Track Cars.. On a Budget.
 

Aside from your frs. If you had a couple thousand dollars to make a designated track car what would it be and why?

Cars I've considered;
Miata- The early ones can be had for pretty cheap now a days

s13 240sx- Suspension and good tires and you're ready to go! These can be had for pretty cheap.

e30 3series/e36 m3

Late 80s to early 90s "fox-body" mustang- I heard these become some pretty decent track cars, they're light (for a mustang) and cheap to own, cheap to mod, and cheap to maintain. IRS is definately a plus over some other mustang's live rear axle.

Toyota MR-2- lightweight and mid engined.

s2000- If you can find one for under 10k. It's kind of a stretch for a true "budget" track car. Easy to maintain though and is reliable.

90's imprezas- such as impreza 2.5rs. Decently cheap, problem with head gaskets but boxers are definately easy to work on. People mark these cars up because they're "valuable"



These are just cars I've considered, if you have any cars you'd do please share!

Miata
Is
Always
The
Answer

if it was me I'd get a 240sx do some suspension and tires and do a KA-T. I think it'd be a fun little rocket for track days and autocross.

Cheap track car. Miata.


E30 M3 made me laugh though. A rustbucket costs more than a decent old S2000. S2000s eat consumables for breakfast at the track. MR2s, I love them, but not the cheapest track car unless you go N/A or swap a V6 in. I'd rather track something else though. You can make a nice 240SX but to make them really fun they aren't nearly as cheap as the Miata.


If you don't mind FWD there are Integras and Civics also that can be done for cheap, are reliable and fun. And faster than Miatas.

Must be different where you live because a quick scower on the local craigslist and you can get them for roughly 5k.

Miata. Cheap and light. Best part is Spec Miata for w2w racing.

E30 M3 is going to be crazy expensive. Perhaps you meant E36?

An E30 M3? Or a 3 series? HUGE difference. Send me a CL ad for a decent E30 M3 for 5k and I'll buy it and immediately sell it on BAT for 15k. Or hell find me a really nice one for 10k at that rate and I'll sell it in days for 40K.

E36 is quite possible and in that price range for a rougher one.


I've tracked my E36M3 and it's fun but consumables, cooling systems, and general repairs make it significantly more expensive as a track car than a Miata again so I still go with Miata (as do you and probably everyone else in this thread).

What is your overall opinion on the brz/frs as a track car? Obviously it isn't the cheapest option, but I plan on keeping this car for over 10 years and hope to get a lot of track experience with it.

e30 m3 :lol:

Miata!

Mine never has... I get a couple of seasons out of rotors, and ~8 track days out of pads. Other than that, gasoline and oil, tires, and oh yeah, rear wheel bearings every couple of years.

I like 240s but the drift tax on them is just retarded. All of these 18 year old kids with these shitbox cars that are 7 different colors with missing pieces and a half assed motor install want like $6,000 cause it "would make a great drift car".

Truth be told, I'd be all for getting an S2000. It's a bit more expensive compared to the other options, but good lord they're such great cars to drive.

Miata's are awesome cars, but they just aren't quite what I'd be looking for; close... but not quite there.

I'd also agree on what @Dave-ROR said. Civics and Integras are also good options. Cheap and can be made quite fast. A lot of people dismiss them though simply cause they're FWD. Then they get passed up by them on the track and wonder wtf happened.

It's a fantastic track car, even out of the box. I stopped tracking mine because I didn't want to cut it up for a rollcage. In another few years I'll pickup a cheap FRS or BRZ and weld a cage in and track the hell out of it.

The only thing it needs is a bit more power IMO. About 200whp, a nice set of dampers and higher spring rates, camber correction (more neg in front and less in back depending on height) and some essex brakes up front and it'd be about my favorite car I've ever driven on track. Not so fast as to be scary as shit at 9/10ths or more, but not so slow that I get bored and read emails down the back straight at sebring...

That's abnormal, at least for the guys I know here. Good job though getting that much life out of them! I'm sure it's going to be track dependent of course and Sebring can be a bit more abusive than other tracks. I get 3-4 days out of my rotors on the track car at Sebring, or 8 days at least at Road Atlanta.

