17k track car

[e46m3c]

It does sound appealing. How are they with the odd slide? Never had mid engine before.

So consensus is go for the non s?

There is one with a 12k rebuild up for 18k.

I like the idea of gt3 bolt one. Not modifying as such but tweaking.

[LennyM1984]

e46m3c said:

It does sound appealing. How are they with the odd slide? Never had mid engine before.

So consensus is go for the non s?

There is one with a 12k rebuild up for 18k.

I like the idea of gt3 bolt one. Not modifying as such but tweaking.

If it has had a Hartech rebuild then I'd go for an S. It's only the original engines that are a bit flakey.

You can get a Cayman sideways but it's never going to drift like a front engined car. I've found mine to be pretty tame but like all mid engined cars, once they begin to slide, they will do it very very quickly. That said, I think I've only spun the Cayman once and that was at Thruxton going far too fast into Church on the wrong line.

In terms of the brakes, you really don't need anymore than they have but the GT3 Master Cylinder is a nice upgrade to improve feel. Otherwise, get decent pads, good fluid, and go at it.

[Escy]

I think you'd find a Cayman painfully slow compared to an M140

Edited by Escy on Monday 13th February 17:20

[Caddyshack]

I don’t think my 987 3.2 is any slower than the m135i that I had.

The Boxster S can slide very well, probably lacking torque to hang out Smokey slides but we used to get the (no) drift board at Bedford. I can get mine pretty crossed up with a bit of provoking. Very throttle adjustable when they move about.

[e46m3c]

Caddyshack said:

I don’t think my 987 3.2 is any slower than the m135i that I had.

The Boxster S can slide very well, probably lacking torque to hang out Smokey slides but we used to get the (no) drift board at Bedford. I can get mine pretty crossed up with a bit of provoking. Very throttle adjustable when they move about.

Having both. Which do you recommend?

[Another project]

How about a v6 swapped MK1 mr2? Pretty lightweight, decent power and a supercharger that absolutely screams

[Caddyshack]

e46m3c said:

Caddyshack said:

I don’t think my 987 3.2 is any slower than the m135i that I had.

The Boxster S can slide very well, probably lacking torque to hang out Smokey slides but we used to get the (no) drift board at Bedford. I can get mine pretty crossed up with a bit of provoking. Very throttle adjustable when they move about.

Having both. Which do you recommend?

The 135 needs mods to be acceptable, I had the Quaife diff and birds suspension. The BMW leaves the factory with terrible traction, overly stiff springs and poor damping....(springs are cheap and dampers expensive so BMW over sprung them) Softer springs and better damping also aids the traction and the diff is a game changer.

The 135 can be made to make much more power with simple ecu remaps and they were torque limited in 1st and 2nd gears.



As a track day car I would take the Boxster all day long as it has instant throttle response and they are good out of the box. 135 is a much easier car to make the back end go loose.

[Krikkit]

Escy said:

I think you'd find a Cayman painfully slow compared to an M140

Does straight-line pace matter that much compared to handling? I know which one I'd choose.

[Ash_]

Krikkit said:

Escy said:

I think you'd find a Cayman painfully slow compared to an M140

Does straight-line pace matter that much compared to handling? I know which one I'd choose.

This, it's all about the handling and how the car feels over outright speed, I'd take a great handling car over a faster but less well handling car any day.

[Caddyshack]

Krikkit said:

Escy said:

I think you'd find a Cayman painfully slow compared to an M140

Does straight-line pace matter that much compared to handling? I know which one I'd choose.

Cayman lapped the Hockenheim circuit 0.1 sec faster than a 140i in a recent track test - so very evenly matched. Sure, the 140i has more grunt in the acceleration stats but power is nothing without control (as they say)

[Escy]

Krikkit said:

Does straight-line pace matter that much compared to handling? I know which one I'd choose.

If you've got 17k to spend I don't think you need to make a compromise on it. You get something that handles great and is fast in a straight line.

[Caddyshack]

Escy said:

Krikkit said:

Does straight-line pace matter that much compared to handling? I know which one I'd choose.

If you've got 17k to spend I don't think you need to make a compromise on it. You get something that handles great and is fast in a straight line.

True...the 140i and Boxster both do that and on track are very evenly matched.

[e46m3c]

Let’s throw a 997 911 into the mix. Every time ppbb does and update in readers cars it makes me wonder why I never had one. Jethro seems pretty keen on his too.

[Caddyshack]

e46m3c said:

Let’s throw a 997 911 into the mix. Every time ppbb does and update in readers cars it makes me wonder why I never had one. Jethro seems pretty keen on his too.

997 is a great car and if you want to drive a proper Porsche then they are brilliant handling as long as you understand how to drive them, I loved my 911 on track, it was by far the easiest car to slide around.

Isn't Jethro's a 996? I was reading Evo yesterday about the red 996 with the 991 engine conversion...isn't that Jethro?

[e46m3c]

Caddyshack said:

997 is a great car and if you want to drive a proper Porsche then they are brilliant handling as long as you understand how to drive them, I loved my 911 on track, it was by far the easiest car to slide around.

Isn't Jethro's a 996? I was reading Evo yesterday about the red 996 with the 991 engine conversion...isn't that Jethro?

yeah thats the one. ppbb's is a 996 too but ive tried one before and didnt really fit. Always had a hankering for a 997 c2s manual but again bork factor unless gen 2 which are big money!

[Caddyshack]

e46m3c said:

Caddyshack said:

997 is a great car and if you want to drive a proper Porsche then they are brilliant handling as long as you understand how to drive them, I loved my 911 on track, it was by far the easiest car to slide around.

Isn't Jethro's a 996? I was reading Evo yesterday about the red 996 with the 991 engine conversion...isn't that Jethro?

yeah thats the one. ppbb's is a 996 too but ive tried one before and didnt really fit. Always had a hankering for a 997 c2s manual but again bork factor unless gen 2 which are big money!

Yes, one of my mates has just dropped about £12k with Hartech on his 997.

I spoke to E-porsch last week and they had a 997 come in that had been written off due to a small bump....a few months before it had over £8k Hartech build done.

I expect the 3.8 version goes very well. Mark Shead recently built a Boxster and I think he made it 3.6 or more after it bore scored.

[e46m3c]

yeah thats a bit too much for me. quite the bill. 17k car + 12k rebuilt means might as well get an r8 to start with and protect the money.

How come noone has mentioned a TVR yet? Tuscan has an integrated cage(?), bit over budget at about 25k. AP brakes standard, sounds epic, light weight, hydraulic steering. How come you dont see many of these on trackdays?

[CABC]

e46m3c said:

How come noone has mentioned a TVR yet? Tuscan has an integrated cage(?), bit over budget at about 25k. AP brakes standard, sounds epic, light weight, hydraulic steering. How come you dont see many of these on trackdays?

I don't know, but I suspect it's a combination of reputation of fragility, actual fragility and the fact they aren't the best handling cars for track.
Also, a lot of owners go on TVR-only TDs rather than have their (fibreglass) P&J mix with the hatchbacks. understandable.

[nismo48]

MOTK said:

Z4MC? I've tracked mine for near 40k now, not an issue, great cars. Paid 12k i think a while back but you can get a decent one for 17 for sure.
I had a similarly prepped e46m3 before and would choose the z4 if asked about preference. The major loss I guess is that you cannot get a spare set of wheels in a z4 which you can in e46.
Most parts are e46m3 or such so not that bad price/availability etc. and weight is fairly easy to get down, I'm near 1300kg now2.

Nice

[Caddyshack]

CABC said:

e46m3c said:

How come noone has mentioned a TVR yet? Tuscan has an integrated cage(?), bit over budget at about 25k. AP brakes standard, sounds epic, light weight, hydraulic steering. How come you dont see many of these on trackdays?

I don't know, but I suspect it's a combination of reputation of fragility, actual fragility and the fact they aren't the best handling cars for track.
Also, a lot of owners go on TVR-only TDs rather than have their (fibreglass) P&J mix with the hatchbacks. understandable.

I used to do lots of track days in my Cerbera, it held up well. We used to see a lot of TVRs. Cerb handled very well. Tuscan was too darty on the front end imo. Griff 500 was fine but I only drove a non power assisted and when it went sideways it was very tough to wind on lock fast enough to correct. Not tried a chimera on track.