Cheap track car - not 4 cylinder!
Discussion
I recently did a trackday in my C63 507. While it was a fantastic experience, the C63 is not the ideal track car and I had a £2000 post day service bill due to new discs pads and tyres all round!
Got me looking at cheap more suitable cars I could be looking at.
Bear in mind, I REALLY dislike the sound of 4 cylinder engined cars (my wife has a MK7 golf GTI which I cant even be bothered to drive fast, so little aural gratification!) and would rather have a track car that is slower, but makes a satisfying noise! The noise is at least 50% of the motorsport experience IMO.
With that said, I've seen older Z4 3.0 cars going for not much money at all. I had an E46 330i and loved that engine. I even preferred the sound to the somewhat raspy E46 M3. Not sure if it would make a good track car - but it's very appealing. The default E36 M3 seems to have jumped up in price recently, so that kind of rules that out.
I think a realistic budget of £5K wouldn't be too far from the mark. Overall running cost needs to be factored, but I'm realistic it will cost more to run and be heavier than an equivalent 4cyl option. Id happily strip it out, probably adding roll-cage and buckets etc.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Got me looking at cheap more suitable cars I could be looking at.
Bear in mind, I REALLY dislike the sound of 4 cylinder engined cars (my wife has a MK7 golf GTI which I cant even be bothered to drive fast, so little aural gratification!) and would rather have a track car that is slower, but makes a satisfying noise! The noise is at least 50% of the motorsport experience IMO.
With that said, I've seen older Z4 3.0 cars going for not much money at all. I had an E46 330i and loved that engine. I even preferred the sound to the somewhat raspy E46 M3. Not sure if it would make a good track car - but it's very appealing. The default E36 M3 seems to have jumped up in price recently, so that kind of rules that out.
I think a realistic budget of £5K wouldn't be too far from the mark. Overall running cost needs to be factored, but I'm realistic it will cost more to run and be heavier than an equivalent 4cyl option. Id happily strip it out, probably adding roll-cage and buckets etc.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Thanks
addz86 said:
Not all 4cyl sound crap, R53 cooper S's make a good noise with the supercharger whining and they pop and bang quite a bit.
Engine sounds are a bit like music - one mans music is another mans noise.Guy opposite has R53 cooper S. Doesn't do anything for me sound wise I'm afraid.
I liked the Scooby 4-pot boxer - but that doesn't really count as it doesn't sound like a 4 banger.
Strange reason not to enjoy driving a car fast is that it doesn't sound good. What about feedback or the reward from getting a line just right? I think its the fact it's a golf, not the number of cylinders.
Some of the modern three cylinder cars sounds awesome - not sure they are ideal track day cars though...
T5-R?
The obvious route would be to look at an existing hot hatch / MX5
Some of the modern three cylinder cars sounds awesome - not sure they are ideal track day cars though...
T5-R?
The obvious route would be to look at an existing hot hatch / MX5
Munter said:
RX8s are cheap, modernish, RWD and not a 4cyl...
I like the RX8, and if by coincidence a fried of mine has just put his beloved 231PS one for sale for a little over 2 Grand.Cant pretend I wouldn't worry about fatal wankel engine wear, but I can see them being fun on the track.
Just over 1000kg stripped out is very interesting
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-racing-25/rx-8-race-w...
CubanPete said:
Strange reason not to enjoy driving a car fast is that it doesn't sound good. What about feedback or the reward from getting a line just right? I think its the fact it's a golf, not the number of cylinders.
Some of the modern three cylinder cars sounds awesome - not sure they are ideal track day cars though...
T5-R?
The obvious route would be to look at an existing hot hatch / MX5
Is it that strange? It's why I lost all the love for formula 1.Some of the modern three cylinder cars sounds awesome - not sure they are ideal track day cars though...
T5-R?
The obvious route would be to look at an existing hot hatch / MX5
Trust me its definitely the golfs cylinder count / arrangement that does the opposite of get me going. Had an R32 mark4 - Wonderful car/noise. Also had a C70 T5 - again lovely noise and fond (straight line!) memories.
If I only wanted a great track car, I would just be looking at a Caterham - but my unchangeable pre-requisite is A GREAT NOISE!
Gassing Station | Track Days | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff