Hi

I'm looking to buy a car just for track use and was after some opinions on which way to go. I have a few ideas which are listed below and would be grateful for peoples opinions

Seat ibiza cupra

Fabia VRS

Clio 172

Fiesta Zetec S with Puma conversion

Thanks

Kev

fabia and ibiza will have more options for power being turbo'd, buy mine its half stripped lol

MK1 vRS or MK2?

New Cupra who has a lot of mods if you don't want to wait for development.

MK1 vRS or MK2?

New Cupra who has a lot of mods if you don't want to wait for development.

mk1 vrs

Puma for the money every time on a track Or a clio Not much will keep up with my clio in the bends

Edited 5 October, 201114 yr by mrbushrat

106 Gti!

They are great fun on track! With a few select mods & some weight loss! Just as good, if not better than a Clio some say!

After having a series 2 indigo blue 106 Rallye, I always fancied getting a series 1 106 rallye and stripping the interior out and fitting a 106 gti or Saxo vts lump for track use. By far one of the best handling cars iv owned lol.

An early MX5 would get my vote.

An early MX5 would get my vote.

Tom your back??? :p

Does it have to be a VAG motor?

If not really depends on your budget, I've been tracking for some years now and Front wheel drivers suffer from understeer and need lots of work to correct, one exception is the Honda Integra TypeR which you will like, others to consider are the Clio Cup 172/182, good fun car on the twisty bits (Oh look I have one for sale below). If you go for the Rear drivers then an old BMW 3 series is good to tinker with and lighten.

one exception is the Honda Integra TypeR

Problem with these is they are the opposite, Ive never seen a fast one as drivers simply dont seem to be able to lean on them hard enough. Ive also seen quite a few smokey ones on track days.. due to the nature of the engine it needs to be constantly at very high revs which cant be healthy.

Id say something french if you want to get in and have some fun. Out of the box the pugs and renaults handle superbly.

If your going to end up wanting to go faster then the Ibiza, throw some mods at it and it will eat a 172 - or a type R alive.

edit: And yeh, mx5's seem good. Every person I see in one has a huge smile and is having a great time!

J

Edited 10 October, 201114 yr by r200ti

ok heres a theory - and its a bit controversial - there is no bad car to take on a track day.

The biggest smiles I have seen on the days I've done were from a couple of kids about 18 who rocked up in a 1.1 106 zest and spent the day cornering with it on it's door handles. Admittedly thanks to the body roll that was pretty much every corner and thanks to the "engine" every corner was pretty slow but they had an absolute riot!

Ok so if you are after clean lapping and quick times you need handling, power etc etc but more so you need high levels of driver skill.

If your looking for fun though (which is surely what a trackday is really about) a duffer can fit the bill even better.

Worse car = lower limits which are easier to explore and exceed.

Worse car = slower speeds in case anything does go wrong.

Worse car = cheaper to buy and cheaper to repair (normally) in case things go REALLY wrong!

This is part of the reason i have retired my Fabia from track work and made sure the commuter i had to purchase was at least a little sporty.

Step up a 1999 mk2 Seat Ibiza 8v gti. 115bhp of barely contained Spanish/German power.

At just under grand it was (relatively) dirt cheap and has done 8 months of commuting without missing a beat.

And now i've sourced a second set of wheels i'm hoping to squeeze a track day in before the endo f the year and hit 2012 hard.

Servicing is cheap and cheap parts are either new or readily available from a scapper from stuff all over the late 90's VAG range

I know i won't be setting any lap records in it and will spend a fair amount of time wathcing my mirrors but i'm hoping that with just enough power to overwhelm the front wheels and a light rear end it should prove FUN

Or of course this could just be me.

Keep your options open there are a host of cars on PH etc. Suggest you go for a car that already has been prepared with cage, seats, harnesses, brakes, suspension, exhaust etc. Let someone else have spent all the time and money. There are a couple of road legal examples on PH for £1.5k. A new full cage alone would be about £600.00.

Umm just seen this on eBay

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=230662562690&index=1&nav=SEARCH&nid=70906974843

abit expensive but I bet it's one hell of a drive!

For maximum benefit, remember that weight (or rather lack of it) is king! The less weight you are carrying round the better, more power is no substitute for less weight.

306 gti6 ... I just happen to be selling 1 too for just a grand.

172 cup all day but i am biased as that's what I have as a track car!

172 cup all day but i am biased as that's what I have as a track car!

The clio is not bad but the fabia is the daddy when its damp

http://www.youtube.com/user/3wheels3#p/u/14/vfolfqdiUPE

306 gti6 ...

+1

Mate of mine started his racing career in one of these and said it's the most fun he's had and would definately recommend one to someone starting out or lookin for a good track car.

I got into drifting so didn't bother with one in the end.