Cheapish trackday car, ideas??
[quote="stuartstaples"]I would have to say that there has been some very good advice but I would add the following too. If your budget is
"You think you have a limit, As soon you touch this limit, something happens to you; suddenly you can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct and your experience as well, you can fly very high."
One other thought - I would think twice about buying a cheap stock car, and then spending money on it.
After market enhancements are 50% cheaper when bought already installed. :P
Building a race car/bike from new bits is *not* cheap. DAMHIFKIIJFKOK.
After market enhancements are 50% cheaper when bought already installed. :P
Building a race car/bike from new bits is *not* cheap. DAMHIFKIIJFKOK.
R1/Cerbera
GSXR1000/E30 325i Track
Spare cars: 535i/525i Touring/325i Touring
GSXR1000/E30 325i Track
Spare cars: 535i/525i Touring/325i Touring
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rayman gtir
- Posts: 427
- Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:28 pm
- Location: ipswich, suffolk
in my opinion i would go for a integra or classic scoob. but what about going away from jap what about getting a 205 gti with the mi16v engine running throttle bodies get the handling sorted on it and it would scare alot of cars.
it would be cheap to buy, maintain (as there is loads of buggerd ones around), after you have throttle bodies on it running around 180-190bhp in a little car you wouldnt want more than that. and you wouldnt have the OS factor aswell. :?
heres a few i found on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1990-Peugeot-205- ... dZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1991-PEUGEOT-205- ... dZViewItem
what about a clio williams/hybrid, heard these are fairly handy round a track.
imo a track car shouldnt be expesive.
it would be cheap to buy, maintain (as there is loads of buggerd ones around), after you have throttle bodies on it running around 180-190bhp in a little car you wouldnt want more than that. and you wouldnt have the OS factor aswell. :?
heres a few i found on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1990-Peugeot-205- ... dZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1991-PEUGEOT-205- ... dZViewItem
what about a clio williams/hybrid, heard these are fairly handy round a track.
imo a track car shouldnt be expesive.
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Bladerider
- Posts: 1597
- Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006 2:51 am
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- Contact:
I think you need to decide what sort of a driver you are first, then come to a car that fits the bill that way.
What I mean is - whats your experence, what do you prefer driving and wo you want a total change. Fwd, Rwd or 4wd ?????
If Fwd then the best choices in my opinion would be a Mk1 Golf GTi with lots of goodies on, probably an existing track car bought through a specialist site would be the ideal bargain, expect a nice tuned 16v or VR6 conversion for 4k. Next best would be a Peugeot 205 1.9Gti again a previous trackcar would be good, again 3k or so should find a nice one, with a few pennies left to fix faults, put you own stamp on it or uprate it further. I wouldnt personally bother with anything turbo'd as theres no point for track use with fwd. If you want Jap or Modern then Honda really is the only option, and a fooking good option it is, old 'teg R's or Civics can buzz round like mad buzzing things for hours !!! Of course you have to get a NAWSSSS sticker yo !!!
If 4wd is your preference then at risk opf upsetting people on here I believe Celicas to be a total nightmare of a car to consider. The clutches are weak, cost a fortune and are total bastards to change - costing lots of money at the tuner or lots of time and knuckles on your driveway. They are also relatively heavy, relatively underpowered and relatively expensive and difficult to tune. An original Scooby might sound great, but frankly I dont think the engines are up to much either, an Sti would be the ideal base as they have blueprinted uprated blocks as standard and you could probably find an RA lightweight version with diff control switch for your sort of budget and then it would be pretty good on track. However, again at the risk of upsetting people, then until you get to the very latest scoobs, in general terms an Evo of the same vintage is usually better/quicker/more tuneable so why waste your money of the funny sounding tractor !!! I would look at an Evo either a 3 or a 4 if you were lucky at around the 4k mark and spend a few pounds gradually getting it where you want. Theres bound to be one with Teins, a few engine mods, some nice lightweight wheels (Advan TC's for example) in a decent condition if you look around 
and this would fit the bill perfectly.
At this budget and therefore this age of vehicle then personally I think the only real choice is Rwd. Thats got nothing to do with my driving preference, just simply that there are quite a few bargain cars in this sector and once you have it down then Rwd is where the most fun is at !!! My first choice may surprise a few people, but I think that a Sapphire Cosworth would be hard to beat for this use. Its available for 2-3k, has a very good spec engine as standard that can take 350bhp easily and usually there are some ex track cars knocking around for good money. Spares are cheap as chips for this performance level, as well as it being the scrapyards favourite so it should be way down on cost for the bits you bend. Next up would be one of the 200sx family, as these are effectively identical to the Cossie but with an bit of Saki thrown in. Avoid the S13 200sx with the CA engine in my opinion, but I expect some SXOC anoracs will come in hurling abuse at this, and if you are tracking it look carefully at oil movement in the sump on long corners as this is a weakness for them and could be improived. Again the world is your oyster for upgrades and you are bound to find one for 4k with a stack of goodies already fitted, but maybe alot less available with the vital track package of rollcage and seat/harnesses (dont even think about going on track without one in an older car.)
