CAR Advice needed
Discussion
I,ve been to a couple od trackdays recently and love the idea...so i've decided to give it a go. Of course like blokes i regard myself as a good driver, so i've set a max budget of £5k....any ideas...big engines or smaller engines....diesel or petrol...2 wheel drive..rear wheel or front wheel..or 4 wheels...open cockpit or traditional car...whats reliable and cheap to run etc..there are many questions and i really dont have a definite direction...so i reckon you guys could help....so go on confuse me some more and hopefully someone will make me think...thats it !!
MX-5 / mr2 - pretty useful with no modifications. With the mx-5 they did a sport version with bilstein dampers, 6 speed box and LSD. You can lower these a couple of cm with a eibach spring kit and the chassis has adjustable camber settings so you can get a full geo done without spending fortunes on coilovers etc.
Great fun cars.
pug hatchbacks are another obvious choice but need a few changes for the track ideally to be much fun.
I have no experience with old bm's except a few laps round anglesey in a right old shed that I hated. I think you need to look out for rust on these but they are a popular choice.
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Just be careful of getting into loads of modifications. They can very easily end up costing much more than the original purchase price of the car.
I have just sold a pug 306 rallye that I boughgt 2 years ago for £2k and have since thrown approx 4k at it!
Have fun.
Great fun cars.
pug hatchbacks are another obvious choice but need a few changes for the track ideally to be much fun.
I have no experience with old bm's except a few laps round anglesey in a right old shed that I hated. I think you need to look out for rust on these but they are a popular choice.
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Just be careful of getting into loads of modifications. They can very easily end up costing much more than the original purchase price of the car.
I have just sold a pug 306 rallye that I boughgt 2 years ago for £2k and have since thrown approx 4k at it!
Have fun.
My first track car was an E30 318is. Bought cheaply and spent loads on it. Great fun but a little underpowered for my liking.
Then I tracked a couple of MX5's (they were road cars but performed well enough).
Last year bought an E36 M3 saloon for track use and then started modifying it. As said above the mods often outlay the price of the car so be careful. But I love the M3 for track use. Decent handling on the coilovers, enough power to keep me entertained and comfortable enough for long drives to circuits.
As long as you buy a good one they are reliable as well. Mine has never let me down even though it often goes a month or so between journeys.
Then I tracked a couple of MX5's (they were road cars but performed well enough).
Last year bought an E36 M3 saloon for track use and then started modifying it. As said above the mods often outlay the price of the car so be careful. But I love the M3 for track use. Decent handling on the coilovers, enough power to keep me entertained and comfortable enough for long drives to circuits.
As long as you buy a good one they are reliable as well. Mine has never let me down even though it often goes a month or so between journeys.
Edited by TryingHard on Wednesday 11th February 10:49
My Advice would be to find a car you can mod easily, don't dismiss the jap cars, Subaru, MR2, Nissan 200sx. I went on my first track day this year and i am still buzzing. I took my Scooby wagon and already want to upgrade with track day tyres, bucket seats and strut braces for the next time.
I have a 1989 VW MkII Golf 1.8 16v. I reckon this is probably the best option for all round, new track dayer, for fun and reliability. When I got it it was a perfectly good road going vehicle. 135k all original VW engine. Bullet proof. With a little time and effort it has now been lifted. Dont get me wrong here, It hasnt had an all singing and dancing refurb. It has had what it needed to make it a safe and prepared track (only) lovely piece of fun. I reckon that having had many (12) track days in it, I am qualified to comment, it has provided excellent fun and ecconomy in one little firie red engineering piece of genius. I bought a trailer to go with it so stripping out and caging up was completed. 2 Cobra seats and 4 points added to the comfort. Better discs and pads. New poly bushes all round, struts top bottom front and rear, and Bob's your uncle. The original engine still runs strong. It starts first time, even after standing for 3 months. It doesn't drip. It has been well serviced with a minimum of oil after each track day. It had new belts fitted 1000 miles ago. Come on!! keep up! The Golf! thats the place to begin! It is a no brainer! Oh and it is all for sale lol well under your budget.
