Cheap track day car suggestions. Budget up to 2k

[forza2.0]

Thinking of getting a little hothatch or maybe some sort of rwd car as a track day project. Basically as long as it all mechanically works, and is known to be mechanically reliable and parts are cheap and easy to come by I would be interested in turning it into a track day monster.

I wouldnt bother modding the engine (i say that now but who knows lol) but just get it on some coilovers and maybe a brake uprgrade if required. I would strip everything out of the car.

Now I just need some ideas/suggestions/contenders.

Im thinking so far,

200sx
Clio williams
E36 Beemer
Seat/VW Arosa/Lupo

And thats it.

Im leaning towards the clio at the moments, does anyone have any knowledge on them as to why, or why not it would be a good idea?

 

[ExigeEvan]

About 4 of my teachers in comprehensive school had Nissan 200SX's, including one they all did together ready for the track, though I don't know how well that went.

Also, may be worth checking in Evo magazine for the budget (£1000) "race" cars they did a few issues back. They did a few challeneges with them aswell and I think the 200SX came out pretty well.

 

[Jim Prower]

Thing is, does the 200SX over there suffer from the same symptoms as the 240SX over here does...I.E., Is it over valued due to a certian fad called "Drifting?"

 

[Leonidae]

Buy a Lada 1.7i, cut the springs, slap a turbo on it, weld the rear end and call it a day.

 

[stumpydino]

205GTi or an mx5 perhaps? sure you could find a 90s one for that budget. or a rover coupe, anything with a k series would be good really, if you could find a cheap caterham or similar maybe

 

[forza2.0]

Thing is, does the 200SX over there suffer from the same symptoms as the 240SX over here does...I.E., Is it over valued due to a certian fad called "Drifting?"

200sx's prices have been creeping up over the past two years as drifting popularity increases so I would have to say yes.

205GTi or an mx5 perhaps? sure you could find a 90s one for that budget. or a rover coupe, anything with a k series would be good really, if you could find a cheap caterham or similar maybe

Yes I have also considered the 205gti, but alot of the examples I have seen look seriously abused for the money compared to clio williams'. Looking at the williams owners forums it appears that williams clios cost more to insure than other hothatch equivelants however. Im hoping this wont make much of a difference to me as the car will be insured third party fire and theft with my dad, as I will only be driving the car on the track.

Also now looking at the williams im not sure I would want to strip one out as it might increase in value over the next 5 to 10 years.

 

[Famine]

mx5

[/Thread]

You can get a nice Mk1 for £2k. You can get a nice Mk1 for £1,500, sell the interior on eBay and spend the difference on the gubbins you need - rollcage, seat(s), harnesses and suchlike.

Like this.

 

[dylansan]

You can get a nice Mk1 for £2k. You can get a nice Mk1 for £1,500

I know what I'd pick.

 

[G.T]

Seat/VW Arosa/Lupo

Are you kidding?

 

[neanderthal]

You cant go wrong with a Mazda miata/ mx5.

The after market is huge.

 

[Famine]

I know what I'd pick.

Depends if you have a £2k budget for the car or for the project. £2k will get you a nice MX-5 Mk1. £1.5k will still get you a nice one, but probably a bit older/further travelled - and then you can get to work selling the bits from the inside to make more money to buy bits for the project you need.

 

[homeforsummer]

It's funny you mention this topic because I'm in a similar situation, though my budget is around £500 lower. Some ideas I've come up with are:

- E30 BMW 325 (FR, about 170bhp)

(Pic is of a 316)

- Toyota MR2 Mk1 (MR, around 130bhp)

- Honda CRX VTEC Mk2 (FF, around 160bhp)

- Honda CRX Del Sol VTi (FF, around 160bhp)

- Audi Coupe V6 (Audi 80 based version) (FF, around 160bhp at a guess?)

- Porsche 924S (FR, around 150bhp)

- Honda Prelude mid 90s (FF, around 140bhp for the 2 litre)

At the moment, I'm personally leaning towards either the Del Sol (because I love the look and the tech) and the MR2, because there are loads about and they're like an Elise for people who can't afford an Elise. That said, the Audi is very tempting and there are some nice bits available for them. Definitely the classiest too.

 

[Gil]

Though I don't know pricing on your side of the ocean, I would lean toward a good 1st generation MX-5.

 

[forza2.0]

[/Thread]

You can get a nice Mk1 for £2k. You can get a nice Mk1 for £1,500, sell the interior on eBay and spend the difference on the gubbins you need - rollcage, seat(s), harnesses and suchlike.

Like this.

well im really really leaning towards the williams at the moment but I will do some research on the MX5. I reckon there would probably be more mods and parts available for the MX5, plus should be pretty reliable and it would be my first rwd car. What insurance groups do mx5's come in? Also what are the engine choices. Im pretty clueless about the mx5.

Are you kidding?

Apparently its been done before with reasonable success. 750kg and 125hp doesnt sound too shabby to me after some light mods/work ofcourse.

 

[Famine]

Standard Mk1 MX-5s come with a 130hp 1.8 (94-98), a 110hp 1.6 (89-96) or a 90hp 1.6 (96-98). Eunos Roadsters (look for the square rear plate and Eunos badges) don't have the lowest-powered 1.6 option (but retain the other two engines) and are generally better specced with weighty stuff you probably don't want - air-conditioning, electric windows, LSD, ABS, PAS.

Standard weight is about 940-990kg depending on engine and specs. Insurance groups are 9-13 I think, but if it's a track toy you can stick it on a 3,000 mile limited policy to keep the costs down. Reliability? It's a Mazda. OEM part availability? It's the most popular roadster in the world

As for upgrade parts... http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/ are the best-known (and probably cheaper than a dealership for OEM stuff), and there's http://www.jimparts.co.uk/ too. There's myriad others I can't recall right now, but you get the idea.

 

[1X83Z]

- Audi Coupe V6 (Audi 80 based version) (FF, around 160bhp at a guess?)

172hp

I'd also go Miata, though E30 isn't a bad idea.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

If that Porsche 924 is affordable it would be the coolest option IMO. But I bet it would be more expensive. If the MR2 is affordable, I'd pick that one or the Bimmer, or again, the Porsche.

 

[Roo]

Mk2 Golf GTi?

I wouldn't use the Clio Williams as a stripped out track car, purely because of their rareity and probable increase in value. Personally, I'd go for a Mk1 MX5.

 

[TheCracker]

200sx
Clio williams
E36 Beemer
Seat/VW Arosa/Lupo

And thats it.

Im leaning towards the clio at the moments, does anyone have any knowledge on them as to why, or why not it would be a good idea?

You'd be lucky to find a half decent one (and remember we are talking about a 15 year old Renault here) for under £4k. Anything under that i'd avoid like the plague.

Like others have pointed out, an MX-5 or imported Eunos would be by far your best bet.

 

[kikie]

Get a Fiat coupe turbo!

 

[ExigeEvan]

And watch it turn into a heap of metal and burning oil after one lap?

 

[nissan tuner]

MX-5. the end

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

MX-5 is the obvious choice, get an MR2. I mean, MX-5 might handle great, but does anyone actually think it looks good, or sounds good? The MX-5s I've heard don't sound good even for 4cyl. Oh, and unless he's forking out for a roll cage it would be a very dangerous track car should he roll it or come across flying debris from other racers what with there being no roof and all. (Unless he raced with the roof up of course, but he'd need a hardtop.)

 

[Famine]

sell the interior on eBay and spend the difference on the gubbins you need - rollcage, seat(s), harnesses and suchlike.

Like this.

Anything else?


The MX-5 is no worse than any other road car in a rollover accident. Also I'm not sure what might make you think that having a single layer of vinyl or aluminium above your head would make it safer than running roof down.

Does it look good? Yep. Do they sound good? Yep - our MX-5 has a cat-back stainless exhaust and a Jackson Racing air intake and sounds pretty nice, thanks. Not that it's relevant on a 92dB limit track. Not that either are relevant when it's a track car. Looking and sounding great, but being passed by everyone or stuffing it into a tyre wall is most definitely not for the win.

And if you can get an MR2 for less than £2k in the UK, it'll be a Mk1 and made almost exclusively of rust.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Anything else?


The MX-5 is no worse than any other road car in a rollover accident. Also I'm not sure what might make you think that having a single layer of vinyl or aluminium above your head would make it safer than running roof down.

Does it look good? Yep. Do they sound good? Yep - our MX-5 has a cat-back stainless exhaust and a Jackson Racing air intake and sounds pretty nice, thanks. Not that it's relevant on a 92dB limit track. Not that either are relevant when it's a track car. Looking and sounding great, but being passed by everyone or stuffing it into a tyre wall is most definitely not for the win.

And if you can get an MR2 for less than £2k in the UK, it'll be a Mk1 and made almost exclusively of rust.

Would you get that much for an interior? I thought roll cages were pretty expensive. The point of having the top up, say a mirror comes flying off a car in front (not likely, but a potential hazzard, any debris). Would you rather it bounces off the roof or fluke hits you in the head,(helmet and all), or any other part of your body? Safety first.

Personal taste for looks, have you got a vid of your MX-5's sound at all? Love to hear it. What's this 92dB limit? Do some race tracks actually impose a sound limit? Or is that a ludicrously high number anyway that no car is likely to meet in loudness?

