Thoughts about future cars

Caporegime
Joined
13 Nov 2006
Posts
25,885
Say you had (for arguments sake) £10k and wanted a car that was as at home on a track as it was on the road.

Would you either:

Spend £5k on a car for the road and £5k on a track weapon, Westfield or similar.

Or

Spend £10k on something that could do both?

The first option means that ultimately you'd end up with two very different cars that were really fit for their purpose and you might even lose less in depreciation too? Track sessions could end up being cheaper as well as consumables may cost less.
 
In my experience, a road car is always going to be compromised on the track, and a track car is always going to be compromised.

I have my e46 M3 for the road, and a reasonably extensively modified 318 for the track. The e46 M3 is too heavy for the track and cooks its brakes. The 318 on the road is too crashy and noisy. In their natural habitats, they are very good however.

I don't think I could deal with a Caterham/Westfield (I would grow very tired of having to rain-x the inside of my windscreen on a wet track day). Additionally, I think the heart-ache of crashing something like a Lotus Elise (expensive clams, etc) would make them prohibitive.
 
Something like a Z4,130i, Mx-5?

Mx-5 might grow tiresome if daily mileage high though. Not quite sure what the latest model would be like though?

I suppose there's nothing stopping the Mx-5 being mainly for the track.
 
I think my first thought would be to realistically think, just how often will I be heading to the track? If it is a few times a year then I wouldn't want to be splitting to two cars and would put up with the compromise of a driver focused road car for track use.

On the other hand if you will be doing regular track work then a second car could make sense. Not sure I would do a 50:50 split though. 70:30 or so in bias of the road car would be my starting point.
 
Definitely road car + track car for me... but then I aim to be at the track minimum once a month - ideally 2 or 3 times.

Like Nick said... what you gain on the road, you lose on the track.

I've just signed up to a stupendously cheap E92 M3 lease... but I'm starting to regret it, thinking of cancelling and back to thinking about an E39 again with more money toward track toys.

I'm really bloody indecisive at the minute!


There are cars that do both quite well... but I don't know of any in that price range. If you wanted one car for both road and track... it'd be a modded M3 (brakes need improving) or Porsche really.
 
6-7k on a Passat, Mondeo, whatever.

3-4k on a Clio 172 Cup.

Win all round, Clio is cheap as pie to fix, run, and muchos fun on the track.
 
£5k on a road car that can tow .... £5k on a Formula Ford / Vee / Vauxhall Junior

Single seaters at that price won't really depreciate, but there will be some additional costs such as an ARDS test etc. They can be very cost effective on track if you do the work on them yourself. It'll be quicker and more fun around the track than even £100k supercars.
 
I'd have both-in-one. You don't need to be going fast on a track to have a lot of fun if you pick the right car. In my experience you want a lot of power, balanced handling, not a lot of grip and bad brakes. Drive it like a hero :D
 
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