Next on the Rwd hit list would be the NA boys - for me a E30 3 series with an E36 3.0 M3 engine would fit the bill nicely - the 3.2's suffer with valvetrain problems. I like the idea people will assume its just a breathed on 325 and then wonder where you went !!! This is an easy and cheap conversion and given that a ropey 325 could be had for 700quid, the engine loom and ecu with box for 1500 and then another 1500 for a man who can to fit it would mean planty left over for tuning, brakes and cut slicks. The E36 is a nice car, with the engine already fitted, but its heavier, has no better (possibly worse) rear end suspension setup and costs alot more as a complete car. You could get the Sierra XRwhatever as discussed, but frankly why bother wasting your time with the Cossies little brother when the real deal isnt that much more expensive and is so much more performance for the money (sorry lads, but it is the truth !!!). Vauxhall dont make a decent car anymore, but a Manta could be fun in a retro kind of a way, you could spend a fortune on the fat warthog that is a Carlton GSI3000 but frankly you might as well stick with the V6 Sierra !!! The oinly other contenders would be a Mercedes 2.3 Csworth if you could find a real one, afford to buy it and then cry as it was slower than the BMW would have been, or if you really want to annoy people then get a enuine E30 M3 Evo, tune the ahse off it and enjoy motoring Nirvana, but I suspect this would be way out of budget even for a slightly abused tracked car from the racecar free-ads !!!
MX-5's are for gays - but dont tell the nice man who wants me to play in his one, and frankly I am not a fn of open top cars on track - I know there is millions of them but I just prefer the idea of metal around you to crush and maim you !!! You could be a complete tweedy and buy a caterham wannabe locost, qualcast, Fairynonbioreengineereddeathtrap or whatever the latest "amazing piece of british engineering" started up from a shed in the midlands that month. An old TVR if you're brave (and stupid, and want to spend lots of time fixing it !!) an old MG if you are insane and want to sleep with your sister or just go the whole hog, strip an XJS gas it up and call yourself the Stig !!!
For me it would be a hard fought inner battle between the E30 M3, E30 325/3.0M or the Cossie.
Other wacky options that I have seen or know of to be fast....
MG Maestro Turbo
MG Montego Turbo
Fiesta XR or RS or escort versions of
Turbo'd capri's
Astra Gsi's or even Cavalier if you hae to !!!
Vectra SRi can win BTCC's !!!
Mondeo's too for that matter !!!
Pug 306 Rallye
Clio Williams can be amazing, and Abbott Racing in Walton are famed for what the can do to them, Saabs too if you like riding bears naked in Winter through Argos
BMW M5 is underaqted, underpriced, but slightly heavy but has LOADS of stuff you can rip out !!!! Cheap to supercharge too !!!
I'll have to stop mow as my head hurts and I am starting to lose the battle to not look on racecarsforsale.com to see what else I could buy !!!!
What I mean is - whats your experence, what do you prefer driving and wo you want a total change. Fwd, Rwd or 4wd ?????
If Fwd then the best choices in my opinion would be a Mk1 Golf GTi with lots of goodies on, probably an existing track car bought through a specialist site would be the ideal bargain, expect a nice tuned 16v or VR6 conversion for 4k. Next best would be a Peugeot 205 1.9Gti again a previous trackcar would be good, again 3k or so should find a nice one, with a few pennies left to fix faults, put you own stamp on it or uprate it further. I wouldnt personally bother with anything turbo'd as theres no point for track use with fwd. If you want Jap or Modern then Honda really is the only option, and a fooking good option it is, old 'teg R's or Civics can buzz round like mad buzzing things for hours !!! Of course you have to get a NAWSSSS sticker yo !!!
If 4wd is your preference then at risk opf upsetting people on here I believe Celicas to be a total nightmare of a car to consider. The clutches are weak, cost a fortune and are total bastards to change - costing lots of money at the tuner or lots of time and knuckles on your driveway. They are also relatively heavy, relatively underpowered and relatively expensive and difficult to tune. An original Scooby might sound great, but frankly I dont think the engines are up to much either, an Sti would be the ideal base as they have blueprinted uprated blocks as standard and you could probably find an RA lightweight version with diff control switch for your sort of budget and then it would be pretty good on track. However, again at the risk of upsetting people, then until you get to the very latest scoobs, in general terms an Evo of the same vintage is usually better/quicker/more tuneable so why waste your money of the funny sounding tractor !!!
I would look at an Evo either a 3 or a 4 if you were lucky at around the 4k mark and spend a few pounds gradually getting it where you want. Theres bound to be one with Teins, a few engine mods, some nice lightweight wheels (Advan TC's for example) in a decent condition if you look around and this would fit the bill perfectly.At this budget and therefore this age of vehicle then personally I think the only real choice is Rwd. Thats got nothing to do with my driving preference, just simply that there are quite a few bargain cars in this sector and once you have it down then Rwd is where the most fun is at !!! My first choice may surprise a few people, but I think that a Sapphire Cosworth would be hard to beat for this use. Its available for 2-3k, has a very good spec engine as standard that can take 350bhp easily and usually there are some ex track cars knocking around for good money. Spares are cheap as chips for this performance level, as well as it being the scrapyards favourite so it should be way down on cost for the bits you bend. Next up would be one of the 200sx family, as these are effectively identical to the Cossie but with an bit of Saki thrown in. Avoid the S13 200sx with the CA engine in my opinion, but I expect some SXOC anoracs will come in hurling abuse at this, and if you are tracking it look carefully at oil movement in the sump on long corners as this is a weakness for them and could be improived. Again the world is your oyster for upgrades and you are bound to find one for 4k with a stack of goodies already fitted, but maybe alot less available with the vital track package of rollcage and seat/harnesses (dont even think about going on track without one in an older car.)
Next on the Rwd hit list would be the NA boys - for me a E30 3 series with an E36 3.0 M3 engine would fit the bill nicely - the 3.2's suffer with valvetrain problems. I like the idea people will assume its just a breathed on 325 and then wonder where you went !!! This is an easy and cheap conversion and given that a ropey 325 could be had for 700quid, the engine loom and ecu with box for 1500 and then another 1500 for a man who can to fit it would mean planty left over for tuning, brakes and cut slicks. The E36 is a nice car, with the engine already fitted, but its heavier, has no better (possibly worse) rear end suspension setup and costs alot more as a complete car. You could get the Sierra XRwhatever as discussed, but frankly why bother wasting your time with the Cossies little brother when the real deal isnt that much more expensive and is so much more performance for the money (sorry lads, but it is the truth !!!). Vauxhall dont make a decent car anymore, but a Manta could be fun in a retro kind of a way, you could spend a fortune on the fat warthog that is a Carlton GSI3000 but frankly you might as well stick with the V6 Sierra !!! The oinly other contenders would be a Mercedes 2.3 Csworth if you could find a real one, afford to buy it and then cry as it was slower than the BMW would have been, or if you really want to annoy people then get a enuine E30 M3 Evo, tune the ahse off it and enjoy motoring Nirvana, but I suspect this would be way out of budget even for a slightly abused tracked car from the racecar free-ads !!!
MX-5's are for gays - but dont tell the nice man who wants me to play in his one, and frankly I am not a fn of open top cars on track - I know there is millions of them but I just prefer the idea of metal around you to crush and maim you !!!
You could be a complete tweedy and buy a caterham wannabe locost, qualcast, Fairynonbioreengineereddeathtrap or whatever the latest "amazing piece of british engineering" started up from a shed in the midlands that month. An old TVR if you're brave (and stupid, and want to spend lots of time fixing it !!) an old MG if you are insane and want to sleep with your sister or just go the whole hog, strip an XJS gas it up and call yourself the Stig !!!For me it would be a hard fought inner battle between the E30 M3, E30 325/3.0M or the Cossie.
Other wacky options that I have seen or know of to be fast....
MG Maestro Turbo
MG Montego Turbo
Fiesta XR or RS or escort versions of
Turbo'd capri's
Astra Gsi's or even Cavalier if you hae to !!!
Vectra SRi can win BTCC's !!!
Mondeo's too for that matter !!!
Pug 306 Rallye
Clio Williams can be amazing, and Abbott Racing in Walton are famed for what the can do to them, Saabs too if you like riding bears naked in Winter through Argos
BMW M5 is underaqted, underpriced, but slightly heavy but has LOADS of stuff you can rip out !!!! Cheap to supercharge too !!!
I'll have to stop mow as my head hurts and I am starting to lose the battle to not look on racecarsforsale.com to see what else I could buy !!!!
Some very very good advice on here.
What sort of trackdays are you thinking of doing ? Something like Snetterton with the long straights or Sculthorpe (the smaller circuit) with more corners.
I was thinking of doing something similar so I didnt have to take the Rex on the track. Missus is talking about houses now so its unlikely I will.
But I came to the conclusion that something like an S13 or an Integra/Civic type R (Jap versions of the DC2 start at just under 5k) would be a perfect choice. Dont neglect the Honda Prelude.....even though its heavy to start with if you stripped a lot of it out then it should be fairly competitive, plus prices for these start at
What sort of trackdays are you thinking of doing ? Something like Snetterton with the long straights or Sculthorpe (the smaller circuit) with more corners.
I was thinking of doing something similar so I didnt have to take the Rex on the track. Missus is talking about houses now so its unlikely I will.
But I came to the conclusion that something like an S13 or an Integra/Civic type R (Jap versions of the DC2 start at just under 5k) would be a perfect choice. Dont neglect the Honda Prelude.....even though its heavy to start with if you stripped a lot of it out then it should be fairly competitive, plus prices for these start at
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slarty bartfast
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