Sounding great is sort of a requisite for me. If I'm going to be driving a performance car around a track, I need to have something good to listen to. Luckily I have pretty low standards for what any type of engine should sound like these days. Then again I have high standards at the same time. LOL, does that make sense? I guess what I'm saying is I accept a broad range of engine's sounds so long as they sound good for what that engine is. (eg. A 4cyl should sound like a proper racey 4cyl, not some pile of trash, and same for any other engine)

 

[TheCracker]

Would you get that much for an interior? I thought roll cages were pretty expensive. The point of having the top up, say a mirror comes flying off a car in front (not likely, but a potential hazzard, any debris). Would you rather it bounces off the roof or fluke hits you in the head,(helmet and all), or any other part of your body? Safety first.

Any debris would strike the windscreen not the driver. And like you said, it's unlikely to happen anyway.

Personal taste for looks, have you got a vid of your MX-5's sound at all? Love to hear it. What's this 92dB limit? Do some race tracks actually impose a sound limit? Or is that a ludicrously high number anyway that no car is likely to meet in loudness?

I think most if not all UK track days run noise limits. I'm unsure if they are all as low as 92dB. I'm pretty certain Donington Park allows 97dB.

Sounding great is sort of a requisite for me. If I'm going to be driving a performance car around a track, I need to have something good to listen to. Luckily I have pretty low standards for what any type of engine should sound like these days. Then again I have high standards at the same time. LOL, does that make sense? I guess what I'm saying is I accept a broad range of engine's sounds so long as they sound good for what that engine is. (eg. A 4cyl should sound like a proper racey 4cyl, not some pile of trash, and same for any other engine)

As long as you can hear the sound of your engine through your helmet that's all you'll need. If you are overly concerned about the tone of the engine then you are concentrating on the wrong thing. Anyway, if you are pushing your car to it's limits you'll only be hearing the upper limits of the rev range.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Any debris would strike the windscreen not the driver. And like you said, it's unlikely to happen anyway..

OK, but I don't want to hear about any freak injuries on here.

I think most if not all UK track days run noise limits. I'm unsure if they are all as low as 92dB. I'm pretty certain Donington Park allows 97dB..

Well that sucks. So what do Ferrari drivers do? Those things are loud. Or V8 Supercars which I can hear a good 20km away. (Or any race car for that matter)

As long as you can hear the sound of your engine through your helmet that's all you'll need. If you are overly concerned about the tone of the engine then you are concentrating on the wrong thing. Anyway, if you are pushing your car to it's limits you'll only be hearing the upper limits of the rev range.

I don't concenrate on engine noise, but you still need to know what the engine is doing audibly, and I want that tone it's sending my brain to be one that I like.

 

[Famine]

Luckily, the FIA think open top cars are safe enough to allow them in Formula 1...

In terms of bits you can sell from your MX-5, you're looking at roof, interior carpets, centre console, door cards, boot trim and spare wheel off the top of my head. You can also sell the standard springs/shocks (people are always looking for standard springs and shocks because many lowered MX-5s don't work on public roads with speedbumps, or anything other than smooth roads) when you buy the new bits. All-in-all you're certainly looking at enough cash to get your roll cage. In fact if you're a little less fussy about the exterior condition - it's a track car so it's going to get beaten up a bit - you can grab even more of a bargain and have even more money for bits.


A lot of small race tracks have a noise limit - many because they're (now) in residential areas and don't want to be shut down because people who've moved nearby don't like the noise. 92dB is the lowest limit of which I am aware. Most road cars don't scratch 89dB, but a standard 911 turbo will exceed 92dB at 3/4 throttle...

 

[Duke]

MX-5 is the obvious choice, get an MR2. I mean, MX-5 might handle great, but does anyone actually think it looks good, or sounds good? The MX-5s I've heard don't sound good even for 4cyl. Oh, and unless he's forking out for a roll cage it would be a very dangerous track car should he roll it or come across flying debris from other racers what with there being no roof and all. (Unless he raced with the roof up of course, but he'd need a hardtop.)

Ever heard of Spec Miata? It's only the hottest club racing class in the States. Fields regularly top 30 cars, and remember, this is club racing, which people do for fun at their own expense, pretty much.

I think they look good, but that's a matter of taste. And who cares how they sound? It's how quick and easy and fun they are to drive around a racetrack that really counts... and they've got all that in spades.
👍

 

[///M-Spec]

I don't concenrate on engine noise, but you still need to know what the engine is doing audibly, and I want that tone it's sending my brain to be one that I like.

1. The OP doesn't exactly have the budget to get picky about how it sounds.
2. As TheCracker pointed out, the OP will be too busy driving to pay attention anyway. Really --it's the last thing on your mind.

+0909234 on the MX-5.


M