Discussion
I currently have no track car/experience.
However I want to start.
I have seen advice on good cheap small track day cars which is what I'd look for. But does anyone in west or Central Scotland have any info on any tracks in the area or any general advice on starting out?
Any help would be much appreciated.
However I want to start.
I have seen advice on good cheap small track day cars which is what I'd look for. But does anyone in west or Central Scotland have any info on any tracks in the area or any general advice on starting out?
Any help would be much appreciated.
I cant help with local track info etc, but my advice would be:
Buy something thats likely to be okay 'out of the box' - MX5 / MR2 / Caterham / 924 / 944 / golf / beemer - whatever floats your boat.
See how you get on with a couple of test runs, then and only then, start spending money on improvements and upgrades.
Only reason I say this, is that Im in a similar situation to you, decided to buy something cheapish and start to improve it with a view to having something more suitable when the weather improved... Whats actually happened is I now have a fairly sorted car (suspension/tyres/bodywork/buckets and harnesses etc plus obligatory mass of stickers and decals onbiously
) but have spent a fortune doing it and havent had the enjoyment of using it yet, and didnt get to try it out standard and feel the difference of the improvements either.
Whatever you do, have fun with it!
Buy something thats likely to be okay 'out of the box' - MX5 / MR2 / Caterham / 924 / 944 / golf / beemer - whatever floats your boat.
See how you get on with a couple of test runs, then and only then, start spending money on improvements and upgrades.
Only reason I say this, is that Im in a similar situation to you, decided to buy something cheapish and start to improve it with a view to having something more suitable when the weather improved... Whats actually happened is I now have a fairly sorted car (suspension/tyres/bodywork/buckets and harnesses etc plus obligatory mass of stickers and decals onbiously
) but have spent a fortune doing it and havent had the enjoyment of using it yet, and didnt get to try it out standard and feel the difference of the improvements either. Whatever you do, have fun with it!
What car do you own currently? You can get literally anything road legal onto a track day, and if it's something vaguely sporty and in good nic you're likely to have a good time.
I understand the appeal of a new toy more than most, but it's often not necessary to reach for the cheque book when you could just give your daily driver a few minutes to cool off between sessions or hire someone else's car initially.
Once you know you're ready to commit, however, I would suggest going for something small and light with a big following (so lots of advice and parts availibility) with nice cheap consumables. If it's largely for track use a Caterfield or something like a Fisher Fury (a kit car with a Seven-style chassis under a more aerodynamic body), possibly bike engined, is a good shout. If you're going to use it on the road more an Elise with a few choice mods would appeal. There's also the stripped hot hatch, E30 or MX5 options too. All have lots of knowledge backing them up, you see some extremely fast 205s and mk2 Golfs around, for example, because people know everything there is to know about turning them into effective track cars.
I understand the appeal of a new toy more than most, but it's often not necessary to reach for the cheque book when you could just give your daily driver a few minutes to cool off between sessions or hire someone else's car initially.
Once you know you're ready to commit, however, I would suggest going for something small and light with a big following (so lots of advice and parts availibility) with nice cheap consumables. If it's largely for track use a Caterfield or something like a Fisher Fury (a kit car with a Seven-style chassis under a more aerodynamic body), possibly bike engined, is a good shout. If you're going to use it on the road more an Elise with a few choice mods would appeal. There's also the stripped hot hatch, E30 or MX5 options too. All have lots of knowledge backing them up, you see some extremely fast 205s and mk2 Golfs around, for example, because people know everything there is to know about turning them into effective track cars.
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