mx5cartalk.com

Hi all,

So I've owned my mx5 for just over a year now. Over the time I've had no issues with it but if it could talk I'm pretty sure it can tell me some interesting stories.

I believe it was tracked from time to time. Here are a few things I've noticed on it.

- Slotted rear rotors
- rolled guards
- coolant re-route kit
- braided brake lines

Can anyone suggest other things to look at on a car that may have been tracked? Wondering if theres a oil return on the sump from a past turbo install... Lol.

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None of that stuff is very indicative of the car being tracked. People like to make there cars look like they're the local track hero, but have never been.

You could look for holes under the seat for 5 or 6 PT harness mounts, again, not solid evidence it's been to the track, but probably stronger evidence than anything you listed.

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With exception to the braided lines the rest of the mods can also suit a daily driver/hard parker.


What suspension is on the car? Bushes changed for poly?

Slotted rear rotors don't mean its been tracked, as solid rotors work better on track as have better heat dissipation.
Rolled guards also could just mean that the last owner lived on clubroadster and thought +0 was the sh*t..

Coolant reroute might mean the PO was just pedantic about things being correct.

Braided brake lines are more likely to be used on a track car.


Other possible signs are holes in the floor/parcel shelf where a roll cage and/or fire extinguisher was mounted.
Excess wear on the seat bolts indicating a race seat was swapped in and out often.
Wheel nuts, brake caliper nuts, with excess wear, also showing frequent changing.

Residue from stickers showing location of tow points or battery.
Underbody damage from circuit kitty litter due to off track excursions.

to name a few....

Also a previous life as a track car isnt necessarily a bad thing. Most people who use their car as a track car service their car way more regularly, and maintain it better than most as they dont want an on track failure. This is much better than the old granny who uses it once a month to goto church and wouldnt veen know where the dipstick is to check oil.

Inspection and maintenance history is more important...

Thanks for the input.

Will check about the harness mounts. I know the carpet is lifting at the passenger foot well.Could that mean anything?

The plastic undertray of the engine is also non existent.

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I was going to mention undertray damaged or missing. They get mangled or ripped off when you go backwards into the kitty litter.

Personally I would much prefer a well maintained ex-track car than the typical MX5.

I have no issues with mine. I'm just curious more than anything about any other signs to look for.

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And the big numbers on the doors are a dead giveaway.....

rascal wrote::
Braided brake lines are more likely to be used on a track car.
:

- or the PO could have simply replaced the aging OEM lines with braided ones; for the added benefits of braided lines vs the difference in cost, it's worth it to most people if they need replacing. Even on my DD SP23, I'd upgrade to braided lines if I needed to replace the OEM ones.

Signs of a track car (using my own as the example):

Black rubber snot stains that just won't wash away.
Bits of soft rubber that drop out of all sorts of under body hidey holes, and bits that don't fall out.
Wakefield dust in same hidey holes.
Melted rear bumper near exhaust tip.
Shadows on the paintwork from (blue) triangle, some sort of transponder.
Paint ripped off doors where the tape from around the race numbers has been removed.
Cheap paint repairs, 'cause it hurts to wreck an expensive repair.
Holes in interior chassis from (at least) 3 different roll cages.
Eye bolts on lower seat belt attachment points (to attach harness).
Tie down points that aren't standard.
Soft top detached from the frame on the middle (highest) rail due to repetitive 180+ km/h wind suck.

That's all off the top of my head, so there might be more.

manga_blue wrote:I was going to mention undertray damaged or missing. They get mangled or ripped off when you go backwards into the kitty litter.

Don't remove your undertray though. They're designed to help with airflow out of the engine bay.