Track-capable fun road car for <£20k

I killed my impreza engine going round a long left corner (road tyres) , got told at the time cylinder 3 is the last in oil run and that's why whether true or not I have no idea, engine rebuilt with cosworth internals and happy days till I sold it.
 
OP.
I think that you could do with giving us a little more guidance on the "usability" side of things.
For track days, a Caterham/Elise would probably be awesome. Less good for weekend use.
Vice versa, a diesel AMG might be great for weekend use, but probably rubbish on track.

What part of the scale are you aiming at?


My personal view would be 2 cars.
i.e. something not horribly compromised, that's suitable for day to day use, e.g. a decent hot hatch, or the aforementioned diesel.
Then a dedicated track car. Therefore no need to compromise and as it's a significantly lower cost, won't matter as much if you stack it. If anything, I'd be inclined to ditch the idea of a track car and go the whole hog and take up kart racing or similar.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
OP.
I think that you could do with giving us a little more guidance on the "usability" side of things.
For track days, a Caterham/Elise would probably be awesome. Less good for weekend use.
Vice versa, a diesel AMG might be great for weekend use, but probably rubbish on track.

What part of the scale are you aiming at?


My personal view would be 2 cars.
i.e. something not horribly compromised, that's suitable for day to day use, e.g. a decent hot hatch, or the aforementioned diesel.
Then a dedicated track car. Therefore no need to compromise and as it's a significantly lower cost, won't matter as much if you stack it. If anything, I'd be inclined to ditch the idea of a track car and go the whole hog and take up kart racing or similar.
Click to expand...

I already have a dedicated track car in the form of a Lotus Elise - it's pretty much in race trim so it's trailered to events.
I also already have a boring diesel estate for towing and munching the 15k motorway miles I do each year.

As per the OP, what I'm looking for is a comfortable car that I can enjoy on the road at the weekends, drive to and enjoy at the Nurburgring, do the odd track evening after work etc.

By comfortable, I mean a road car - comfortable enough for a 3-4 hour drive, quiet enough to hold a conversation, a roof etc.
 
Last edited:
mikehhhhhhh said:
I already have a dedicated track car in the form of a Lotus Elise - it's pretty much in race trim so it's trailered to events.
I also already have a boring diesel estate for towing and munching the 15k motorway miles I do each year.

As per the OP, what I'm looking for is a comfortable car that I can enjoy on the road at the weekends, drive to and enjoy at the Nurburgring, do the odd track evening after work etc.

By comfortable, I mean a road car - comfortable enough for a 3-4 hour drive, quiet enough to hold a conversation, a roof etc.
Click to expand...

I'm working towards a not-dissimilar fleet so I can hopefully see where you're coming from. I have the mk1 MR2 which is built almost entirely for track/competition (it's road legal but not a sensible car to use on the road!) and the Volvo XC70 for towing, long trips and other normal boring stuff then we currently have the wifes mk3 MR2 as a slightly more 'fun' road car. Plans have been delayed by the purchase of a house but we're aiming to replace the mk3 with a GT86. It ticks all the boxes for us in terms of having the right balance of fun/useability alongside our other cars however I can also appreciate that many peoples idea of a 'fun' car is something more focussed on straight line performance and so it might not be for everyone. The fact that you have an Elise suggests you may have same type of leaning towards enjoying the twisty bits rather than the straight bits so I'd say it's well worth a look.
 
kaiowas said:
I'm working towards a not-dissimilar fleet so I can hopefully see where you're coming from. I have the mk1 MR2 which is built almost entirely for track/competition (it's road legal but not a sensible car to use on the road!) and the Volvo XC70 for towing, long trips and other normal boring stuff then we currently have the wifes mk3 MR2 as a slightly more 'fun' road car. Plans have been delayed by the purchase of a house but we're aiming to replace the mk3 with a GT86. It ticks all the boxes for us in terms of having the right balance of fun/useability alongside our other cars however I can also appreciate that many peoples idea of a 'fun' car is something more focussed on straight line performance and so it might not be for everyone. The fact that you have an Elise suggests you may have same type of leaning towards enjoying the twisty bits rather than the straight bits so I'd say it's well worth a look.
Click to expand...

I am far more interested in a car that handles for sure, which is why it needs to be a car that is dynamically sorted for track or close to from the outset.

My Elise had a Supercharged K20 up until a month or so ago, though, so I do like a bit of power too. Although, It'll "only" be around 250-280bhp once the NA engine is back in.

I think I would find the GT86 a little on the slow side, though. I need to drive one.
 
