So I know this is a weird place to be asking this, but I'm hoping for some feedback and thoughts.

I've been thinking of getting a dedicated track car, but not an evo. The suppose the Evo is great for DE's but I couldn't put a cage in it, since it is my family car.

So I've been thinking of turbo miata's, and I think Percy somebody just got a CRX trackcar. I am buying a new car for my wife, and am thinking of maybe trading her old car (1999 BMW 328i) for a track car. Her old car is in top shape, but the trade in value is only like $7k or so, so I was thinking of selling it myself or trading it for something fun. I've thought of making it into a track car, but parts are so freaking expensive I might as well stick with an Evo.

Whatever I end up with needs to be cheap and parts need to be cheap and plentiful (hence my FI miata idea).

Any ideas?

 

I have a built and prepped spec miata for sale....

LMK.

Asking 10k with some spares...

Scorke

 

I've thought of Spec miata's, but someone told me that they're not really the best value since so much moeny went into getting them to the "hairy edge" of being "spec," instead of spending $ on getting them to go fast and turn well. For racing they are an affordable entry point, but for plain fun track car they may not be the best (that's one person's opinion anyway, I haven't really formed my own yet on that).

 

look for a 3rd gen rx7 with the ls1 thay handle great

 

crx, miata, bmw e30, 240sx are all good economical bang for the buck rides....

 

If youre looking for ideas, i would say the following: First off, dont take this the wrong way, im only trying to help you. How much experience do you have? Do you do DE's regularly? Do you compete now, or in the past, at any level, SCCA/NASA? How much competition experience do you have? When you say youre looking for a dedicated track car, what do you mean? What are your plans? I dont understand why people ask questions as such w/o providing any background info on themselves, and w/o giving some insight as to what they plan on doing. I dont have experience with anything other than my Evo, but i think w/o knowing that info its difficult for us to provide ideas/advice.

As far as Percy, he sold his Evo to get that CRX for a reason. He didnt just up and decide he wanted a CRX w/o knowing what he was getting into. Hes been competing with NASA in TTA, and gradually acquired the experience that got him into what hes into today. You have to have some sort of a plan. You cant just go and buy a spec miata and slap a turbo on it because so and so said so...and then what? So this all goes back to how much experience you have...what your plans are...is this something that youre actually ready to undertake...etc...? Do you see where im going with this? Who knows, perhaps the best thing for you is to keep your Evo for now.

 

I'd go with a Civic or Integra.

For as many ricer parts as are on the market you can also find well sorted race bits that bolt on and work. You can run one for a fraction of the price of an EVO and go pretty damn quick.

 

http://www.rallyclassified.com/class...p/listing/1103

This is my daily driver/trackday car. They closed most of the tracks in Colorado, so I bought a shifter kart and am just getting started on an Evo project so I could use the extra garage space and some $$. At PMI it's run a 1:45.1...for reference, I think Warrtalon has run ~1:39 in his modified Evo. Down the 1/2 mile straight, this miata is ~ 2 car lengths quicker than a stock Evo. Boost is only ~9-10psi, but if you ever wanted to put a built motor in it, the blower is capable of 18-20psi.

There was recently a newer car with similar mods that was advertised on www.flyinmiata.com for $14.5k, but it doens't appear to be listed anymore.=

Dave

 

Hairy edge?

These cars make 110 whp on a good day, they are not very picky and require minimum adjustments to be fast at different tracks, at the very most a camber/ride height adjustment.

Let me know.

Scorke

 

That is awesome. It looks extremely fun. I'll have to sell the BMW before buying anything like it, or find someone that wants to trade.

 

I'm an intermediate DE driver with no racing plans. I want a car that can be safer than a daily driver (cage, roll-bar, whatever) and not so expensive in case of failure or damage, that'll use fewer and cheaper tires & brakes. It should be unpretentious looking, but able to be pretty quick. Miata seems to fit the bill pretty well, and ebay is full of motors, transmissions, &c. Not so sure if it has enough power to be fun, but some sort of forced induction should take care of that.

but then civics, rx7's and all other sorts of other cheap and plentiful cars abound. I doubt someone is going to want to trade their race car for a 8 year old Bimmer, so I guess I ought to go one step at a time.

 

no superflous $10k just yet, so I'll have to pass for now. let's re-visit when I get rid of my wife's old car.

 

Sorry for the sameless plug, but my hillclimb/track day car is for sale and may be in your price range, plus mk2 VW's are a dime a dozen for parts or complete spare cars.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3438104

 

Yeah, this is a big decision Bueller noted.

I thought I wanted to go this route - in getting a track dedicated car - but I'm not read to trailor something to/from the track at this point so I am sticking with the Evo. Keep in mind that a car that is legal on the streets has made some sacrifices for the track - if you truely want a track dedicated car, you'll need to trailer it. That means having a tow vehicle, trailer, and the applicable storage for all of this where you live. Keep this in mind.

 

yeah, good point about the trailer.

my wife's new car can pull a light car, but I would have to park the evo outside (2 car garage) since I can't leave trailers/etc. parked in my driveway in my subdivision....

if only I had a money tree...