Track Car under £600

[egor110]

RCD24 said:

Thanks for all the replies.

So far the responses seem to be in favour of a Puma or 206 GTi. Luckily i have one of each fairly local to me.

Puma with history and Timing belt done: https://www.gumtree.com/p/ford/ford-puma-1.7-lux/1...

206 GTi: https://www.gumtree.com/p/peugeot/peugeot-206-gti-...

Or... Focus ST170: https://www.gumtree.com/p/ford/focus-st170-sale-or...

I'm biased so would say puma , search for the tread ' £50 puma shed ' he tracked that one .

On facebook there's puma trackday group or puma track day cars where you'll get loads of advice .

The puma you linked looks ok but i'd try and get money off if he keeps all the audio stuff , if it's solely a track car then you'd rip the interior out anyway , upgrade the brakes and decent tyres .and your good to go .

Re the 206's they had a fault where they'd randomly cut out .

However before you buy anything do go to a track day and have a ride chat to people who have these cars , also you might do a lap and hate it !

Edited by egor110 on Wednesday 17th April 16:52

[ZX10R NIN]

From those 3 it would be the ST170 for me.

[EazyDuz]

Why is the v6 hyundai coupe getting slept on? Could pick one up for £600. Strip everything out of it and you got a track car. Low to the ground, stiff suspension, OK power, cheap to repair

[Osmoliver]

I saw the title and default response was always going to be Mx-5. You already own one, so why not just use that?

Personally, I think you're better off keeping the £600 for when things need fixing from the track or for upgrades.

If you're just starting out with track days, any road car will do. You'll probably learn quicker in a car that you're familiar with too.

No insurance necessary for track days. If we're sharing cars we play by the rules of 'if you bend it, you mend it' or 'you break it, you buy it'. If you're sensible, driving on track is arguably far safer than driving on a public road.

[Ste372]

Shameless plug my ignis sport is for sale on ebay at minute. Very agile as standard and they take loads of abuse. Bodywork is abit rough but it'll be perfect base for a cheap track car

Item number is 192888369542

Thanks ste

[C70R]

At your end of the budget spectrum, I'd be looking for a good standard car, or one with minimal mods.

When you're spending a couple of grand or more, it's worth considering a track-ready car, as there's a better chance that money was wisely invested.

At sub-£1000 you're looking at a car which will have been bodged to get it track-ready, and probably not with decent quality parts. That way lies bills. Ask me how I know.

[C70R]

Ste372 said:

Shameless plug my ignis sport is for sale on ebay at minute. Very agile as standard and they take loads of abuse. Bodywork is abit rough but it'll be perfect base for a cheap track car

Item number is 192888369542

Thanks ste

That's a top suggestion, assuming the car runs well.

[Ste372]

C70R said:

That's a top suggestion, assuming the car runs well.

Car runs well. I've just gone on a aygo pcp deal for £69 a month so it's surplus to requirements now. Was bought as a cheap stop gap car and I've done 5k miles in it since November.

[RCD24]

Again thanks for all the replies.

Hyundai V6 - Fantastic idea, but would be a real struggle to find one in budget as there isn't that many around and those which i have come across are asking significantly more. Also if insuring the car does become an option at some point I hate to think what my quote would be.

Using the MX5 isn't a bad shout, but as it's my daily and I use it everyday to get to work I'd rather not risk breaking it and being stuck whilst it's being repaired / another car is being sourced.

As for the Ignis Sport - I do love these but prices have risen recently and I reckon yours will be going for closer to a grand (but i will keep an eye on it).

C70R - Thanks for the advice, was definitely wary of buying one that had been toyed with already - god knows what kind of botch jobs could have taken place.

[Scottchester]

Been there and done that and my honest recommendation is don't.

I bought a £500 Celica (one of the cars on your list) spent £300 on it and then blew the headgasket.
The main reason was the cheap car not being up to the job and a track only car sits around alot adding to the issues.

A decent track day is £150+ so I would personally skip a few days and Chuck another £300 into the kitty.

I've a thread over on Celica club which details the whole thing.

Having said that, track days a awesome. With the right car and enough in the kitty to set up and maintain it. It's awesome fun.

Most people seemed to be in daily drivers which doubled up as track cars... Danger of course being that you break your daily

[james_gt3rs]

C70R said:

£600 is peanuts for a track car.
Particularly when a set of track tyres could cost >50% of the car's value.
And a day out (including fuel etc.) could easily cost >33% of the car's value.

OP - save your pennies for a bit longer. £1000 gets you into a significantly better base.

If you track regularly you might be surprised at how the costs add up, and how seemingly reliable cars wear out

[egor110]

Scottchester said:

Been there and done that and my honest recommendation is don't.

I bought a £500 Celica (one of the cars on your list) spent £300 on it and then blew the headgasket.
The main reason was the cheap car not being up to the job and a track only car sits around alot adding to the issues.

A decent track day is £150+ so I would personally skip a few days and Chuck another £300 into the kitty.

I've a thread over on Celica club which details the whole thing.

Having said that, track days a awesome. With the right car and enough in the kitty to set up and maintain it. It's awesome fun.

Most people seemed to be in daily drivers which doubled up as track cars... Danger of course being that you break your daily

I guess the flips side is if you do bin your daily then you've still got the money you haven't spent on a track car available .

Plus you know your daily is reliable and the track car is going to spent most of the time parked up doing nothing .

[RCD24]

Thought I should give this thread a conclusion for anyone who might be interested.

My MX5 was sold on in October, a car I was definitely sad to see go as my first RWD car - traded in for an S3 which should be better suited to the harsh Scottish winter.

Collected a 2010 Swift Sport on Sunday for a price that could not be refused. On just 80k miles, it came with FSH, 2 keys and a rather large dent in the door rendering the car a category D/N write off (hence the low price).

The Swift has a 1.6 litre NA engine with 125bhp - the moderately low power concerns me slightly and I'm in two minds whether or not to fix the door/sill and sell it on, or use it for it's originally intended purpose and strip it for the track.

What do we think?

Thanks in advance

[egor110]

Use it.

With low power you become a much smoother driver because you have to carry more corner speed.

[RCD24]

egor110 said:

Use it.

With low power you become a much smoother driver because you have to carry more corner speed.

Thank you for the response. I think I will go for it and use it as I initially intended.

The car has recently had new discs and brake lines, so I won't be touching those - any advice on some decent pads and brake fluid would be welcomed however, as well as some good value tyres (195/45/17). I've heard a half decent road tyre isn't too far off a track tyre, but can last a lot longer so would be looking at them preferably.

[egor110]

RCD24 said:

egor110 said:

Use it.

With low power you become a much smoother driver because you have to carry more corner speed.

Thank you for the response. I think I will go for it and use it as I initially intended.

The car has recently had new discs and brake lines, so I won't be touching those - any advice on some decent pads and brake fluid would be welcomed however, as well as some good value tyres (195/45/17). I've heard a half decent road tyre isn't too far off a track tyre, but can last a lot longer so would be looking at them preferably.

If you can , on trackdays see if you can get a passenger lap with a well driven puma and learn where/how they carry speed .

Over at the ring one of the companies rents out suzuki swifts and they get rave reviews despite the low bhp .