MK1 or 2 Mini GP
Renault R26R - probably not under 20k
Ginetta
Caterham - any flavour will do
Clio 200
E46 M3
Lotus Elise :)
 
Last edited:
mikehhhhhhh said:
I already have a dedicated track car in the form of a Lotus Elise - it's pretty much in race trim so it's trailered to events.
I also already have a boring diesel estate for towing and munching the 15k motorway miles I do each year.

As per the OP, what I'm looking for is a comfortable car that I can enjoy on the road at the weekends, drive to and enjoy at the Nurburgring, do the odd track evening after work etc.

By comfortable, I mean a road car - comfortable enough for a 3-4 hour drive, quiet enough to hold a conversation, a roof etc.
Click to expand...

You’re after a GT in that case! Would something like a C63 float your boat?
 
mikehhhhhhh said:
I am far more interested in a car that handles for sure, which is why it needs to be a car that is dynamically sorted for track or close to from the outset.

My Elise had a Supercharged K20 up until a month or so ago, though, so I do like a bit of power too. Although, It'll "only" be around 250-280bhp once the NA engine is back in.

I think I would find the GT86 a little on the slow side, though. I need to drive one.
Click to expand...
Get a supercharged gt86
 
scooby clinich have a Cosworth supercharge GT86 for sale. Its been sitting for sale for over a year £18.5K is the price but theirs has had a total of £7K spent on it. (Cosworth are more expensive kits that others) but as been sitting about for so long might know them down on price. (it was their development car so has been looked after and not abused on the roads) http://www.scoobyclinic.com/carsales_mk62.htm

You budget has a lot of posibilities cheap car then modify with forged engine or just buy something more track orintated like an RB320 or evo
 
mikehhhhhhh said:
I am far more interested in a car that handles for sure, which is why it needs to be a car that is dynamically sorted for track or close to from the outset.

My Elise had a Supercharged K20 up until a month or so ago, though, so I do like a bit of power too. Although, It'll "only" be around 250-280bhp once the NA engine is back in.

I think I would find the GT86 a little on the slow side, though. I need to drive one.
Click to expand...

The 0-62 time looks slow because 2nd gear tops out at 60mph. The Japs didn't gear it for our European stats lol. If you perfect the gear change you can knock quite a lot off the official time though :p

But you will find a stock one slow after the Elise. Can't fault the handling and it's a pretty comfortable car, it doesn't crash or bounce on our crappy roads like some performance cars. I've used one every day for the past 1.5 years. It's basically like an MX-5 with a hard roof and back seats (and LSD+lively rear end for a bit of cheeky drifting at low speed).
 
Last edited:
FWD:

Integra
Megan or Clio RS of some sort
Mini GP


AWD:

Forget it, amazing on the road, but just a bit meh on track, too heavy, too numb unless its real exotica stuff.


RWD:
E46 M3
E36 M3
Lotus
Caterham
Westfield
S2000


20k will get you something rather decent, but as track work can be expensive make sure you have a few grand aside for consumables and repairs.
Look at this way 10k on an average E46 M3, then another 10k on brakes, suspension, other upgrades, maintenance and consumables.
 
Nasher said:
The 0-62 time looks slow because 2nd gear tops out at 60mph. The Japs didn't gear it for our European stats lol. If you perfect the gear change you can knock quite a lot off the official time though :p

But you will find a stock one slow after the Elise. Can't fault the handling and it's a pretty comfortable car, it doesn't crash or bounce on our crappy roads like some performance cars. I've used one every day for the past 1.5 years. It's basically like an MX-5 with a hard roof and back seats (and LSD+lively rear end for a bit of cheeky drifting at low speed).
Click to expand...

It's funny you mention the mx5. Part of me wants to get a cheap NC and build it up over time.

While I want something fast and perhaps a bit nicer looking, I doubt an extra £10-15k into a car is going to yield any more fun.
 
Gibbo said:
AWD:


Forget it, amazing on the road, but just a bit meh on track, too heavy, too numb unless its real exotica stuff.
Click to expand...

I'm glad someone who's driven a larger variety of cars with proper track experience also has that view.

Neither my 400bhp Hawk Impreza with just coilovers nor my 330S Hatch Impreza with a full suspension set-up were as fun as I thought they would be on track. I'll even go as far as saying my old FN2 with minor mods was a more enjoyable experience on track.

There's some very good spec FD2s going right now, which in my opinion, is the perfect daily+track car. It's where I'd be now if I hadn't caught the ad for my current Turbo FN2 at a rather good price.

Oh and for what it's worth, I had a very tricked out BRZ - every track-mod possible was done to it - running 280bhp Supercharged. It most certainly was not a good daily, at all, hence why I let it go.

So you need to decide how much of a track car you want really.
An M135i wouldn't be the right way at 20k and before somebody suggests it, neither would an FK2.
Consumables will absolutely destroy you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom