When the answer to the track car question isn't automatic Miata - maybe learn me

I have a lot of time in auto C4's and SN95's. 

The C4 Vette is the car that taught me auto's can be fun, honestly I think the auto is  better suited to the torque of the L98 engine than either the (awful) Doug Nash 4+3 or the later 6 speed.  Honestly I would actually pass on a manual C4 to get an auto. 

SN95's are the exact opposite.  They are bad with a 302 and even worse with a Mod motor.  With a 302 they feel absolutely stunningly quick from 0 - 0.5mph, then they are so so dog slow and recalcitrant to make you want to sell the car.  They seem to suck so much torque they are woeful.  Add in the anemia of the early mod motors and it somehow gets worse.

E46 M3 with the SMG? Did some reading on them, and it seems that they aren't as troublesome as people make them out to be, with frequent reports of going 100k+ miles without incident or only needing a $150 sensor. Most testing showed them neck-and-neck with a regular manual trans E46 M3. We have a guy that autocrosses one with us and it's mighty fast.

Based on Tim's previous description of availability of good repair shops near him (or rather, the lack thereof), the VW and E46 might not be great ideas here. I'm liking the C4 idea here.

Sell some more of your extraneous vehicles to raise more money.  Get over your general disdain for BMW M3's and buy an E46 M3 SMG.  I'm not a huge fan of the SMG, but it'll fit your purposes to a T and as a bonus, they're far easier to find cheaper than the 6MT. 

Dusterbd13 said:

I liked my 700r4 in autocross. A full manual valvebody would have been much better. I can see no reason NOT to do an l98 c4 with a full manual 700r4. 

Exceptthat a 4l60e with flappy paddles may be much better. Never driven one though. 

The 4L60E is basically a 700R4 with a new name and shift-by-wire. Outside of the valve body, there's not much difference between the two. I like the C4 idea myself - I had one with an automatic, the TPI's torque curve was pretty well matched for the transmission, and I autocrossed mine a bit. I had the Z51 suspension, and it's about the only car I've ever owned where the stock suspension left me thinking "There's nothing I'd change here." The main thing that comes to mind with C4s as track cars is that tires and brakes are more expensive than a Miata. That may be the only reason you don't see a bunch of them cut up for track duty - that and the fact that C5s exist.

You really didn't specify what type of racing you're talkin about. Something no one has mentioned with regard to any automatic is that fluid temperatures get outrageous really quick. So for anything more than maybe 3 Laps on a road core you're going to have to spend a little money to bring the fluid temperatures down otherwise it will self-destruct. Can be done but it's not inexpensive to do it right. That being said an automatic with a manual valve body that allows you to shift up or down with engine braking can be a hoot in a Torquay V8. Ymmv

As to c4...you can get them down to 2800 lbs fully street legal trim fairly easy with some modest gutting.

Of course 2350 lbs is attainable if you go nuts.

Yes,  at a track day at Pocono, I was talking to a young fellow with an automatic Corvette.  He said he could do three laps before the overheat light came on.

Good thing it had that light.

If you can push the budget a bit, I agree with the SMG E46.

iceracer said:

Yes,  at a track day at Pocono, I was talking to a young fellow with an automatic Corvette.  He said he could do three laps before the overheat light came on.

Good thing it had that light.

That's what giant trans coolers are for.  

In reply to codrus :

Not much room to push up the budget, as my wife needs a new SUV in the next few months. Plus I can only sell one additional vehicle before hitting the annual dealer lobby induced cap. That's the plan anyway but those funds are allocated to restoring another m/c for sale next year.

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem :

Ah yes, I should've tried to make this clearer. There are two parts to this:

• At the moment I'm not sure if I can drive the FST for a whole race weekend without aggravating the injury. That's the race car part.
• I haven't been on track for over a year even for an HPDE due to the injury, mainly because I don't have a car that I can track without aggravating my heel.

Now if I had a pile of money and could afford something like a Radical (and would fit), I could take out the two bird above with a single vehicle. I don't, so I was thinking about what I could find within my budget that would at least get me back into the HPDE game.

In reply to iceracer :

That's the sort of information I was after. I'd suspect that I would run into similar issues around, say, Laguna Seca.

I’m going to rescind my suggestion of automatic E36/E46, and agree with others that a G35 might not be a bad idea.  However, after messing with one last weekend, I strongly recommend making sure you avoid any that have spent time in the rust belt - removing rear shocks was way harder than it should have been, even with the subframe off the car.

How does the state know how many cars you've sold in a year?

Registrations etc go though DMV.

docwyte said:

How does the state know how many cars you've sold in a year?

Its called a "database" and in this "database" there is data, like car's owned and car's no longer owned aka transferred.

So yeah.  They can know and they don't want people acting like a dealership without going through the hoops and paying them their money.

docwyte said:

How does the state know how many cars you've sold in a year?

I can't cancel the insurance without turning the plates in, plus there's a liability angle if I don't report the sale to the DMV.

Stefan said:

So yeah.  They can know and they don't want people acting like a dealership without going through the hoops and paying them their money.

I wouldn't mind the "paying them money" part so much for a dealer license if I didn't have to prove that I have "suitable premises" as well.

Stefan, smart ass! 

Tim, didn't know you had to turn the plates in.  Don't have to do that here in Colorado.  What's the limit you can sell in a year?  Seems to be a bit low for people who enjoy our hobby.  I know I've sold multiple cars in a year before and never even thought about bumping into a restriction...

Barely skimmed the thread but understand you want an automatic.  Full manual action seems like the way to go, which makes me think of this shifter:  

Which makes me think short course, which in turn means the answer is Stadium Super Truck:  

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Tim absolutely needs a trophy truck for track days. It’s perfect!

In reply to docwyte :

Three vehicles a year is the limit - we already sold my RX8, my Honda GL1000 is currently up for sale, and once we get to the point that we're buying a new Jeep for rmy wife, her Range Rover would be up for sale and that would be it for this year. And yes, this is way too low for someone with my "look, shiny car" tendencies.

In reply to Pete Gossett :

All we need to do is find a usable one within my budget...

In reply to BoxheadCougarTim :

Wow, that's a really low amount!  So does that mean that people are trading in cars at a higher frequency because they can't sell them privately without the dealer license? 

No they would just put them in the significant others name. and sell them that way