If you had $10k in today's market to buy or build a track focused car how would you go about it?
I have the itch to get back on a road course and I'm currently shopping around for the best way to spend my money. As we all know, it doesn't seem to go as far as it used to, and the things I love from the 90s are all more than 20 years old now. My last track car was a 94' Integra GS-R and I loved it, but unfortunately it is no longer in my driveway. Having the highest horsepower doesn't matter to me, 200ish seems to be plenty for what I like to do, but a touch more torque than the old Honda might be nice for climbing hills. I'm open to front or rear wheel drive, not so much interested in all wheel drive. If I can find a car someone else has already built that is a option near the top end, with some money left over to refresh maintenance items. Lower down on the buy in allows me to have a car to build over a few months which I enjoy as well. I would like to be able to drive it on the street and not trailer it everywhere, or take it to work on a nice day. It certainly doesn't have to be a comfortable daily. I have a 1.6L Miata in the garage right now, but it would need some work to be a track toy, and frankly I think it might be a bit too slow for what I'm up against in 2022. I would rather see it go to someone else as a fun street car.
Give me your ideas!
kb58
UltraDork
9/26/22 9:07 p.m.
How about a 1.8, or maybe a turbo'd used Miata (but admit I haven't the slightest idea what they go for these days).
And yeah, what you run into these days is very different than what I ran against in the 1980-90s. Then, everyone started with a used car, worked on it themselves, and it was sort of a family affair at track days. Now, people show up in very high power completely OEM cars, know little or nothing about them, and pretty much keep to themselves. Sorry for the side note, but these changes took much of the fun out of track days for me.
parker
HalfDork
9/26/22 9:12 p.m.
If you can fine one a first gen Neon is a pretty good track car. How about a salvage title FR-S/BRZ?
How much NC Miata does $10k get you these days?
Or spend $10k on K swapping the 1.6 ;P
One could recreate my S197 Mustang for $10k. Maybe not one with low mileage but for sure could be done. At full fat fighting weight it's fun, if one could drop a few hundred pounds it would be even better.
05-09 4.6 or 11-14 V6
In reply to Nitroracer (Forum Supporter) :
Is this a track toy?
If so build up the Miata.
My 1.6 Showroom Stock C Miata was a blast to drive. I raced it at SCCA regionals as well as using it as a daily driver.
I'd do some upgrades and go have fun
In reply to Nitroracer (Forum Supporter) :
A true race car should not take you to the cleaners giving you a little fun. It really should be too fast for you but predictable enough to get to that too fast point without effort.
In other words it needs a big fast powerful engine that doesn't need to be Rev'd til it bleeds.
One that is comfortable making more power than you feel able to deal with without hitting your purse.
Newer is always going to be faster. Faster but more fragile and expensive to repair.
So don't go there. Go where things are under-stressed and over built.
I've found just such a place in Vintage racing. For decades I raced my Black Jack with multimillion dollar Ferrari's Maserati's and other exotic cars. Too often I wound up beating them.
My engine was very close to stock as was my transmission and suspension. If they had failed replacements were readily available, very much on the cheap.
You can still do that with a Devin powered by a small block Chevy. Or any number of cheap old C Mods from the 50's and 60's.
Don't feel up to recreating one? Go buy a 60's era Camaro , Mustang, or Baracuda. Throw some hot rod parts on it and have fun.
I found my cheap car in the Jaguar XJS. V12 I still see them for less than $1000 , not running of course but you won't care. They really are simple and extremely durable. You don't have to replace a lot of parts to go fast. They are built to go a lot faster than they do. All you have to do is unlock the secrets. ( which really aren't so secret.).
But the great news about whatever you select, you can turn a profit on it. ( if you ever get bored or need some cash)
All of the suggestions I made can be done for $10K. Yes, some work is involved but that's the real secret. You'll learn everything about the car.
I've got news for you too. Anything you buy for 10K is not going to be reliable or simple.
unless you put your labor into it from the ground up.
How about a non-M E46 BMW?
Build or buy a sundae cup car would be the way I'd go about it.
You can also do a miata well under that budget, but it's a lot harder to get all the E36 M3 you might want to the track with a miata.. so you have to budget for a trailer.
if you build a sundae cup car.. you can fit all the E36 M3 in the car.
If you're gonna build one.... find a clean 90's civic of whatever suits your flavor, a sedan will be cheapest most likely. Replace the bushings for new good poly, add shocks and front and rear camber, put a roll bar in the back and add a pair of proper race seats and harnesses. I bet you'll get all the seat time in the world and it won't miss a beat if you look after it like you would any 25-30 year old car.. same as a miata.
You could also build a solid Sundae Cup fit for under $10k
Find a rust free car. 1st or 2nd gen.
add coilovers and caster plates, replace worn out parts for cheap..
Add camber at the knuckle up front to get at least 3 degrees.
Add a roll bar and seats and Harnesses if your budget allows.
get 35mpg to and from the track. fit all the E36 M3 in the car. you can even SLEEP IN THE CAR at the track.
We have a Fit BnB joke in Sundae Cup because multiple people sleep in the back of their cars with this air mattress.
I'm sure Bobzilla will be along in time to recommend the Sundae Cup flavor in Korean variety.
David S. Wallens said:
How about a non-M E46 BMW?
if you can find one for cheap, could also be a good option. another GRM Forum buddy and Gridlifer did that. Bought a 330 coupe for cheap and has slowly fixed the small issues.
Bmw e36 or bmw e46. Punch your ticket.
Easy to fix, all sorts of repairs and upgrades well documented online, and a hoot at the limit. Also like the NC here but personally prefer the hard top and speed the Germans being to the mix.
