Best track day car for under £8K

[Papalazarou]

As a follow on from "I can't believe I can't won't sell my car" thread. I thought I'd start a dedicated thread about the best track car for under £8K.

To make it easier I'm willing to consider FWD cars.

The brief would be cheap to run, reliable good handling and reasonably fast.


Cheers,


James.

[Lankstarr]

FWD has to be a DC2 - no contest there.

RWD get that Clio V6 you;ve always loved and have some fun:laugh:

Luke

[Monaco92]

I would like to suggest a Westfield as a perfect trackday car. It is quick enough, easy to maintain & parts are plentifull. But then I'm from Dudley so could be a little biased.

[Papalazarou]

FWD has to be a DC2 - no contest there.

RWD get that Clio V6 you;ve always loved and have some fun:laugh:

Luke

I think you're right Luke, from what I hear the DC2 is hard to better. I think the Clio will always look better than it drives. There's also a fair difference between the mk1's and mk2's. Interestingly the MK2 still seems to be holding its price well.


Cheers,


James.

[gsuds]

MX5 with plenty spare cash to fettle to your own liking ;) - including lots more power.........

G

[NoelWatson]

I think you're right Luke, from what I hear the DC2 is hard to better. I think the Clio will always look better than it drives. There's also a fair difference between the mk1's and mk2's. Interestingly the MK2 still seems to be holding its price well.


Cheers,


James.

I think the Clio will be a fair bit slower than the NSX.

[Papalazarou]

What about a VX220 non turbo? they were built by Lotus and they don't have the K-series. Anyone had one?

Cheers,


James.

[DamianW]

What about a VX220 non turbo? they were built by Lotus and they don't have the K-series. Anyone had one?


Owned two Elises and passengered in VX220 (and know several owners). Good choice I think for a reasonably reliable car to drive to/from a track as well as thrash it at the track itself. Plenty of performance upgrades available, or there were. Only thing possibly to mark it down on is it shares S2 Elises propensity for hideous understeer. Can be dialled out. It also has ABS which apparently cuts in too early for track fun.

Wouldn't totally discount the K series Elise option - yes they suffer head gasket failure but cheap as chips to fix/sort out and plenty of owners haven't had any problems, and there are preventative measures you can take.

/random musings from me

[dan the man]

DC2 always get thumbs up from me. anyone who went in mine could say what they think aroudn the ring.

VX non turbo ive done a trackday in one and loved it, turn in and steering was great, good power not wheezy and overal loved the raw feel.

So i took out an elise S2 sport or summat. Didnt like it :( Had my DC5 then and for soem reason the engine was bland (K SERIES= SH1T IMO) and it spoilt the car.

Noiw an elsie with honda power :)

Tonnes of cars out there but all i can say is for utter raw ability, UTTER reliability and for having only one thing on its mind a DC2 is so veyr hard to beat. A work of genius.

[Senninha]

DC2, no contest. Bullet proof and if you get early UK one or JDM spec you have 9k rpm to play with which means more vtec range. Dan can offer loads of valuable insight to getting the best out of one of these on track. I did several track days in these at Palmersport when they had them in 2000/2001. Plenty around at £5kish.

Owned and loved the Elise 135 yet found the VX dull in comparison yet easy to post consistent times around a track. Personally would always buy the Lotus. Here's a few in (almost) LBBP :)

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/874346.htm not sure what v rating means but if its track only does it matter?
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/682480.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/838989.htm

Still toying with idea of an MX5 myself just haven't done anything about due to work pressure and we****g next year.

regards, Paul

[Lankstarr]

We****g next year - I didn;t know you were en****d! Congratulations mate:)

I hear that track cars are the ideal wedding present.. maybe an elise with a DC2 engine... everyone's happy!

Cheers,

Luke

[forumadmin]

Here's a different option.

If the car is just for track days. Depending on how many you will be doing, how about just hiring a car for the day each time?

[Senninha]

Here's a different option.

If the car is just for track days. Depending on how many you will be doing, how about just hiring a car for the day each time?

And here's where to get them from

http://www.pistonheads.com/trackdays/carhire.asp

James,

Ref the Elise, check out issue 23 of Evo if you still have it as it has complete buyer guide.

regards, Paul

[DamianW]

Here's a different option.

If the car is just for track days. Depending on how many you will be doing, how about just hiring a car for the day each time?

Yeah thats what I do, but unless you can find someone to share it can be eye-wateringly expensive. Hence I don't do so many track days now :(

[Senninha]

James,

Does this overcome the power concerns??

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/718437.htm

[AR]

We****g next year - I didn;t know you were en****d! Congratulations mate:)

Cheers,

Luke

Same here Paul, congratulations!!!

