What track car would you choose?

yertimer · Postby **yertimer** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 3:56 pm

Hi
Some advice for a mate of mine - unlike me, he has been lucky enough to be able to retire early and has decided to buy himself a track car to have some fun in his new found free time. He wants to spend up to $25 or $30k, and wants a car that is:
 fun to drive,
 safe,
 reliable,
 not too difficult or expensive to maintain.
He wants to use it at track days / private practice sessions at Eastern Creek and Wakefield, and maybe interstate circuits too.
I am not sure whether he wants to do supersprints or regularity, but am pretty sure he doesn’t want to do any racing (at this stage anyway).
He has a 2011 6L Commodore V8, which I am sure he can use as a tow car so he doesn’t need to be able to drive this new toy on the road.
So, I have suggested a PRB Clubman, or a race car off MY105 (like a race MX5?)..... I also suggested an early MX5 like many of us have, and to keep the change .... :lol:

He is thinking of open wheelers too (he says open wheelers are cheaper in the UK at the moment – Formula Vauxhall, Ford??) and there are also plenty of open wheelers for sale here in that price range too. I am not sure if he will have limited access to tracks with an open wheeler though?
I have even suggested an EVO or an STI as am sure they would be fun on the dirt (though I am not too sure how many khanacrosses and autocrosses are run anymore?) and he can also drive them on the road if he wants too.
Anyway he is still debating what he wants to buy, but says he will buy something in the next 6 months.
Given all that criteria what would you advise him to get? One of the above or something else?
I will let you know what he decides.

Hammer · Postby **Hammer** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:01 pm

Based on the criteria listed and his budget...nothing beats the MX5.

- NA (back to basic racing), - cheapest starting point with plenty of left over cash for mods to suit his taste. It will have the best fun per $$$s spent.
- NB (slightly more sophisticated - ABS etc) - still great value per fun motoring. But some parts are more expensive to replace compared to NA (ie. Wheel bearings etc – due to ABS), but it has a stiffer chassis compared to NA.

Plus there are plenty of MX5s around so, there are no problems finding spare parts and/or after market performance and bling parts, both here and overseas.

But if he likes something more hardcore...an early Lotus Elise is a great track weapon. The Elise is light, nimble, handles really well and has good power to weigh ratio in standard form. Not a comfortable daily driver though (suspension too hard, and very noisy - no sound deadening etc) and the roof is a bugger to remove and put back in place.

I'm now starting to see 1997 model Elise dipping below $30. Though your friend won't have any spare change left in his budget. In addition, I’m not too sure how readily available and the cost of parts are in Australia.

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:16 pm

^
If he's retired, will he be able to get in and out of an Elise?

The MX5 can be difficult enough to enter/exit but an Elise goes several degrees of difficulty more than that - I know a 32 year old who sold one for a Boxster because he just found it a pain in the arse to get in and out of and he only used it on weekends (the bugger sold it before I got a chance to drive it

- I'm biding my time to give him crap when it starts needing major servicing).

Other than an MX5, I'd recommend the new Toybaru.

Dan · Postby **Dan** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:50 pm

I wouldn't suggest buying a car that has to be towed if he doesn't need to though if he's really experienced an Open Wheeler might be a great choice for a dedicated track car.

If he wants a road/track car it's "cheap, fast, reliable - pick 2"

If he doesn't need outright performance and is happy to compete in an NA class with 30k I'd buy a stock 197 Clio, MX-5 NC or a Type-R Civic/Integra, gut the un-needed parts out of it and spend 10k on it – You can make a new, competitive and safe car for that money, he needs to expect his ego won't be stroked though.

If he's really experienced and wants to go fast an Elise would be a great choice, the consideration that the injection moulded clams are very expensive if he has an off and the fact it's more then the budget at ~40k need to be considered though before purchasing, the great thing about the Elise though is you can compete in a class the car is competitive in even in stock form and lets face it they were built to be tracked.

Probably the fastest and streetable choice that fits in the budget is the Evo as you mentioned, if you look at the recent Evo Nats the top 30 times were sub 1:07's and the top 2 times were 1:01 (http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/resul ... 12.WAKE.S1), 30k can buy you an Evo 8MR that will run a 1:05/6 on semis all day with a decent pilot but you are going to have some stiff competition in the class an Evo puts you into, even something like Evomick's on that list who ran a 1:02:48 probably could be built on a budget of 40k since that was done with only minor engine mods (stock turbo, stock engine etc…), suspension work, Slicks, caged & some minor Aero.