S13/s14 cost too much to build to the point that they don't suck.

Good shock options are limited, and the cookie-cutter drifty build (welded diff, pick-your-favorite-color coilovers, etc) are pretty horrible to drive.

I love mine but it's not a cheap option by any means.

Miata is the cheapest way to go have fun.

Yeah the 240 I drive on track (and helped build for a friend) has over 20k in it (including the price of the car, which is a very nice 97 SE that had 70k on it). It's fun and pretty damn fast. Too fast for the current suspension (KW V3s). The owner doesn't want to drop the money on better dampers, and to be fair we haven't spent enough time dealing with the V3s.. just replaced the springs with some higher rate swift springs and he's reported it's much better.. I haven't driven it since.

@Dave-ROR: Yeah, I'm closer to 25-30k. Into a free shell.

8611s for me. Pretty much the only good option for these cars, but they're not off the shelf by any means.

Miata, with some good tires and suspension upgrade, you're set.

Top choice: Miata

Heard a story a few weeks back about a guy competing in some amateur series, he always did ok, middle of the pack fighting to break into the top, he took a year off, bought an NA Miata and got as much seat time as he could, came back and was a force to be reckoned with. The Miata teaches you like some Yoda Initial D shit, your mistakes are obvious, the car can take the punishment, there will always be an answer to your problem/question because the community is so long standing, and it can blow the doors off a bad driver in any car if you're on your shit. Spec Miata record at Laguna Seca is 1:45 (cheating notwithstanding), that's a ~$10k build with nearly stock power levels (130hp or less) if you're smart, toss some power into the equation and go check the Motor Trend Drivers Car of the Year lap times.

Edit: I now dream of the double wishbone fully adjustable off the showroom floor suspension in a Miata after spending a thousand bucks and counting on my 86's alignment.

Here's a couple options I would personally do in no particular order, be forewarned, all of these would be project cars, they'll have bugs to work out, they are old and parts are hard to find, they would never be perfect but should be fun to toss around for not a lot of money. The miata is objectively better but these have a bit more character and charm imo. I also would budget no less than $5k to hit the track and plan on spending up to $10k to get everything dialed in, safe, reliable, and tuned to my liking.

E30 (just to pile on, E30 M3's are $30k+ for non rust buckets), ideally get a 325i and beat on it, 160hp and ~2,400 lbs isn't too shabby and swapping into an E36 M3 motor has been done a thousand times if you want to dump money into it, good for ~240 horses there's a pretty serious one locally that's badass.
Edit: E36 M3 could also contend, also maybe a Z3 Coupe? The M Coupe is up around S2k and used 86 pricing so that's a no go but that's also on my shortlist.

MR2, mid-engined goodness, Toyota reliability if you're smart, personal preference is AW11 (MK1) but the MK3 is probably the best for most purposes, and lots of people love the SW20 (MK2), I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

RX-7, FC/FB, not a lot of power but Mazda sold a fuckton of them because they were great sport coupes for the time, a naturally aspirated 12A/13B is proven to be stout and durable and respond well to bolt ons, what other engines need an expensive camshaft to accomplish a rotary can gain with a dremel tool. I've heard the FC has great suspension that stacks up well to this day, the FB however has an archaic live axle, it can definitely be effective but lacking compared to a true independent setup.

Porsche 944 (924 maybe), probably the most expensive to get to the track but also the most rewarding, a big boy Miata if you get a non-base engine, and even with a base engine should be more than capable. If you can find a late 944 S2 it's basically an 86 with an I4, hatch, Porsche parts prices, and more displacement, ~2,800 lbs and 200hp NA.

Mk2 or Mk3 Supra might also be a contender but never really looked at them in depth.

FWD often gets overlooked but can be a blast on a budget: Integra, Civic, CRX, RSX, Prelude, maybe even Del Sol for Honda, Celica for Toyota, always GTI, and recently new Mini's have caught my eye, R53's have a cult following now and the R56 is just dipping into 'cheap' territory.

