Generally - starting off with good tires, brake fluid, and pads will get you through your first couple events. Learn the car and how it reacts and understand it's weaknesses. Look for solutions to the weaknesses. Research, test, and go from there.

Don't make the bed and then hate where the bed is. Realizing you've done things wrong sucks.

Also, it's hard to say xx is a good track car, car xy is better here, xz is better there. Buy a car that you'll get satisfaction from regardless of the lap time. Your lap times will gradually come down with seat time.

RWD = Miata all day. Good entry price and tons of aftermarket support
FWD = EG,EK,DC2. Same as above with even more aftermarket support

dc2/dc5, miata, E36

If you want to have loads of fun on the track I don't really recommend the DC's as the FWD can be a downer at times however they have proven to be very capable on the track.

Miata is chea, light, simple and RWD. All the things you want in a little weekend track car.
E36 is a great car on track and there are loads of parts.

miata is a GREAT car to learn how to DRIVE FAST. almost every miata driver i know are ridiculously great drivers.. (except one who's car keeps overheating.. i know you're out there ;) )

once you learn to drive fast though, stock form wont suffice anymore unless you're willing to put more money into it.. keep that in mind.

E36 w/ 5.0 and T5

Dirt cheap engine and tranny
Dirt cheap parts for E36 body

Next year I'm going to track my near-stock 5.0 powered E36


I bet a ton of shit will break. It will likely overheat, I'll probably fuck up my tires and cook the brakes too.


It's going to be fun as fuck!!!

I say start with a B swapped EG or Miata - both around 5-6k but the EG will more than likely have a few mods, whereas the Miata will come mostly stock.

AE86 GOD MACHINE

Euro Spec E36 M3.
Nice set of coil-overs
Brakes and tires.

Or maybe a K24 Miata with nice coil-overs and 275 R-comp tires.

I've done the fwd ITR bit. You have all the power and grip to keep up with 997 Turbo's in the corners, but come corner exit they start to pull on you because they have 400 extra ponies. :heckno:

miata

Miata or if I really felt like it I want to swap a high revving 4AG into a Mk2 Golf GTI shell. Redundancy yes, but you can only do so much with the VW 16v before boost, and a VR6 seems a bit nose heavy for such a light body.

You'll spend too much time and money keeping that thing running.

If that engine ever blows up you'll spend more money to fix it than you would to build an entirely new E36 with a 5.0 and T5 with all of the necessary chassis reinforcements

5.0 + T5, all the money you save can go towards tires

If you blow up a 5.0 you can go to Surrey and trade a 6 pack of Kokanee and a handshake for a used motor

Bauer Ltd

Price: $13,900.00

http://i.imgur.com/BQThAbH.jpg
http://blog.grabcad.com/wp-content/u...1/SAM_2228.jpg
http://www.car-revs-daily.com/wp-con...33-800x593.jpg
http://www.car-revs-daily.com/wp-con...a-Turbo-20.jpg

You can buy a EK with a swap and other stuff for around 5k or less. (mine might be for sale) And that leaves you lots of money parts and spares.

I would absolutely love a fox body track car.

Car: $5,000
Cheap 17x9.5's: $600
Nitto NT05 275/40/17: $700
Heads/cams/exhaust: $2,000
Eibach coilovers: $1,500
Sway bars/etc suspension: $700
Clutch: $1,000

Total: $11,500

$3,500 left over for repairs/more mods.

For starters, this. If you aren't at least interested in the car nothing else matters too much.

As far as the car itself, I'd only spend about half your budget on the car to leave room for initial fixes and any future upgrades once you find out what the car is lacking for your driving style. I'd suggest getting something fairly common so that parts are easy to source on short notice and so that you have widespread aftermarket support. Lastly I'd suggest getting something that doesn't have a tonne of power in stock trim but has the potential for power adders down the road, you're better off driving a slow car fast than a fast car slow from a learning standpoint.

I got 14K. Hook it up.

My old E36 LS1 managed to shear the driveshaft clean in half... about 10 laps after this video...

Lots of good advice in this thread already...

As a guy who has spent a lot of money in the pursuit of a love of driving fast, take it from me, a little planning can save you a lot of aggravation and expense.

The first thing is you need to truly identify what your goals are. It's all fine to say you want to just do some laps at a casual track day but many who start off that way decide they are interested in being competitive. However, many of them took a car they liked and modified to the track and then realized that they were totally screwed because they had started with the wrong platform, or had modifications that made it impossible to be competitive (classing). Spend a LOT of time thinking this through, because it makes a HUGE difference.

Then the second question is buy or build. For most people, the answer should be buy. Racecars are no different than streetcars in that parts are worth a tiny fraction of replacement cost when it's time to sell the car. However, this is an even bigger deal in racecars because modifications are often a much bigger part of the overall cost of the car. But for some people, and I fall in this category, building is the only option as a pre-done car doesn't exist in the way you want it. Side note... many guys say "well I can't afford to drop $xxx on a car right now so I'll just buy the car and mod it as I go." That's all fine and well but you are literally pissing money away just to have it a little faster. Get a loan and buy the built car, you'll save a bundle.

The third thing isn't really a question but rather a general comment. Most people, myself included, based their car choice on performance numbers - power, weight, etc. This doesn't really the paint the whole picture though. I took a highly competitive E36 with the stock motor that was quick and reliable and spent a small fortune turning it into a much faster car that was finicky, hard to drive, less competitive, and required a lot more maintenance and trust me - I regret it. The car was much more fun when it was slower.

Competition is key and having a car that you can drive without worrying about is important too. There are lots of guys out at autocross in turbo miatas that run slower lap times and are way less competitive than a well built NA one. In the early days before the V8, my E36 lapped Mission road course in the 1:17 - 1:18 range with only 190rwhp. Many cars with twice the power were lapping 5 seconds slower than this - a well sorted package goes a long way to achieving results.

Good luck
Mark

^^thanked for the wise words but also that video. dude, that car looks like a handful :ahwow:

Yep I'm leaving the motor pretty much stock until I maximize the performance and reliability of the rest of the package


Sweet vid!

Love this tips and suggestions in here.. I've taken my current (and previous) cars to the track, but still have a lot to figure out. I'm only planning this next spring, so I do have a bit of time to think about exactly what I want.

Currently sounds like an e36 or miata would be the best bet. I'm ok with buying instead of building, but I guess finding the right car to buy would be pretty tough, especially since, as mentioned, the cars get much harder to maintain and enjoy as they get further from stock.

I was also thinking of a DC2R, as mentioned by some people, but I'm not sure about the FWD platform.. but everything I hear says the DC2R will handle just as well as RWD cars, if not better (if the RWD car isn't balanced). Would love some more opinions on that..

Thanks for all the chat in here, keep it coming!

k20a2 civic hatchback
92 honda civic hb H22 TURBO!!!!!!!

freakshow are u interested in buyin a miata??im lookin to sell mine

I call.

1995 Mazda Miata !! SUPERCHARGED !!
Add $1000-1500 for some 15x8 wheels and 225 street tires.
$2000 upgrade to proper shortened coil-overs shocks.
$1K for roll bar and racing seat

Or

1994 1.8 Eng Eaton M62 Mazda Miata Supercharger
Add wheels and tires