Track testing our BMW 2002

Our BMW 2002tii recently did a little track testing: http://classicmotorsports.net/project-cars/1972-26-2002tii/tii-track-testing/

So, a question: Have you ever had your classic on track and, if not, why not?

The MGB GT used to go out a few times a year. Most of the time it ate a tranny or something to the tune of $1500 plus the time to fix.

That was a lot of money to spend going slow compared to the rest of my club, plus the Miata would allow me to drive to and from the Track without having to source a pick-up and trailer.

The novelty wore off and the car has been de-tuned to being more of a street car where it is happier.

I bought my GT6 for fun weekend cruising. I bought my E30 to be a track/autox car, but hasn't proved to be very reliable so I honestly don't trust it enough to drive on a track.

The closest my GT6 has gotten to a track was doing parade laps of Watkins Glen last year. I won't say I'll never track it, but that's not what I bought it for... Now if I somehow manage to buy another GT6 - like the MkIII that's been sitting in a driveway near work - it could get built into a track car.

The other thing to consider is that stock classics tend to make crappy track day cars and track modified classics then to make misserable street cars.

If you want a car you can do dual purpose, buy a five yar old civic or Protege and a set of good tires and you will have a better experience than with a classic car.

My '74 2002 has taken me to almost 100 mph at both Memphis and Road Atlanta; my nearly stock, daily-driver E30 M3 with almost 240K miles on it has served me well at Memphis, Watkins Glen, Nashville Superspeedway, Road Atlanta, Road America, Barber, and Gingerman. It's not as fast as others in a straight line, but makes up for it in the corners and under braking. It's not light, but it's a lot lighter than many newer cars on track these days! While many complain about the buzzy nature of the E30 M3, it's a damn luxury car after 4 years of daily-driving my 2002!

Never had one of my street cars on track for a serious flogging, just some parade laps. I was signed up at Limerock for a track day years ago with the sports car club and my street spit, before I was racing but it rained and I stayed home. Now that I've driven a race car on track, I know I'd be disappointed with any thing less prepped.

On a non classic note, the SCCA arranged for a morning at the infield course at Limerock last Feb. It was a racer vs corner worker challenge in our street cars. I ran it with my Kia Sportage. Some of the flaggers were serious and some were there for fun. My wife even took a few runs.

mike

I've had my sort of stock Alfa GTVs on the track a few times including the CASC-OR driving school that is required to get a competition license. Now I just Vintage Race my GTV race car.

Funny, when I took the CASC-OR driving school, there was someone there who brought a BMW CSL. (and spun it into the infield and marked the spoiler a bit - oops)

I have a dedicated track car already. It's my "new" car - 20 years old this year.

Since it's made for track-only use now, I don't see any reason to take my other car to the track.

Used to. From '95 to '07, we tracked and autocrossed a lot every year- 2-3 track days a year. Got a little burnt out on an event, and then the track day one late summer- my GTV caught on fire. While it was put out without damage, no more track days for her. If I ever get my race car done enough, she'll do track work.

the hard part now is getting enough interest to work on the car.