Intro to track days

[davey68]

Hi all, me and a mate are interested in having a go at some track days. The idea is to buy a car between us (something cheap,RWD,fun) to have some weekend blats in. If it got pranged it wouldnt be end of the world. He suggested a caterham but id guess these are still quite pricey. Also what tracks offer events for people to bring their own vehicles to, any comments advice? do you people drive home in the cars after (or do we need a trailer?) Cheers

>>> Edited by davey68 on Sunday 3rd April 12:24

[interloper]

There are many cheaper options than Caterhams, actually there's a great article in this months PPC magazine comparing a few seven-alikes to an actual Caterham.

Most small, light cars can be fun on track, dont rule out old hot hatches, mazda MX5's etc. To give you an idea of what people run on track heres a gallery from the last trackday I was on.
www.picman.co.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?20050326BatAng20050331&ALL_CARS&&1

I drive my own car to and from events, but trailering is a good idea. For one thing no road insurance is needed on the car you are trailering, which is obviously a big saving!

[Eric Mc]

Even though I own a Caterham, if you are planning on doing this on a budget, I'd strongly advocate going for one of the Seven alternatives - although you could pick up a tired Crossflow powered Seven for around the £7,000 to £8,000 mark.

Do it, whatever car you go for.

[davey68]

thanks for the comments guys. how much would a non caterham seven replica cost? an mr2 is a good shout, even a mk1 would be fun on a track. im presuming tyres/breaks get chewed up very quickly in a session so have to budget for that..

[interloper]

In rely to.
[im presuming tyres/breaks get chewed up very quickly in a session so have to budget for that..]

Tyres can ware rather quickly on track but so long as the car you are driving is light and you are not continualy going sideways ware shouldn't be a massive issue. A good idea if the car is used on the road as well as the track is a second set of wheels/tyres.

Difficult to comment on brakes because they vary so much from car to car. Some people like to change the fluid befor an event and it goes with out saying thorughly inspecting the brakes befor an event will prevent disapointment on the day.

A Mk1 MR2 is a great choice as a track car, its light and nimble and to be honest straight line speed is not the be all and end all on track, its all about cornerning speed.

[aceparts_com]

My friend and I have recently done this; bought a 97 imprezza STI (300bhp) and then spent about £1500 getting it up to speed and £1000 on a trailer. All in for £8000 money well spent.

[anonymous-user]

buy an old e30 with shagged engine
bung an e36m3 3.0 engine in it

now i just happen to have a fresh m3 engine and ALL the conversion parts...

[bencurry]

what do you consider cheap?

to me, my nova is damn expensive. but to others it is pocket change.

[chim666]

How about a LoCost? I've thought about one of these myself, though I have no real knowledge of them - just an idea!

www.locostbuilders.co.uk/

www.totalkitcar.com/am/listings/l0025.html

[fergus]

How about an Mi16 engined 205 with LSD and a welded in cage? This should cost about 2500 and with approx 180 hp in a car weighing 750 kg (with a slight tail happy bias) should see lots of embarassed imprezza drivers.... my £0.02 worth

[iguana]

Davey- all depends on ya budget, huge choice of cars, guess if you were originally thinking of a Caterham you are in the £10+ area? altho an old xflow Cat in a track ready state could had for a bit cheaper, while SLRs etc are nearer £20k & new stuff like R400etc in the £30ks.

Personally a 7 'esk' kit with Bike power ticks many boxes for me at a fraction of a Caterhams cost & is where I'd like to go next.

If you are right at the lower end, for RWD I'd be looking at e30 325i, Porker 924S & 944 in either 2.5 8v S 16v, S2 or Turbo forms depending on budget & up to 968CS.

Thing to be aware of tho is that unless you are buying a fully track prepped & track proven car it can cost a heck of a lot more dosh & time than you may think to get even a really cheap normal road car into a quick & continuably reliable track car.

Ref Fergus Pug idea, if FWD is an option- personally I'd always choose Mk1 or 2 Golf pref with modded 16v power over Pug 205 anyday.

[sdd]

Davey,

Drop me a note to [e-mail] and I'll bore you senseless about the pitfalls of owning your own car and why you could benefit from track-club membership!!

You can try out most of the suggestions on here, Caterhams, E30 M3, 205 with an S16 engine etc. Try them all and then decide what you want.

track-day car hire from £75 a day.....he says ruthlessly playing the system! Seriously joint membership is less than £900 each and Pistonheads benefits from your membership!

Stephen

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