Track Cars.. On a Budget.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by ZDan

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.

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.

[e1_griego]

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.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by e1_griego

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.

[e1_griego]

@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.

[evostanman]

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

[strat61caster]

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.

[strat61caster]

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

[jdmblood]

civic hatch

[strat61caster]

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...

[pushrod]

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

Miata
Is
Always
The
Answer

Unless
you
are
over
six
feet
tall

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

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.

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)

[funwheeldrive]

Originally Posted by pushrod

Unless
you
are
over
six
feet
tall

Anything is possible if you believe!

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by ZDan

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)

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

[rice_classic]

Originally Posted by jdmblood

civic hatch

I agree.