trackday car

[gravel_monkey]

hi all, iam looking into a new trackday car, the sole purpose of the car is for the track so when i get my hands on it i will be stripping as much dead weight as i can and of course putting in the usual cage, seats etc etc.....
i was looking at an old mx5 as there nippy anyway and rear wheel drive but wondering if there were any other suggestions?

[Slippy Diff]

Originally Posted by gravel_monkey

hi all, iam looking into a new trackday car, the sole purpose of the car is for the track so when i get my hands on it i will be stripping as much dead weight as i can and of course putting in the usual cage, seats etc etc.....
i was looking at an old mx5 as there nippy anyway and rear wheel drive but wondering if there were any other suggestions?

Vauxhall Carlton 3000GSI or Nissan 200SX. Unless your name is Tarquil and you cut hair for a living, get something proper.

[geepee]

As someone who has owned all of the these - may I comment?

Forget the Gsi - too much dead weight & too costly to modify & finding one that hasn't rusted away & hasn't got starship mileage is nigh-on impossible.

The 200 SX would be good & is very much in favour with the drifting crowd.

The MX5 makes a great trackday car for the following reasons.
It is relatively cheap.
It is light in weight.
It is rear-wheel drive with excellent steering, brakes & gearshift as standard.
It has fully adjustable suspension as standard (caster, camber, toe-in ) on all 4 wheels & believe me this does make one hell of a difference.
There are lots & lots of tuning goodies available for the 5, with the right supercharger or turbocharger you can easily take these to over 200 bhp for £1500 or so - 300 bhp is in reach if you want to spend a say £5000. Enough for a car that weighs a ton?

There is the Spec Miata racing series in the US which is a goldmine of information re different suspension settings, wheels tyres etc.

And lastly its different - people do get very wound up by being beaten by a "hairdresser's car" - which makes it even more fun.

Have a look for more info on this forum http://www.mx5ocforum.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=16

[Dave Brand]

How about a kit car - a cheap 'Lotus Seven-inspired' car would be a good track day car. You'd have to be very careful buying second-hand, of course, but there are some gems out there among the dross.

[diz]

What about a Multisports Van Diemen? They were built for track use as a racing car, so no conversion is needed. I believe they are quite cheap to buy and are used by some racing schools for High Speed Passenger rides, so you have an ideal 'scare your friends' machine. I would guess they could get round Fosters at Oulton in about 1m08.0s, so aren't slow either.

[HiRich]

Circuit Driver recently ran their budget trackday car appraisal, and rated the Multisport very highly indeed. £5k to purchase, runs like a donkey, decent performance (135bhp pushing 550kg) even in standard spec, and will take more abuse than a Gordon Ramsey trainee.

[Tim Wilkinson]

Very much depends on the budget. Most people I know have gone for 205s or 106 GTis (or Rallyes with the GTi engine), but I would pick one of the Nova variants - Sport, GTE, or XE conversion (if done properly). Or a late Astra GTE if you wanted something bigger.

All cheap to modify, loads of parts about, and pretty easy to work on.

[jim69]

You could always look for a MX5 racing series car.

[jim..c]

Originally Posted by Dave Brand

How about a kit car - a cheap 'Lotus Seven-inspired' car would be a good track day car. You'd have to be very careful buying second-hand, of course, but there are some gems out there among the dross.

I agree with Dave - for the money - there's nothing potentially faster or better handling than one of the bike engined 7's, particularly secondhand. Just get someone really competant - if you arn't sure - to check it out for you. At the end of this years racing season there are also some ex-racers that have had huge sums spent on them up for sale, have a look at http://www.750mc.co.uk/ for the classifieds in there. I've a factory built Stuart Taylor 'Blade that was bought in this way for exactly the reasons you describe. Why I've got the General Lee Cortina (that also appears in the budget article mentioned earlier in Circuit Driver) is a bit harder to explain, however. Orange cars are definately faster!

