First dedicated track day car
Discussion
I've recently moved from Lotus Exige to 911 ownership, and miss the odd track day that I used to do in the Lotus so have decided to buy a dedicated track day car. With an extremely limited budget of about £6K for the weekend toy, any ideas? I'd kinda settled on a Westfield but would be interested in thoughts before I go and buy!
Cheers guys.
Cheers guys.
Get one of your friends to come up with another £6k and buy our Radical Clubsport !! See add in race cars for sale. I own the Radical with a mate,we share all costs 50 50 which makes running the car and track days very affordable, and we have a seriously quick car which is only beaten by other Radicals and full on race cars 
silv said:
Get one of your friends to come up with another £6k and buy our Radical Clubsport !! See add in race cars for sale. I own the Radical with a mate,we share all costs 50 50 which makes running the car and track days very affordable, and we have a seriously quick car which is only beaten by other Radicals and full on race cars Bert
That looks like a serious bit of kit. I take it it's not road legal (i.e. I'd have to get a trailer and a tow bar fitted to the 911), and rent a garage...
It does look like a hardcore bit of kit though, if I were to buy one, how do I get it checked out, knowing absolutely nothing about them? (i.e. is there a company anyone knows of that can do a pre-sale inspection).
It does look like a hardcore bit of kit though, if I were to buy one, how do I get it checked out, knowing absolutely nothing about them? (i.e. is there a company anyone knows of that can do a pre-sale inspection).
One other thing - any thoughts on a single seater? There seem to be a few ex single seater race cars for sale at stupidly low money - or would I need a race team to service it!? I kinda figured that if this was a ford zetec unit or equivalent, it should be fairly simple mechanically.
Didn't realise that - I thought anything went on a track day. I have thought hard tracking the Porsche, and very tempted to get some stiffer suspension and start using it, but dreading the running costs around brakes and tyres (and the cost of any small prangs...). At least with a Westie / Cat any small prangs are usually cheap to repair, with minimal running costs.
Just to throw my tuppence in... I would say get a dedicated track car. My 911 wasn't great fun on the track with the standard susp giving lots of roll and understeer. So, you'd have to spend money getting it up to track spec then have higher than necessary running costs on the consumables. And, would you ever push as hard in your expensive, every day car that you had to drive home in?
I think the demands for a track car are too different to those for a road car, even a sports one. As you get more serious, do you continue pumping money into the Porsche to make it more track focused or, do what you maybe should have done at the start and get something dedicated to avoid further compromising your everyday driver?
Personally, I'd get a stripped out track toy and drive the wheels off it. We have a classic mini pushing out 140 ish bhp and on slicks which will see off most road cars and is a real hoot to drive.
All imho of course!
Chris
I think the demands for a track car are too different to those for a road car, even a sports one. As you get more serious, do you continue pumping money into the Porsche to make it more track focused or, do what you maybe should have done at the start and get something dedicated to avoid further compromising your everyday driver?
Personally, I'd get a stripped out track toy and drive the wheels off it. We have a classic mini pushing out 140 ish bhp and on slicks which will see off most road cars and is a real hoot to drive.
All imho of course!
Chris
JT71 said:
That looks like a serious bit of kit. I take it it's not road legal (i.e. I'd have to get a trailer and a tow bar fitted to the 911), and rent a garage...
It does look like a hardcore bit of kit though, if I were to buy one, how do I get it checked out, knowing absolutely nothing about them? (i.e. is there a company anyone knows of that can do a pre-sale inspection).
James, If you are interested in further info from another source on our car give Saxon Motorsport a call on 01580 720845. Ask for Mark, he has looked after the car for the last five years. Note : You won't need to buy a trailer or anything else to run our car on track days it is up for sale with everything you need including the fuel in the tank! It does look like a hardcore bit of kit though, if I were to buy one, how do I get it checked out, knowing absolutely nothing about them? (i.e. is there a company anyone knows of that can do a pre-sale inspection).
Westies are great but you'll be looking at older and less powerful versions for £5k, so Id suggest looking at older Strikers / Furys / Phoenixes from the Sylva stable, or some of the other seven type manufacturers such as MK, Stuart Taylor etc as you're likely to get more perfomance for the money.
silv said:
JT71 said:
That looks like a serious bit of kit. I take it it's not road legal (i.e. I'd have to get a trailer and a tow bar fitted to the 911), and rent a garage...
It does look like a hardcore bit of kit though, if I were to buy one, how do I get it checked out, knowing absolutely nothing about them? (i.e. is there a company anyone knows of that can do a pre-sale inspection).
James, If you are interested in further info from another source on our car give Saxon Motorsport a call on 01580 720845. Ask for Mark, he has looked after the car for the last five years. Note : You won't need to buy a trailer or anything else to run our car on track days it is up for sale with everything you need including the fuel in the tank! It does look like a hardcore bit of kit though, if I were to buy one, how do I get it checked out, knowing absolutely nothing about them? (i.e. is there a company anyone knows of that can do a pre-sale inspection).
Graham
PS yes I am a fan of the clubsport! Mine has two seats so I can take friends out too!
Edited by gridgway on Saturday 16th June 22:40
I would agree about the Radical, awesome bit of kit for track days! Caterhams are also really good and great fun.
Got a 911 and not using it on track, that's scandalous :P What model is it?
For inspection, you must have a friend or a friends friend that knows about cars or has mechanical knowledge, if so, bring him/her along to inspect it. Although you are looking for a dedicated track day car, most of them out there are built to withstand most things, so there pretty reliable.
www.seanedwards.eu
Got a 911 and not using it on track, that's scandalous :P What model is it?
For inspection, you must have a friend or a friends friend that knows about cars or has mechanical knowledge, if so, bring him/her along to inspect it. Although you are looking for a dedicated track day car, most of them out there are built to withstand most things, so there pretty reliable.
www.seanedwards.eu
Edited by Sean Edwards on Monday 18th June 18:01
I know some people will laugh when they see this but I have heard they are awesome on the track how about one of these and changed for a radio 
http://www.talonsportscars.com/100rt.asp
seriously quick and good fun in the twisties apparently
http://www.talonsportscars.com/100rt.asp
seriously quick and good fun in the twisties apparently
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