What cheap sprint/hillclimb car?

[ASBO]

Budget is ~£1,000

Esteemed PHers,

I'm considering buying back my old 306 GTI6 (see profile) for a spot of hill-climbing and sprinting which I will share with me old chum D_T_W.

The car itself is a 68k miler and is in brilliant nick, save for one small caveat; it is a Cat C write-off. It is however straight and has been back on the road for over a year now since its accident (which I caused) with no problems. This would make it an ideal candidate for racing as it's cheap but has the benefit of not being totally shagged.

I've been offered it for £1,500 which I think is negotiable and both DTW and I are very keen. However, inevitably, other options were discussed as soon as the alcohol started to flow.

Now, the tricky bit is that the car we buy must conform to a certain class, so therefore buying a knackered old Subarishi would put us in a different class to that of the Pug, as it/they are 4x4 turbos, whereas the little Pug would slot nicely into the <2000cc Road Saloon class. Subsequently we'd be annihilated by all the big boys in their ultra high-tech 600bhp Evo IX's etc if we went banzai.

However, the Road Saloon class is much more down to earth and as such I think it is more suited to novices such as ourselves. This doesn't rule out turbos though (although I'd prefer N/A), just 4WD.

Whatever we buy doesn't need to be road registered either, but ease of maintenance and parts availability are. desirable options. Either FWD or RWD will be considered.

Do your worst

[ettore]

Turbo`s have an equivalency formula though, so you don`t get 2litre turbo`s in the under 2 litre classes (I think you can get up to 1.4 turbo`s). Everything should be 2 litre normally aspirated so, assuming you enter a true "roadgoing" class, I think the 306 would be a sound choice.

[ASBO]

ettore said:

Turbo`s have an equivalency formula though, so you don`t get 2litre turbo`s in the under 2 litre classes (I think you can get up to 1.4 turbo`s). Everything should be 2 litre normally aspirated so, assuming you enter a true "roadgoing" class, I think the 306 would be a sound choice.

Yes you are quite right. 1.4l is the maximum cpacity for forced induction in the road saloon class. Subsequently R5 GT Turbos are very popular.

[sniff diesel]

Less than £2k and ready to go:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/669152.htm

[300bhp/ton]

Don't know how easy they are to find:



Or sticking with the RWD theme:

[Curry Burns]

sniff diesel said:

Less than £2k and ready to go:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/669152.htm

Just don't look at the photo in his profile

[sniff diesel]

Curry Burns said:

sniff diesel said:

Less than £2k and ready to go:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/669152.htm

Just don't look at the photo in his profile

Woops...

[ASBO]

sniff diesel said:

Curry Burns said:

sniff diesel said:

Less than £2k and ready to go:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/669152.htm

Just don't look at the photo in his profile

Woops...

Well that 205 has the benefit of being fully prepped, whereas the 306 will need to be stripped etc for it's new life as a sprint sg.

[sniff diesel]

ASBO said:

sniff diesel said:

Curry Burns said:

sniff diesel said:

Less than £2k and ready to go:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/669152.htm

Just don't look at the photo in his profile

Woops...

Well that 205 has the benefit of being fully prepped, whereas the 306 will need to be stripped etc for it's new life as a sprint sg.

Get yourself a Deamon Tweeks catalogue and add up how much it would cost to prep a car, plus the many hundreds of hours of time taken to do all the work. A prepped car makes a lot of sense, plus parts are plentifull and cheap with a 205.

[german tony]

As mad as it seems the 205 GT, rather than the GTI is the weapon of choice for sprints/slalom here in the Fatherland. Something to do with it's gearbox ratios I'm led to believe.

[ASBO]

sniff diesel said:

ASBO said:

sniff diesel said:

Curry Burns said:

sniff diesel said:

Less than £2k and ready to go:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/669152.htm

Just don't look at the photo in his profile

Woops...

Well that 205 has the benefit of being fully prepped, whereas the 306 will need to be stripped etc for it's new life as a sprint sg.

Get yourself a Deamon Tweeks catalogue and add up how much it would cost to prep a car, plus the many hundreds of hours of time taken to do all the work. A prepped car makes a lot of sense, plus parts are plentifull and cheap with a 205.

You speak sense. However, half the fun will be sourcing bits off fleabay and doing the work ourselves.

A pre-prepped car will be ££££'s cheaper in the long run though.

[lord summerisle]

probly worth remembering that at some hillclimbs and sprints - a car like the linked pug 205 would be in the mod prod class, rather than going in the roadgoing - because of the stripped interior.

my suggestion - the PHstock answer - MX5. pick on up cheap for a grand and take it sprinting as stock, theres a MX5 class in the Hillclimb and Sprint Association which has invites to virtually all the hills up and down the country. as standard it will go in the under 2000cc roadgoing class.
Any safety gear is allowed - like rollcage and harnesses, but you generally cant strip the interior.