And if it wasn't painfully obvious yet, I love momentum cars, no ungainly V8's for me, give me agility any day of the week, I'd rather loose 4 car lengths on the straight and gain 4.1 in the corners any day of the week, hell even less and wait to capitalize on a mistake.

/armchair quarterbacking

Edit: S2k is expensive imo, wouldn't budget any less than $15k based on what I've seen locally, and ideally I'd budget up to $20k. Can buy an 86 at that point which only needs brakes and alignment to hit the track (vs. the unknowns of a 5-15 year old sports car sold at a low price for a reason), ideally some camber and eventually tires for the 86, which in OEM size aren't bad at ~$600 a set.

Also OP, I'm near you, here are the two E30 M3's listed for sale on craigslist local to you:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/5240312744.html

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/5244751921.html

However there are a couple E36 M3's for sale under $10k, this might be a legit deal for you:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5228280274.html

civic hatch

RX-8 could fit the bill, but at this point it's a better all-rounder than dedicated machine.

C4 & C5 Corvette may be options...

Unless
you
are
over
six
feet
tall

Abnormal? Obviously I've been doing it wrong for the past 8 years!
Pad material is a big player. In my experience Carbotech XP8 and XP10 pads have lasted a long time and been very easy on rotors. Totally adequate for my totes stock S2000 on semi-serious track tires (R888, etc)

Anything is possible if you believe!

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CaoehbFXZZU/maxresdefault.jpg

Was just saying it's abnormal compared to the local guys here with S2000s.

I agree.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...8644-1-001.jpg

There are only two cars I'll never be caught dead in...That is a Miata and a Beetle.

I would doing nothing less than a E36 M3 and a S2K. Possibly an e36 325i

Old beetles are awesome. Cali people...

Toyota Paseo. Parts are interchangeable with a Tercel, Echo and Yaris.

Rally peeps love that car. Reliable, easily fixed, dirt cheap and parts are STILL being made from Toyota's parts bin.

Sure, slow as hell but gutted and properly prepped means you're probably not going to need to brake... much.

Just got the XP10's dropped in today and literally just came off bedding them. Track day on the 10th. Looking forward to that.

Have you had rotor overheating issues?

id probably trade my brz for a crx no problem
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...4C7CAEF183.jpg

I drove a spec miata onto a trailer for some older gentleman I use to autocross with (He brought the car to an event to test something on it.) He was about 6'3", I'm 6'2...Fit perfectly in that car with more headroom than the FRS... because racecar with racecar seats and gutted permanently mounted hardtop. Someone 6'2" can easily fit comfortably in a properly prepared track miata...

For me there are two options I'd go with for an inexpensive track car that is a hoot to drive:

NA Mazda Miata or an Acura Integra RS... I had a 2nd Gen Integra RS that was a riot to drive and had slight oversteer tendancies.... that B18 motor makes nice sounds too. I'd prefer the miata due to RWD and liking going through the gears way better than with the Honda's - I've never liked the Integra's or CRX's shifting feel...just yuck...

It is a bit of a hot dog in a hallway I'll give you that.

Or maybe a broomstick in a bucket of gravel.

this thread is good i been looking around for a dedicated track car, although the Frs with simple mods can be fun but i am looking for something that if it break i can leave it in the garage and take the Frs to work

Good info in here

good place for ideas for dirt cheap track cars is grassroots motorsports.

What about the Evos still pricey?
Man Fc Rx-7 or Fd looks so good and are good for the track but people say they are unreliable but I think most of the people haven't own one, I would love to build one in the future

Can't speak to evos, avoid the FD as a track car, that's a bare minimum $20k to $30k setup and from what I hear it is constant work to keep one of those in top shape.

As I already posted naturally aspirated should be very reliable you'll be worried about electrical issues on an NA FC but I think the turbo can be made to work out OK, go read tons of rx7club and don't expect it to be a free ride.

Evo's are great on track. People love them, it's just getting into one is a little pricey compared to other options. Getting anything that isn't beat to hell and littered with modifications will cost you about as much as a new WRX.

The ones that are a bit cheaper typically have a bunch of miles and are modified. First thing I think of when I see a used high mileage Evo is how long will it be before I need to replace the transfer case on it.