E36/E46 or S197 would be good options. They can self-haul stuff to the track a lot easier than a Miata and have more power with good mod potential for further power increases. They're a lot more expensive to run than a Miata though.
If you can stretch the budget or effort input you could go to a Toyobaru for something closer to a stock E36/E46 in performance with Miata-like running costs and reliability, the downside is that the engine gets explodey quickly with power mods unlike the BMWs (and in fact the engine needs a few mods to hold together in stock form).
One thought I've had and crunched the numbers on: an AW11 MR2 with a 2ZZ swap, it would be dead reliable, light and pretty quick. The crunched numbers are very close to Lotus Elise performance. It can also be done for 10k or less and have plates. The car in my garage would be a good start. If I do keep it, maybe it'll happen. As it stands right now, I'd rather sell it and get a lift or Subaru parts.
kb58
UltraDork
9/27/22 12:05 a.m.
To keep costs low, I don't think you can beat starting with what you already have. Probably a V6 swap of some sort.
A 986 Porsche Boxster. No need to buy a rollbar (like Miatas) or brake calipers. Buy the most performance one you can find.
- NC Miata
- RX8
- FRS/BRZ
- corvette
those would be my top choices for track day cars. Not listed in order
Fiesta ST / SE / SFe
Civic Si
Scion IA
Focus SVT
Integra
RSX
Focus ZX4 ST
Sentra SE-R
S197 Mustang GT
SN95 Mustang GT
FRS/BRZ
Scion TC
Mazdaspeed 3
NA/NB Miata
Mazda 2 Sport
Honda Fit
Kia Rio
Chevy Sonic
Toyota Yaris
Hyundai Elantra
Toyota Corolla XSE / XRS(if you can find one)
Spec Crown Victoria
In any order of the above. Most are readily available for cheap with medium-ish miles, standard transmission and have parts support/upgrades available.
Or 2022 Mitsubishi Mirage - $14997 w/ 5 speed and no options.
Coilovers, wheels/tires and brakes. Drive it until it explodes. Profit.
buzzboy
SuperDork
9/27/22 7:57 a.m.
4.0 Mustang seems like a cheapish and easy starting point. Start with more money in the bank thank a V8 and put that towards tires.
calteg
SuperDork
9/27/22 8:41 a.m.
I'd stay away from a turbo miata. $10k is a tight budget for a reliable street turbo. Factor in another $10k to make a turbo miata track reliable.
$10k gets you a nice 2nd gen rio hatch, all the hop up parts you can get, tires and brakes for 3 years and entry fees for 2 years.
If you're really looking for something that is a track car with a license plate, and not a street car you take to the track, then the best bang for your buck is probably to buy someone's race car and add back in the bare minimum to make it street legal again. If you search racingjunk.com, you'll find all sorts of stuff under that 10k cap. Based on a two minute search:
Camaro
RX-7
Sentra
Buying someone else's used race car is almost always going to be cheaper than building the equivalent car yourself.
Another choice would be a 1990's 6 cylinder XJS or XJ6 sedan. ( 4 door)
that 4 liter 4 valve per cylinder all aluminum six cylinder is the most reliable, durable engine made. Because it's so much lighter than the V12 it almost beats the V12. Well driven it will bet the V12 the XJRS was a supercharged one and that will beat a stockV12 yes the supercharger from the sedan will work on the XJS. But for a whole lot less money you can buy a cheap EBay ($135) turbo charger and switch it to E85 now you're easily in the 5-600 horsepower area
fantastic handling without the brutal ride. They switched to out board rear brakes so servicing them is not hard. Came in both sedan and convertible.
All but two that came to American are automatics. A few more have been brought over with the 5 speed but most manual transmission cars can be found in England.
Rob Beere sells specialized parts for these. With the dollar and pound where they are now is the time to buy. ( they are very close to 1 for 1. )
In England they have whole classes of them racing around. So racing parts are pretty well bolt on.
AMiataCalledSteve said:
If you're really looking for something that is a track car with a license plate, and not a street car you take to the track, then the best bang for your buck is probably to buy someone's race car and add back in the bare minimum to make it street legal again. If you search racingjunk.com, you'll find all sorts of stuff under that 10k cap. Based on a two minute search:
Camaro
RX-7
Sentra
Buying someone else's used race car is almost always going to be cheaper than building the equivalent car yourself.
But all too often that used race car has had all the good used up and really needs a ground up restoration in order to be reliable enough to not waste entry fees.
Olemiss540 said:
Bmw e36 or bmw e46. Punch your ticket.
Easy to fix, all sorts of repairs and upgrades well documented online, and a hoot at the limit. Also like the NC here but personally prefer the hard top and speed the Germans being to the mix.
And I'd add non-M E9x BMW to that list, too. Fairly easy on consumables, the right size, easy to drive, terrific parts support, etc.
In reply to frenchyd :
It's possible, but if the OP isn't looking for a competition car but just a track car then odds are he can find something that maybe wouldn't be competitive anymore, but still a blast on track. I did this when I bought my '91 Miata. It's a well-known car locally and had been competing in the southern SCCA region in hilllclimbs for at least 10 years when the owners decided they wanted to go in a different direction. It's definitely used, but not used up - I bought it for autocross, and it's faster than 98% of the other Miatas, regardless of generation, in most events I attend, and I spent $4000 on it in 2021. It's not like I even had an in - the car sat on Craigslist for three months before I bought it. I guess no normal people really wanted a Miata without a roof lol, but it works for me, and probably work for OP.