RaceTech · Postby **RaceTech** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 6:37 pm

As a owner of both a MX5 and Lotus Exige.... The budget he has i would highly recommend a MX5.

Best bang for buck track car in my opinion, parts are plentyful and cheap, if you crash it its no big deal unlike if it was a Lotus.

I think he would enjoy himself more with the low cost/reliability that the MX5 offers.

A well setup MX5 will be much quicker around a circuit than a S1 Elise or even a S2 rover elise. The toyota powered cars are a huge improvement but will cost more $ to purchase, then you still need the basics ... Semi slicks, suspension, oil cooler etc etc

Smokinscotty · Postby **Smokinscotty** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 6:49 pm

My advice is if you have 30k to spend, only spend half on the car purchase and leave the rest aside as running budget to cover tuning, servicing, tyres etc

Cheap safe reliable open wheeler would either be an older formula ford or a formula Vee. Although you defiantly won't be seeing any dirt action in that. There are plenty of khanacrosses still run, and the Victorians regularly run their mx5s in dirt motorkhanas too.

I bought my MX5 because it always has someone to run against regardless of what event you turn up to!
If I was shopping today, I'd snap up the red na from these forums for sale section with trailer for $13k, sounds ideal for your friends situation!

A friend of mine who regularly competes in his clubsport race car recently drove an mx5 in anger and is badgering me to get mine ready so he can mooch a drive in the 5!

Postby **NitroDann** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 7:18 pm

Theres a nice turbo na whixh does what? 1:06s at wakefield for 13 or so thousand here.

Dann

yertimer · Postby **yertimer** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 8:02 pm

Thanks for the advice - will pass it on to him
It would be great if he went for an mx5
Agreed he could pick a good one and have enough change left over to mod it as he likes
A reg Mx5 also gives him the option for a fun car on the road on the weekend
Will let you know why he decides

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:38 pm

My recommendation is an obvious one if you're familiar with my garage thread: buy a stock NA6 and do as many club trackdays and supersprints as your mate would like. His $30k budget will pay for the car and three years worth of entry fees, fuel, maintenance and rego/insurance. Worth every cent! :mrgreen:

He'll soon know whether or not he has the interest in stepping it up with a quicker car, and the skills he'll develop will carry over.

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:36 pm

Guran wrote:My recommendation is an obvious one if you're familiar with my garage thread: buy a stock NA6 and do as many club trackdays and supersprints as your mate would like. His $30k budget will pay for the car and three years worth of entry fees, fuel, maintenance and rego/insurance. Worth every cent! He'll soon know whether or not he has the interest in stepping it up with a quicker car, and the skills he'll develop will carry over.

Too right! This is a much better idea than what I did/am doing.

zossy1 · Postby **zossy1** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:22 am

An MX5 or...

An s13-s14 turbo Silvia (SR20DET) with some mods. Parts are plentiful, they are fast and dirt cheap, massively fun to drive.

manga_blue · Postby **manga_blue** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:22 am

The reverse way to look at this is to check out what sort of competition he wants to run in and what sort of club he wants to be with. There's racing, sprints, hillclimbs, autokhana, rallying, etc, etc and they all have their pros and cons.

Also you must belong to a CAMS affiliated club. Some clubs might suit better than others, both in the type of membership they get and the type of events they run. Obviously most of the people on this forum are happy with the MX5 clubs as their competition badge but the MX5 clubs only run sprints. I've heard really good things about the Alfa clubs, the Mini clubs, the E30 end of the BMW clubs, the MG clubs, the Maserati Club (strangely enough), Southern Districts, etc, etc and some of these run a wider range of events. There are some traps with clubs too. Some couldn't run a raffle. Talk to any of our supersprint guys about those.

It might be a good idea to go to a few different types of events hosted by a few different clubs and talk to the people there to get an idea of all the possibilities committing to a car.

toppertee · Postby **toppertee** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:49 pm

zossy1 wrote:An MX5 or...

An s13-s14 turbo Silvia (SR20DET) with some mods. Parts are plentiful, they are fast and dirt cheap, massively fun to drive.

+1 on the Silvia