[geepee]

I supppose a lot of the choice is whether you want fun or fast.
A standard MX5 or 2.8 litre capri for instance, are not particularly fast around a circuit, but are very entertaining with easily approachable limits & forgiving handling, allowing you to "play" with oversteer.
Whereas other faster options can be very much more "sudden" & scary.

[Simon Mason]

The MX5 is great option. I own one myself BUT be warned in a straight line you will have one the sowest cars bar none. Even Standard 205 Pug's are slightly quicker on the straights. The corners however are a very different mater but with overtaking rules such as they are on track days you might get fustrated. In short a great car, loads of fun but needs at least 30bhp extra to bring it upto the pace of the average track gowers car.

[GVK]

Originally Posted by jim..c

I agree with Dave - for the money - there's nothing potentially faster or better handling than one of the bike engined 7's, particularly secondhand. Just get someone really competant - if you arn't sure - to check it out for you. At the end of this years racing season there are also some ex-racers that have had huge sums spent on them up for sale, have a look at http://www.750mc.co.uk/ for the classifieds in there. I've a factory built Stuart Taylor 'Blade that was bought in this way for exactly the reasons you describe. Why I've got the General Lee Cortina (that also appears in the budget article mentioned earlier in Circuit Driver) is a bit harder to explain, however. Orange cars are definately faster!

Ahh, I knew I had seen you before Jim!! ( we did speak at the circuit driver budget track day @ Snetterton)

I didn't twig at Cadwell that's who you were!

Gary

[SpawnyWhippet]

Why not look at an ex-rally car? For around 7k, you can get a proper thing (eg 4WD, Group A tarmac Ford Cosworth) with all the right bits, not much will be faster than you, and with the gentle life of a 'once a month' track car, it will last forever. I reckon I could lap any circuit in the UK in a sub-10 grand Cosworth rally car faster than any production road car (and that includes the exotic stuff).

[Tim Draffan]

Having driven one of the school Elise at Thruxton I decided that a series one would be my choice, especially as there is now a good choice of cars advertised for less than 10k.

[SpawnyWhippet]

sweet handling things, thats for sure. A tarmac rally car would kill it on laptimes, but you probably wouldn't have any less fun in the Elise.

[Tim Draffan]

What I liked was that it felt very much like a two seater single seater if you know what I mean!

When (if) I can afford one I would use it to reduce testing in my race car as it must be better value £ per lap, and I am sure "testing" is more driver training than car development at my level.

[SpawnyWhippet]

I don't know what your level is, Tim, but I am not sure how useful you will find it to pound round a track in a different type of car to the one that you race. If you are getting instruction, you may benefit, but otherwise, it really just for fun. You need to learn how to handle the race car at the limits, then get instruction on the ways in which you can push those limits further. Also, if you are testing in the race car, you will find things that you can adjust, but make sure you are taking careful notes as to whether the changes make you faster, slower, or no difference. (eg, took 2 turns off suspension setting 1, lowered front ride height by 3mm. Times increased by 0.2s) If no difference, then you probably aren't pushing the car very hard. This is at its most effective if the driver does not know what, if any changes have been made.

[Tim Draffan]

Point taken Andy, I race a FF1600, and you are quite correct that the important 10ths need to come from learning the car and fine tuning it, but to learn a new circuit or to re-familirise one, it is a way of saving the race car i.e tyres, engine milage as well as the hassle of towing etc. and as you say getting some 1:1 instruction would beis easier.

[Cobraman]

My buddy and I have bought one of these and we've done two sessions so far (Brands and Snetterton) - the car is great. Unfortunately we just demolished the big ends at Snetterton. Never mind, it'll be something to keep us busy over the darkest winter months!

Anyway, you might want to cut your teeth on my previous car which is now for sale. Its an Alfa saloon and its totally stripped out, caged and trackday ready. All for just £995!

Check it out at pistonheads.com