docwyte wrote:
Did you sell the CRX and the E30? At one point it seemed like every car in your stable was in some sort of state of broken-ness.
You buy Miata's but know you can't fit in them. You look at a Caterham or an Exocet, both of which will be project cars with a Capital "P". Bespoke one of types of cars aren't what you need to be looking at. They'll have running issues, parts issues, issues finding someone to work on them and ergonomic issues.
I keep harping on the M3 for a reason. That's because it's an extraordinarily AWESOME track car. I KNOW you can make one to fit your ergonomic needs. They're cheap to run, easy to work on and have an immense aftermarket.
You have a paucity of time to work on a car. That means you need to get something solid, something that's easy for you to work on if you want and easy for a shop to work on.Plus something that has multiple vendors to orders parts from.
Get an M3. Get a Mustang. Get something like that. Stop looking at these esoteric kit car type of vehicles that while cool, will ultimately drain your wallet and your time and become a mountain of suck for you like the MR2 has.
I agree with everything except the Exocet. Considering how quickly many have been built, I'd say its one of the more easy buttons compared to building a door slammer into a track car.
That's not to say that improvements couldn't be added during the build and this is often where many of us fall on our own swords, but KISS and build it from a mechanically well maintained but otherwise ugly NA and drive the wheels off of it. Save the upgrades and improvements for later as you seek to improve or changes based on your own experiences with the car.
Finally I have to say the entire "Track day" car nonsense is a bit silly. Either it is a competition prepped car that you take to a track day to practice and test between competition events or its just some car you're playing with on the street that you want to get to know a bit better closer to its limits. There's no winner at track days, just the occasional loser with a broken or bent car and quite a few people that have had a lot of fun.
Another thing to think about with an Exocet is are you planning on towing it to the track? Do you have a truck and trailer? A place to store said truck and trailer? Budget to buy, maintain, insure and store said truck and trailer?
I wouldn't want to drive an Exocet to the track and back, particularly if the track is 3+ hours away....
docwyte wrote:
Another thing to think about with an Exocet is are you planning on towing it to the track? Do you have a truck and trailer? A place to store said truck and trailer? Budget to buy, maintain, insure and store said truck and trailer?
I wouldn't want to drive an Exocet to the track and back, particularly if the track is 3+ hours away....
Why not? People ride motorcycles to the track and back. Similar sort of deal.
That said, being able to have a comfy place to relax between sessions and casually drive there and back without worrying about the state of the car or the driver is pretty damned handy. Of course U-haul rents pickup trucks and car trailers so for the occasional "away game" why not rent instead of buy?
Hmm, pretty big difference between a motorcycle and one of these. Where are you going to put your stuff you take to the track in the Exocet? Are you going to drive on race tires? If so, what if you hit weather? (I've driven in the rain on worn RA1's a few times and very much regretted it) What if it breaks down? Etc, etc, etc.
Yes, you can rent a truck and trailer, then you just have to deal with the logistics of all that.
Call me old and a pansy, but I prefer to drive home in A/C after spending all day in the car in triple digit heat on the track. I'm pretty wiped out.
It just seems to me that Tim needs to hit the "Easy" button here and that's an actual street car that's already built, already reliable and can carry him and all his stuff to the track, have fun and carry him and all his stuff back from the track in comfort.
These exercises in masochism that he's already been doing are his downfall, why continue with them?
NickD
New Reader
9/8/15 4:37 p.m.
docwyte wrote:
It just seems to me that Tim needs to hit the "Easy" button here and that's an actual street car that's already built, already reliable and can carry him and all his stuff to the track, have fun and carry him and all his stuff back from the track in comfort.
These exercises in masochism that he's already been doing are his downfall, why continue with them?
I gotta agree here. Sure, it's cool to be able to say "I built it myself" but if in doing so you aren't having fun and aren't driving it or enjoying yourself, what's the point?
Besides the fact that Tim doesn't have the time to build a car. If he did, he would've already finished the MR2...
Well, I do have a truck and if the local SCCA track events continue the way it looks like right now, I'm going to look into purchasing a trailer anyway. We have the space to store both...
The local track has closed (by the looks of it, for good) and we're currently only running events at Thunderhill. That's 4-5 hours away depending on which way I go, so towing has its advantages even if nothing goes wrong with the car.
I don't really need another streetable car, with both the 996 and the ND, that's why I was considering a race car instead of a dual use time trials/Auto-X car that is also street legal. The downside of a purpose-built race car instead of a converted street car is that it'll prevent me from running a bunch of non-competitive events during the year. I like doing that to supplement the few competitive events I currently run.
Either way it looks like I need to get the MR2 at least functioning again for the rest of the season. I have the parts to do that, and maybe even a couple of days during my current vacation. It's just not going to turn out as nice as I'd want it to, and I think therein lies the rub.
You need a kart instead. 1 hour wrenching to 1 hour driving. It fits in a truck bed and if necessary behind your television at home. Cars eat parts. My Margay is on its original axle and bearings...
In reply to chaparral:
Unfortunately getting a kart would also mean having to get a kart track. I doubt my neighbours would appreciate me building one on our property.
Let's just say that where I live is rather nice, but a motorsports mecca it ain't, at least not if you're not into off-roading. Even though a surprising number of participants at the Rolex Motorsports Reunion live up here.
Cough: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/open-classifieds/factory-five-818s-northern-cali/105219/page1/
maj75
Reader
9/9/15 8:14 p.m.
BoxheadTim wrote:
Yeah, I agree there is some truth in docwyte's post. I mostly agree with the exception of the M3 part - sorry, I just don't like E36/E46 M3s all that much, and I've driven enough of them to know that it's not going to change for me.
Blasphemy...
You haven't driven a well set-up one then. ;)
In reply to captdownshift:
I like that Corolla, but it's on the wrong side of the country for me...
turboswede wrote:
Cough: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/open-classifieds/factory-five-818s-northern-cali/105219/page1/
Way outta my budget, especially with some very recent developments.
