What car would you advice for track days
Discussion
You could get your self a lovely old Porsche for that.Spend £5k on your own RWD car then and let him pick his own car! 
A 4WD car is inherently going to be heavy, and heavy on track = bloody expensive to run. Assuming its going to be a track only car or not used every day on the road, you'd be far far better off spending your shared £10k on an S1 Elise or even an early VX220, not to mention the plethora of kit cars if you dont mind the lack of creature comforts.
A 4WD car is inherently going to be heavy, and heavy on track = bloody expensive to run. Assuming its going to be a track only car or not used every day on the road, you'd be far far better off spending your shared £10k on an S1 Elise or even an early VX220, not to mention the plethora of kit cars if you dont mind the lack of creature comforts.
alimc1 said:
I would love rear wheel drive but person coming in with me is wanting four wheel drive as first one as more grip , if it was up to me rwd all the way , but he needs to build up confidence
Who's paying?? You or them?? If it is a joint arrangement, use your £5000 to buy an MX5, and make all the modifications you want, and let them put their £5000 to an old Impreza and then watch them back pedal on their original thinking. I would use the £10000 to buy a porsche 968, good road car, good track car!!
LocoBlade said:
Spend £5k on your own RWD car then and let him pick his own car!
A 4WD car is inherently going to be heavy, and heavy on track = bloody expensive to run. Assuming its going to be a track only car or not used every day on the road, you'd be far far better off spending your shared £10k on an S1 Elise or even an early VX220, not to mention the plethora of kit cars if you dont mind the lack of creature comforts.
Agree, .... a VX220!!A 4WD car is inherently going to be heavy, and heavy on track = bloody expensive to run. Assuming its going to be a track only car or not used every day on the road, you'd be far far better off spending your shared £10k on an S1 Elise or even an early VX220, not to mention the plethora of kit cars if you dont mind the lack of creature comforts.
If you're going to be sharing the running costs, Id consider carefully if you can afford it because from what Ive read in previous threads on running costs, you could easily average £7-800 per trackday running something like an Impreza, especially if you're double stinting it with two people driving.
alimc1 said:
the only problem is he is paying , im doing all work on vehicle and prep , i think i have better deal.
hmm tricky one then!An Elise is the ideal track car to learn in, lots of grip, great handling, ok not huge amount of power, but it does the job! Quite a hard thing to get it wrong in as wel, which is good for your friend.
ginettajoe said:
alimc1 said:
I would love rear wheel drive but person coming in with me is wanting four wheel drive as first one as more grip , if it was up to me rwd all the way , but he needs to build up confidence
I would use the £10000 to buy a porsche 968, good road car, good track car!!Personally I do not like Mx5's or VX220's, for the money I think there are better things.
Edited by Sean Edwards on Tuesday 4th September 22:39
alimc1 said:
i fort the elise was a bit under power is there any mods you can do to engine
Its not the most powerful by any means and at higher speeds (over 100mph) they'll obviously lose ground to more powerful (but heavier) cars, but it only weighs 800kgs and cornering speed (where you have most fun) will be higher, a 120bhp Elise will be quicker round most circuits than a 300bhp Impreza and a 120bhp kit car will blow its doors off.alimc1 said:
so which car would you go for that leaves a few pennys in pot for mods
A kit car or possibly an Elise would be my choice every time. The great thing about kit cars especially is they are cheap to maintain, very easy to work on and compratively cheap to repair if you are unfortunate enough to have an argument with a tyre wall etc.If you don't buy a Caterham/Westfield or similar you are mad. 4WD and heavy = humoungous tyre wear, discs, pads etc and, frankly, will not be especially quick. The boys in the Caterhams will also run rings around you 
. 4WD has massive advantages on poor (and loose) surfaces but did you actually want to go rallying? Tracks are smooth and grippy. Perfect conditions for the Caterfieldalike.
For the track you want the car to be light. This will make it turn, go and stop better. It will also wear out less of everything. And the bits you'll need to replace will be cheaper.
Another point is light and fast = more fun. Since track days are supposed to be FUN this is the kicker.
Get a Caterfieldalike.
. 4WD has massive advantages on poor (and loose) surfaces but did you actually want to go rallying? Tracks are smooth and grippy. Perfect conditions for the Caterfieldalike.For the track you want the car to be light. This will make it turn, go and stop better. It will also wear out less of everything. And the bits you'll need to replace will be cheaper.
Another point is light and fast = more fun. Since track days are supposed to be FUN this is the kicker.
Get a Caterfieldalike.
If you're trailering to the circuit then Caterfield.
If you're driving to and from then S1 Elise.
I bought an old S1 with a mate (after having Elise, S2 Exige etc.) and it's great fun and the ideal car if you want to learn to drive 'properly'. Mine was 5.5K (it's a 100K mile shed though!) and has Nitron adjustable suspension, uprated toelinks, 2 sets of wheels and engine mods to around 150bhp...
I'd recommend getting used to driving a std'ish car on std road tyres before upgrading to sticky tyres etc. Much more forgiving on the limit an you'll learn more quicker.
Plenty in the classifieds here for less than 9K and still gives you a reasonable budget for fixing/upgrading.
If you're driving to and from then S1 Elise.
I bought an old S1 with a mate (after having Elise, S2 Exige etc.) and it's great fun and the ideal car if you want to learn to drive 'properly'. Mine was 5.5K (it's a 100K mile shed though!) and has Nitron adjustable suspension, uprated toelinks, 2 sets of wheels and engine mods to around 150bhp...
I'd recommend getting used to driving a std'ish car on std road tyres before upgrading to sticky tyres etc. Much more forgiving on the limit an you'll learn more quicker.
Plenty in the classifieds here for less than 9K and still gives you a reasonable budget for fixing/upgrading.
4WD does not give more grip - it just provides more traction under accleration. You will get higher corner speeds in a lightweight RWD car than you will in a heavy 4WD. You will also be later on the brakes, put less strain on the tyres, suspension and brakes and ultimately be quicker around a circuit.
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