As you get better, you can strip the interior and move on to the modified production classes.

Same with your pugs.
Theres a father and son shared drive that compete at Harewood in the family's old Nissan Micra (apparently it was the dad's commuter, till he got a company car, then the daughter learnt to drive in it, then the son.. when they graduated to newer cars they didnt want to sell it, so took it hillclimbing) they are in their second season, and just starting to modify it slightly.

I know of a few drivers who have decided to leave their quick but expensive to maintain hillclimb cars, and bought something cheap off a scrapper for a couple of hundred and enjoyed the challenge of being competative in a simple car.

[ASBO]

lord summerisle said:

probly worth remembering that at some hillclimbs and sprints - a car like the linked pug 205 would be in the mod prod class, rather than going in the roadgoing - because of the stripped interior.

my suggestion - the PHstock answer - MX5. pick on up cheap for a grand and take it sprinting as stock, theres a MX5 class in the Hillclimb and Sprint Association which has invites to virtually all the hills up and down the country. as standard it will go in the under 2000cc roadgoing class.
Any safety gear is allowed - like rollcage and harnesses, but you generally cant strip the interior.

As you get better, you can strip the interior and move on to the modified production classes.

Same with your pugs.
Theres a father and son shared drive that compete at Harewood in the family's old Nissan Micra (apparently it was the dad's commuter, till he got a company car, then the daughter learnt to drive in it, then the son.. when they graduated to newer cars they didnt want to sell it, so took it hillclimbing) they are in their second season, and just starting to modify it slightly.

I know of a few drivers who have decided to leave their quick but expensive to maintain hillclimb cars, and bought something cheap off a scrapper for a couple of hundred and enjoyed the challenge of being competative in a simple car.

Thank you, most helpful.

My intention was actually to strip the 306, fit stiffer suspension and fit necessary battery cut-off etc. and enter the car into the production class. However maybe this is not possible?

There is no point in entering the car into that class if the inteior etc needs to be retained. The car will be a dedicated racer, so neither the comfort of leather seats nor the rich sounds of Radio 1 will be required whilst negotiating a tight hairpin.

Hmmm, perhaps I need to do more homework on this.

[Mr Whippy]

GTi6 is a good choice. Better the devil you kinda know

Also it's a bit different. Everybody runs 205's... but if you are in it more just for fun anyway, and don't want to be ultra-competitive, then there seems little point worrying about the time lost through having a bigger car to lug around!

Cam, remap and exhaust is 190bhp or so isn't it, shouldn't be too shabby up a hill if you get it down to 1000kg dry

Dave

[ettore]

You normally need ot keep enough of the interior for it to be considered "standard". This leaved plenty of room for discretion though. The reg`s normally say the back seat and door trims need to be there but there are all sorts of wheezes around!

[Mr Whippy]

Can you run non-standard wheels?

I know the stock wheels are not too bad weight wise, but if you go for a 15" multispoke racing type wheel you can find 14kg there, along with ligher tyres, thats maybe 18kg of unsprung and rotational.

Spare wheel and cage off is another 20kg.

Don't get aircon or sunroof model, that is probably 30-50kg if you have both!

Ummmm... all the speakers can be out, and lift all the carpets and remove the sound proofing, then replace the carpets.

Stock exhaust backbox weighs a lot too. Gut it and weld it back up for stealth stock looks

Hmmmm

Dave

[lord summerisle]

ASBO said:

Thank you, most helpful.

My intention was actually to strip the 306, fit stiffer suspension and fit necessary battery cut-off etc. and enter the car into the production class. However maybe this is not possible?
Hmmm, perhaps I need to do more homework on this.

I thinkbest coure of action is to get hold of the regulations for the hills you want to enter and see whats allowed and whats not.

then leave the car pretty much as standard, and invest the money you were going to spend on attending one of the hillclimb school days that are run at gurston down, harewood, prescott etc.

[thinfourth2]

lord summerisle said:

ASBO said:

Thank you, most helpful.

My intention was actually to strip the 306, fit stiffer suspension and fit necessary battery cut-off etc. and enter the car into the production class. However maybe this is not possible?
Hmmm, perhaps I need to do more homework on this.

I thinkbest coure of action is to get hold of the regulations for the hills you want to enter and see whats allowed and whats not.

then leave the car pretty much as standard, and invest the money you were going to spend on attending one of the hillclimb school days that are run at gurston down, harewood, prescott etc.

Or ask in the scottish forum where many hillclimbers hang out

[Morningside]

300bhp/ton said:

..
Or sticking with the RWD theme:
{PIC}]

Oddly I was going to recommend the TR7 as well. Quick look and and found a Youtube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hai2oRUSe40

Edited by Morningside on Saturday 30th August 07:44

[rallycross]

did someone say mx5? having owned a couple of them I cant think of many things that would be slower or less exciting to peddle up the hill than a 1.6 mx5.

But the 306 gt-6 - great idea!