[TheSebringOne]

Congratulations to you Paul & your wife to be! :beer:

[Yokohama_91]

S2000, even in standard form, it was engineered for the track, has perfect balance and that gearchange, that engine --- howling up to 9,000 rpm.

I have no idea what they are selling for in the UK but an early S2000 for under 1,000,000 Yen [7,150] is very achievable here in Japan.

Simon

[Papalazarou]

Ok, I've narrowed it down to two cars, a DC2 2000 model with 55-60K for around £5-£5500 or a 60-70K S2000 for around £7K.

The questions are;

1. Which car will be most fun

2. Which will be cheaper to run as a track car?

3. What, if anything will I have to uprate before going on track?

Cheers,


James.


P.s, quick message to TheSebringOne........SPLAT!

[Ewan]

Ok, I've narrowed it down to two cars, a DC2 2000 model with 55-60K for around £5-£5500 or a 60-70K S2000 for around £7K.

The questions are;

1. Which car will be most fun

2. Which will be cheaper to run as a track car?

3. What, if anything will I have to uprate before going on track?

Cheers,


James.


P.s, quick message to TheSebringOne........SPLAT!

Head over to www.s2ki.com (http://www.s2ki.com) for advice on
modding the S2k for the track. In no particular order...

- air intake
- x-brace
- shocks
- brakes

... and that's before you get down to supercharging etc. Still - it'll all be
relatively cheap to sort out.

If going for an early car (which you will be), watch out for cracking on the roof or brittleness of the plastic rear window - that will be expensive to put right. Also, Honda took a couple of the early cars to MIRA and came back with revised suspension settings which can be retrospectively applied to early cars - I had a MY2000 car for a few years, and had the same settings applied and it made a real difference on feeling more planted. Tracked the car a few times and it was always a hoot but never felt all that quick on a track in a straight line.

Go on: get yourself a Stook and you might find yourself taking on the road in the summer :)

PS - I sold one of my S2000s through S2000-4u.co.uk. Although there are mixed reviews on them on S2ki, if you know exactly what you want and how much you're prepared to pay, they'd be worth a visit - probably have 20+ S2000s in stock at any one time so you get to compare a lot.

cheers
Ewan

[TheSebringOne]

Not being a track expert, it would be interesting to hear the opinions on FWD V RWD, which is the main difference bewteen these two Hondas. Personally I would go FWD, a bit safer on the limit, but RWD is more pure?

Papa, what about a splat for Mark C? Favouritism eh. :no::laugh:

[Senninha]

Hi James,

Had both and loved both for different reasons

DC2 IMO will offer more fun with on limit handling you'll be able to exploit time and time again.

S2k would take longer to get to know so dont worry about comments on it being slow.

As before, talk to Dan ref S2k track mods, especially brakes.

There are a lot of exS2k owners here but would eb worth taking a peak over on S2ki forum for cost effective mods.

I would also suggest that as you are currently keeping the NSX, that the S2k would offer you potential to get more from the NSX as both can be twitchy so may actually improve the enjoyment of both cars.

regards, Paul


Ok, I've narrowed it down to two cars, a DC2 2000 model with 55-60K for around £5-£5500 or a 60-70K S2000 for around £7K.

The questions are;

1. Which car will be most fun

2. Which will be cheaper to run as a track car?

3. What, if anything will I have to uprate before going on track?

Cheers,


James.


P.s, quick message to TheSebringOne........SPLAT!

[AR]

Ok, I've narrowed it down to two cars, a DC2 2000 model with 55-60K for around £5-£5500 or a 60-70K S2000 for around £7K.

Newer car, RWD, plenty of bits available, you can't go wrong with the S2K IMHO.

[Yokohama_91]

Newer car, RWD, plenty of bits available, you can't go wrong with the S2K IMHO.

Putting an S2K on the track is really easy in almost standard spec the only real necessity is to change the pads [Sport pad like Ferodo DS2500] and the brake fluid [DOT 4 or higher].

The early S2000s had a mixed reputation on roads, but it is a different car on track much easier to drive and control on the limit than the NSX.

The next step would be some decent high performance tyres like Yokohama Neova or Bridgestone RE11R after that you can look at suspension but things start to get expensive which defeats this objective.

In fact don't spend anymore on upgrades until you are fully comfortable sliding the car through fast corners and steering on the throttle, once you are at this point I think you will find it hard to go back to FWD.

Simon

PS - AR I noticed you are in Cardiff, I was born in Penarth.

[Ferris Bueller]

Ok, I've narrowed it down to two cars, a DC2 2000 model with 55-60K for around £5-£5500 or a 60-70K S2000 for around £7K.

2. Which will be cheaper to run as a track car?


Does anyone know how the finances stack up on this?