Edited by Pootles on Wednesday 11th February 18:04
Edited by Pootles on Wednesday 11th February 18:06
Edited by Pootles on Wednesday 11th February 18:08
Edited by Pootles on Wednesday 11th February 18:08
Thanks everyone, lots of great advice, i guess im looking for something easy to use, ie its ready to go and i'm not up on modding yet....and obviously i would appreciate that it would,nt need tyres that are off a family saloon but what are track day tyres and are they expensive...ps...are any of you guys going to Mallory on the 8th of March, my friend has just been offered a day there for £125 with open pitlane...whats Mallory like as i am hoping he will let me have a drive in his scooby 
You will spend allot of money keeping them on track not to mention petrol! i had an evo 6 and pads and discs are stupid money, not to mention the fuel they go through.
Think light and easy to fix... An early S1 elise is track day heaven!
Think light and easy to fix... An early S1 elise is track day heaven!
x-bow1 said:
I have been thinking about either an evo or a suburu...they look ready to go, and built for the purpose, plenty of power and handling to match, that will keep you with the also rans on track and also look after you on the learning curve...sensible or not?
they arent the easiest to get into/outof. But they are one of the best feeling cars to drive and damn fast. Scoobie or Evo will be fast but wont feel as good or as pure. 4 track days a year will see you needing new pads each year and discs every two?
Pads are around £150-£200 and £300 or so for discs on an Evo
Elise pads around £100 and £120 discs... plus they last longer.
Not a major aspect i guess for 4 times a year...
Pads are around £150-£200 and £300 or so for discs on an Evo
Elise pads around £100 and £120 discs... plus they last longer.
Not a major aspect i guess for 4 times a year...
subarus etc. are too heavy, too soft and too heavy on consumables to be track day cars. You can turn them into a great track toy if you throw your whole car bugdget at modifications.
Think lighter and less power.
Mallory is easy to crash at - although to be fair, most tracks are. Just be careful if you are driving someone elses car and / or make sure you can afford to replace it if the worst happens. You can very easily lose mates as soon as you start crashing their cars.
Just also bear in mind that an hour on track in your mates subaru could easily cost him £200 in tyres and brakes. Not to mention other wear & tear & then the chance of you missing or selecting the wrong gear whenh under pressure and blowing his engine up!
Think lighter and less power.
Mallory is easy to crash at - although to be fair, most tracks are. Just be careful if you are driving someone elses car and / or make sure you can afford to replace it if the worst happens. You can very easily lose mates as soon as you start crashing their cars.
Just also bear in mind that an hour on track in your mates subaru could easily cost him £200 in tyres and brakes. Not to mention other wear & tear & then the chance of you missing or selecting the wrong gear whenh under pressure and blowing his engine up!
There are only two reasons to buy a Subaru for track use.... 1. is race in the Nippon series the other is to do the time attack series and get rapped up in the Grandtourismo parts shelf dream!
If your a handy driver as you suggest then can I suggest your better off with someting smaller and lighter. That way you know your fast when your fast because you can't hide behind the grunt and the grip as so many do.
For £5K I'd suggest Clio Cup, Honda Type R, BMW E30 325 or E36 318iS or maybe a MK2 Golf 16v. All these would allow cash scope to do ensure they are uptogether cars maybe with some track focussed upgrades.
If your a handy driver as you suggest then can I suggest your better off with someting smaller and lighter. That way you know your fast when your fast because you can't hide behind the grunt and the grip as so many do.
For £5K I'd suggest Clio Cup, Honda Type R, BMW E30 325 or E36 318iS or maybe a MK2 Golf 16v. All these would allow cash scope to do ensure they are uptogether cars maybe with some track focussed upgrades.
x-bow1 said:
Thanks everyone, lots of great advice, i guess im looking for something easy to use, ie its ready to go and i'm not up on modding yet....and obviously i would appreciate that it would,nt need tyres that are off a family saloon but what are track day tyres and are they expensive...
Bog-standard MX5 should fit the bill, they're cheap to run even on trackdays (good on fuel, for starters, not very hard on the brakes either), plus track tyres are pretty cheap - you can get a set of Toyo R888 for less than 300 quid if you stick to the standard size.Gassing Station | Track Days | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff