Anyone running a cheap track car?

[FaisalJ]

As above really, thinking about a cheap car to have a bit of fun with on track.

£2-3k, and will have to stay road legal.

Something along the lines of a MX5, MR2, Clio or even a TT (thinking the haldex might be handy for winter trackdays).

So...What have you got, why, rough cost and verdict?

[HYFR]

I ran a Ibiza Cupra until the Turbo blew up on its 10th lap of the Ring .... Wasn't so cheap then

Also had a £1,300 225q TT which I tracked at Rockingham and it was so boring as even traction off it understeered like a wooden spoon

[MikeFish]

Ross has a Peugeot track car I think. Not sure if its road legal though.

[RossDagley]

Clio cup 182 on 82k miles in racing blue.

Myself and the co-owner are into it for about £4K all in, the bulk of that is in the cage, exhaust and seats/harnesses. Car itself was only £1100 and would be great as is. Rest of the money is in suspension and tyres.

It's a cracking car and with incredible grip / traction that surprises a lot of bigger cars.

Plans for this year are 2x trips to Nurburgring, and continuous track days in the uk (last one 12/12/15 next one is next weekend!)

[MikeFish]

Ross has a track car.

Fixed

[FaisalJ]

Ross- That looks pretty sweet! I bet the exhaust is good, going by the Stickers! Any further upgrades planned? Do you ever find yourself wishing for a RWD or AWD car?

Any vids of it in action?

HYFR - Sorry to hear about that turbo! How did you get it home? Was the TT really that bad?

[HYFR]

Haha luckily id bought weekend Euro breakdown cover for £27! They repatriated it to the UK!

Yes the TT was terrible

A had a Quattro Sport 240 TT and that was better

[RossDagley]

Ross- That looks pretty sweet! I bet the exhaust is good, going by the stickers! Any further upgrades planned? Do you ever find yourself wishing for a RWD or AWD car?

Any vids of it in action?

No vids yet I'm afraid - only finished it last month.

I'm used to FWD cars before moving to Audi - my old 106 etc. I only miss 4WD in the wet or on greasy roads lol. The Clio is so light though that whilst it does understeer in the wet it's not that bad at all as there's just no weight to it.

Exhaust is of course also done by the masters at JCWF and does sound rather fruity (decatted) - they obviously did the cage too as we wanted full FIA certification in case we wanted to take it further later.

[Surrey Sam]

I ran an E36 M3 for a little while but didn't go mad with it. Was good fun though.

[marc1]

Me and Will share an E36 328i. We researched extensively what would make an ideal track car before settling for the 328i. They vary in price to purchase initially and you really have to try and reign yourself in when modding. We've put quite a bit in so far, but it's a great drive. We got a coupe, but ended up with a sunroof model which we've since deleted. Ripped most of the interior out, added buckets, harness' and harness bar. Coilovers, upgraded brakes and ARB's. Added an LSD. It's got two sets of wheels. One stagged set running road tyres. One square set up with BTCC slicks.

There is a good reason there are so many E36's at the 'ring. I would suggest the majority of cars athat regularly frequent the 'ring at e either Porsche or BMW.

We did look at E36 and E46 M3's, but the running and maintenance costs would be higher and some of the known faults would be expensive to rectify (vanos on both, etc although less of an issue / no applicable on the E36 3.0 M3 IIRC).

[marc1]

Most effective mod is clearly the key ring...

Thinking about turboing it though possibly.























Previous one (just Will's that time). Was a weapon and has since appreciated in value:

[FaisalJ]

Some food for thought there, thanks for all the info so far guys!

I'll definitely look into the 3-series option. How much weight can you easily get out of an E36?

A clio 172/182 would already be at ~170hp/ton before stripping any weight, whereas an E36 328 would be 138hp/ton before a diet.

A turbo'd MX5 would be about 200hp/ton!

[RossDagley]

Some food for thought there, thanks for all the info so far guys!

I'll definitely look into the 3-series option. How much weight can you easily get out of an E36?

A clio 172/182 would already be at ~170hp/ton before stripping any weight, whereas an E36 328 would be 138hp/ton before a diet.

A turbo'd MX5 would be about 200hp/ton!

Yes, but then you'd not only be homosexual, but you'd also be unable to do a trackday in the wet

[marc1]

Not had it on the scales, but a lot. Also you mod the engine in the 328i as the manifold is deliberately restrictive for emissions. You can take it to c.230bhp easily. I know it doesn't sound a lot, but it's a great entry into RWD track fun. 3.0 M3 will be c.280bhp and 3.2 M3 Evo c.320bhp. Any of which can give a lot of more powerful cars a hard time on track.

[marc1]

I would guess the 328i is currently about 1270kg which would make it about 180bhp / tonne. The LSD ratios means it accelarates quicker now, but at the expense of top speed (will still go north of 140bhp though).