Track day's ??

[[TW]Fox]

Can't see why not really, they are 10 a penny these days.

The good ones are midly scene taxed leaving only the ropey ones at the bottom of the market. By contrast nobody wants the non Sports, meaning its entirely possible to get a nice 6 cylinder E36 Coupe for a grand if it doesnt say 'Sport' on the V5.

Unless you are buying it to polish it on the drive and be all E36-enthusiast I'd actively avoid the Sport for this purpose. You'll end up removing all the Sport specific bits anyway!

As for them being 10 a penny 'these days', errr no. More than 50% of them have vanished over the last 10 years. There are now only a total of just over 1000 left on the road.

 

[p1RATE]

MX5 is too slow and Clio is too FWD.

Pretty accurate. Imo the MX5 is one of the best starter track cars, not overly aggressive and will be extremely rewarding to drive. Personally I would stay well away from the clio. If I was starting again and had the choice of my first track car I would probably get the bimmer.

 

[HummuH1]

How come? I've had nothing but pleasure from mine

Just from the perspective that you can buy the Clio or MX5 and they're pretty much good to go on a low budget and you don't need a great deal of driving ability to have fun in them.

I'm a massive fan of BMW's but to get them going well and safe for the track requires £££.

 

[shoes]

Did you manage to buy it and track prep it for under £1000?

No.

It cost me £1100, already stripped with stiffer springs, hydro handbrake (drifting), deep dish wheel, manifold conversion and scorpion cat back exhaust.

Taken it drifting several times, and done several track days and not had it blow up yet.

Since then I have fitted bucket seats, some bushes, uprated brake pads and harnesses, none of which were essential as such.

 

[shoes]

Just from the perspective that you can buy the Clio or MX5 and they're pretty much good to go on a low budget and you don't need a great deal of driving ability to have fun in them.

I'm a massive fan of BMW's but to get them going well and safe for the track requires £££.

Have to agree about the mx5, I just bought one for £550 and it's a great car. Once the PAS is repaired it will be awesome.

With the BMW I suppose suspension is a must but otherwise you can have a pretty sweet car on track for a little over a grand if you shop about.

 

[HummuH1]

Have to agree about the mx5, I just bought one for £550 and it's a great car. Once the PAS is repaired it will be awesome.

With the BMW I suppose suspension is a must but otherwise you can have a pretty sweet car on track for a little over a grand if you shop about.

Enjoy the MX5 So much fun to be had in them.

Brakes? I wouldn't be comfortable driving with the std brakes on a 328 for more than a few laps, the fade on them is awful. Can be improved with uprated discs, pads, hoses and fluid, but that costs a bit and they still fade, just takes a bit longer.

Less weight will help but if I was tracking one regularly I'd definitely be changing the front brake set-up.

 

[shoes]

I didn't notice it being too bad with the greenstuff pads, although it did have a fluid change to boot. The brakes work well enough IMO and fade was't really an issue once the green pads were in.

You're right about the fade on the stock brakes/pads though, they were quite bad for it.

I've had the mx a week today and I love it. It's really slow, but I don't mind, it's great in the twisties. Looking forward to sorting the suspension out and then getting the alignment sorted. Westy was kind enough to send me a list of known good alignment settings which I'm going to have dialed in soon.