1.0L Yaris Too Slow?
Discussion
Yes, this has been done to death, but I'm not sure many people have wanted to take a 1.0L Yaris on track before 
I'm 18, and own a 2003 Toyota Yaris 1.0L and have done so since August 2017 (passed my test in October 2017). I really like the little Yaris, the VVTi makes it a somewhat exciting first car, insurance is pretty good too. Thinking of buying something else next year, and I'm deciding what to do with the Yaris. I thought about selling it, then I had a much sillier idea, partly inspired by Dale Lomas and what he's doing with his 'club 1000' and his Yaris.
I've wondered all morning about turning it into a budget track car. Better pads and fluid, lowering springs (to eliminate the massive body roll), strip out the interior etc and just take it on track until it dies. I don't know if its just too slow to make it worthwhile though. I'd be planning to go to Castle Combe, Abingdon airfield, maybe Silverstone National if I can find one of their taster track dates (I live near Reading). I want to gain track experience, but I don't want to be in people's way all day and slowing them down all the time (my dad's 1.8 MX5 is usually the least powerful thing on track, but there are points when he can find gaps on track). And as someone that hasn't been on track before, I can't imagine I'm going to be very fast to start with (espeically driving with a massive 67bhp
). Any suggestions - maybe I should just wait until I can afford something a bit quicker?
I'm 18, and own a 2003 Toyota Yaris 1.0L and have done so since August 2017 (passed my test in October 2017). I really like the little Yaris, the VVTi makes it a somewhat exciting first car, insurance is pretty good too. Thinking of buying something else next year, and I'm deciding what to do with the Yaris. I thought about selling it, then I had a much sillier idea, partly inspired by Dale Lomas and what he's doing with his 'club 1000' and his Yaris.
I've wondered all morning about turning it into a budget track car. Better pads and fluid, lowering springs (to eliminate the massive body roll), strip out the interior etc and just take it on track until it dies. I don't know if its just too slow to make it worthwhile though. I'd be planning to go to Castle Combe, Abingdon airfield, maybe Silverstone National if I can find one of their taster track dates (I live near Reading). I want to gain track experience, but I don't want to be in people's way all day and slowing them down all the time (my dad's 1.8 MX5 is usually the least powerful thing on track, but there are points when he can find gaps on track). And as someone that hasn't been on track before, I can't imagine I'm going to be very fast to start with (espeically driving with a massive 67bhp
). Any suggestions - maybe I should just wait until I can afford something a bit quicker?Thanks for the replies, I want to be realistic and I can see that it would be a bit of a mobile chicane (only 13.6 seconds to 60, every tenth helps ). Hopefully I wouldn't be too slow in terms of driver skill (I pretty much know the limits of the car having owned it for over a year, knowing where oversteer will occur etc) but I wouldn't say I'd ever be the quickest driver (I can catch oversteer, heel-toe but would need some time to find the balls to take high corner entry speed). I'd take it to somewhere like Abingdon this year just to see what happened, but I know the brakes would just fade in a couple of laps as they're just standard pads & fluid but buying new parts isn't worthwhile if I'm just going to sell it in a years time. What tracks are 'twisty'?
). Hopefully I wouldn't be too slow in terms of driver skill (I pretty much know the limits of the car having owned it for over a year, knowing where oversteer will occur etc) but I wouldn't say I'd ever be the quickest driver (I can catch oversteer, heel-toe but would need some time to find the balls to take high corner entry speed). I'd take it to somewhere like Abingdon this year just to see what happened, but I know the brakes would just fade in a couple of laps as they're just standard pads & fluid but buying new parts isn't worthwhile if I'm just going to sell it in a years time. What tracks are 'twisty'?Gassing Station | Track Days | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff