Track Car under £600

[RCD24]

Hi all, a friend and i are looking to get an inexpensive track car and put in around £300 each initially. This will then be prepped for the track with a few essentials for a total of around £1000.

Some thoughts i've had:
Peugeot 206 GTi 140 (or 180 if one can be found for the right price)
Toyota Celica
MK4 Golf GTi
Saxo VTR/VTS
IS200?

Trying to steer clear of the convertibles for the safety aspect and the fact I daily an MX5, Cheers in advance.

[RCD24]

Had looked into the RX8's, becoming a real bargain now most people are afraid to buy them with their reliability issues. Even read an article not long ago claiming they done well being used solely at the track and were being used as hire cars in some places.

[RCD24]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, always liked those T-Sports and will certainly add it to the watch list. Any other suggestions welcomed as well as ideas for what I could do to the car I eventually go for. Cheers

[RCD24]

sheepman said:

MG ZR/ZS? these always seem to do ok on the track days i've been on and i guessing they're pretty cheap.

Good shout, seems to be a good few of them around this price point

[RCD24]

egor110 said:

puma

Not a bad idea, seen this one local to me. Thoughts? https://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/for...

[RCD24]

SidewaysSi said:

Just put my Alfa 147 2.0TS up for sale for little more than that.

3 door, non sunroof, 62k miles, full history and cambelt done etc. It is an agile thing and would make a good base for a track day car IMO.

Not a bad shout by any means, don't want to disappoint you in terms of price but because my friend is a student we really don't have all that much to play with at the moment.

[RCD24]

ChemicalChaos said:

First question - do you want the safety net of FWD handling, or the tail happy fun of RWD? If RWD, you can also partake in drift days which doubles the versatility of the car.

Second question - can you cheaply and easily get bolt on performance bits? A friend and I once looked at an old Jag for the silliness value, but there was nothing off the shelf to modify it with. Meanwhile, E36, MX5 and Clio owners are bewildered with choice.

Third question - are you intending to drive to and from events, or trailer it with a support vehicle? If the former, something practical enough to get a spare set of tyres and some tools into is a massive bonus.
Secondly, something highly strung or unreliable is going to make things a lot worse if you have to get home in it again afterwards.

Whatever you choose, overall it also should be fun! Here's my track toy! (reminds me, we must update our thread on it!)
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/va...

Thanks for the reply, personally I love the RWD MX5 and drive it fairly hard on the local B roads resulting in me learning how to control the car fairly well when the tail does step out. Being 18 though means that my friend has never experienced anything other than a 1.2 corsa and would likely go off given anyhting RWD with some power. So probably best to stick to FWD for now.

Totally agree on the second hand parts / scene of a car. Makes it much cheaper and easier to find some nice bits.

As I previously mentioned, being 18 limits us to what we can do when it comes to getting the car to the track. Insuring a 1.8 MX5 is costly enough and i probably won't be insuring the other car for the road unless I can get a great deal. Which means it will likely be down to my dad to trailer to and from events.

[RCD24]

KerwinR said:

Suzuki Ignis Sport,
cheap as chips, but get one that has had the big ticket items done as suspension parts are £££

Always thought these looked interesting and would definitely have one, prices seem to be climbing recently though so would struggle to find one in budget now.

[RCD24]

Thanks for all the replies guys

I've never been to a track day so I'm unsure of the process, if a car is brought on a trailer with no MOT will it have to pass some sort of inspection before being allowed on track? And any car with an MOT is automatically deemed safe to be on track?

Also - is track day insurance mandatory?

Cheers

[RCD24]

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...

[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.

[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

[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.