a middle ground between A and B somewhere, for me that's an S2 Exige but there are a few hot hatches/2 seaters that could also fill that gap.

Certainly would lean towards B, though if I had the space - a dedicated 'Winter' track car would be filling it.

[E-bmw]

Mine is a B with compromises towards A when going on track.

Pads/wheels for track use to swap over when I arrive with seats to remove before leaving home & a suspension set up that falls between the 2. Firm for road use but perfectly useable on track.

[geeks]

I agree with an earlier poster. I'll call it Plan C.

An Ok daily smoker (to which an A4 is generally fine)
A good weekend/track car that I don't have to worry about binning should it all go horribly wrong that is track focussed but able to get there under it's own steam.

As I sit right now I have a camper for towing the race car on a trailer and a hot hatch for daily duties. I guess that would make me Plan D.

[narbles]

I think it all depends on budget and space. I'm in camp B currently but I'm just starting out, I've got a vague plan to keep my current car but get something specifically for track day/sprinting etc. next year but still be able to drive it to and from.

I'd only consider trailering if I got really serious.

[Jamescrs]

One question is how often are you doing trackdays? If you are there every week A makes more sense, if like me you do upto 6 trackdays a year B makes more sense.

That said I still own two cars, my track car (R53 Mini) is road legal and I drive it on roads, it has an MOT, insurance, TAX etc but I still also have a second car which is my daily car, I tried just using the Mini for a while but after a mechanical failure on a track day it was a massive pain not having a car at all while it was repaired, just something to consider.

[dhutch]

I have a road legal Westfield, cheap trailer, and E46 330ci for daily.

Has been to the ring, without trailer, also used for autotesting.

Trailer it to trackdays because knowing you can always get home is good.


Daniel

[brisel]

I have a B, but only do one track day a year. If I were doing several days a year I’d lean towards A but would still have a sprightly daily driver even if it meant compromising the track car

[Partyvan]

A typical year for me is about 8 trackdays and a Ring TF trip

I need a car I can tow with for my work anyway, so the A4 daily is staying.

My issue is car A is full of heartache but I'm seriously invested in it financially and emotionally. Head says car B will be more realistic.

[Black_S3]

Partyvan said:

A typical year for me is about 8 trackdays and a Ring TF trip

I need a car I can tow with for my work anyway, so the A4 daily is staying.

My issue is car A is full of heartache but I'm seriously invested in it financially and emotionally. Head says car B will be more realistic.

I think the idea of a second car that’s still road legal is the way to go - atleast is is for me but that’s because it’s way out of my budget to be destroying sets of 18 inch tyres. Also if I bend it or break it I can just throw it back in the garage until I can afford to fix it.

The big plus of car A that’s still road legal is you can find most the issues that are going to ruin a track day on the road before the day. I went down the sub 10k westie route - £150 insurance, £140 odd iirc for tax through the summer months.... tyres and breaks last forever and it’s nice to have a toy for a summer evening.

[upsidedownmark]

A. Or 75% A with a bit of B.

Don't kid yourself. If it's useable as a daily, it's not 90% of A. If it's also quite expensive against your budget, really thrashing it on the track is going to be an issue.. both from the risk of binning it, and because if it's that daily-able its carrying a whole load of extra lard.

An A that is road legal is kinda the answer. Also quite a fan of the boring sh*te daily 'cos I'm far less likely to lose my license

[Humour]

Partyvan said:

Thankyou for the views gents

My head agrees - B is the way forwards

But my heart is in A

For some balance to this one, Im firmly in the A corner as its actually my setup with a small but notable exception.

Dedicated TD car is road legal still (barely lol), so it does get driven to the track. For all other purposes its a full on race car without the restrictions of truing to fit into a race series. Once on track pushing the limits its all worth it, no question, the raw nature, the challenge and that experience is what its all about. The inconvenience of maintaining it, fixing it, improving it is an acceptable price to pay imo. With that said, the things that break on the TD car are a testament of the abuse it receives, and its lightened, caged, strengthened etc. I would argue that no "B" car thats fully loaded can withstand as much abuse and is likely to be a bigger heartache despite being newer, especially if its your only car.

The daily is worst than an A4 diesel, but its cheap as chips, comfortable and does the job.

Happy days.

Edited by Humour on Thursday 15th October 23:13

[brillomaster]

hold up - if you have to have a car that can tow, and thus i presume you have space for a trailer, then i'd stick with option A, except the track car should be something a bit more reliable, possibly still road legal.

if you have the means, i'd always tow a car to a trackday, just so you know you can definitely get home again should the worst happen. I'm forced to drive to trackdays because i don't have anywhere to store a trailer, and don't have a towing car.

but if the diesel A4 has to stay, then i'd use it. Just improve the reliability of the track car, and make it road legal (just) so you could take it out on a weekend if you wanted to, and you could drive to the ring and back if you wanted to (though again, if you have the means to tow, then just do that)

[Ben Lowden]

I think it all comes down to your situation and circumstances. After around seven years of having two cars, something relatively sensible and a toy, I've gone back down to one as I just don't have the time for two cars right now.

So I'm definitely in the B bucket and I've never trailered a car to a track day. But when time and funds allow, I'll be going back to two cars for sure and my B car will become more of an A car.

So if nothing else has really changed for you, I'd probably keep things as it is. But if your track car is unreliable and doing your head in, consider replacing it with something else and if you're fed up with the A4, then upgrade that too

[nickfrog]

B is what I have been doing for 20 years with varying amounts of success and frustration. Works well for me overall but I can see the benefits of A, as not much can match say a Caterham.

[braddo]

Partyvan said:

A typical year for me is about 8 trackdays and a Ring TF trip

I need a car I can tow with for my work anyway, so the A4 daily is staying.

My issue is car A is full of heartache but I'm seriously invested in it financially and emotionally. Head says car B will be more realistic.

Tell us about your car A. is it the crx in your profile photo?

I would have said to consider a Westfield or Caterham except that you’re doing TFs. I’ve done track days in classic cars and caterhams and enjoy road blasts etc in them, but safety-wise the ring in a 7 car is a step too far for me.

Even a pretty modest Caterham will match the pace of pretty much any fwd track car while being more reliable, lower cost and drivable in the road. It always means having a lot of cash tied up in the purchase price though.

[Partyvan]

braddo said:

Tell us about your car A. is it the crx in your profile photo?

I would have said to consider a Westfield or Caterham except that you’re doing TFs. I’ve done track days in classic cars and caterhams and enjoy road blasts etc in them, but safety-wise the ring in a 7 car is a step too far for me.

Even a pretty modest Caterham will match the pace of pretty much any fwd track car while being more reliable, lower cost and drivable in the road. It always means having a lot of cash tied up in the purchase price though.

Hi yes it's the CRX, which has a Honda K20 engine in it.

Caterfields aren't my thing at all. I grew up loving 90's BTCC, so anything I drive has to have a metal roof!

[Partyvan]

Thankyou for all the input gents.

I'm going to drag car A to a couple of trackdays this month, and see how it performs and makes me feel and make a decision based of that.

It'll either re-kindle the love, or confirm that I need an easier life!

[Muzzman]

Thinking about it I've always had a mixture of cars on the drive. Couldn't daily the track cars but want to be able to drive to track and hoon about and drive back. The missus wants something practical and i want something to use that doesn't rattle my teeth out on days the missus has the family car....

VW Golf 1.4 TSI / Porsche 993 C2 / Clio 172 Cup road legal track car (Cage, AST2 suspension etc)

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso / BMW e63 / BMW 325ti track car (m54b30, Coilovers, updated brakes etc)

I did however have a 360hp s/c c/c K20a powered Elise which seemed to satisfy my need to pootle about and trackdays although we did have another normal car

[CABC]

B cars tend to be unsatisfying once you've had an A. they can only be an occasional or temporary solution.