OK, so I've decided on an MR2

Can someone explain to me why I am sorely tempted by this shed then:

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Reply to
Timo Geusch
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Not sure myself - especially as the unobtanium rear window has been replaced with perspex.

Reply to
SteveH

Well, you can get pretty much everything for these as used parts so I'm not too worried about that. As long as that perspex window is actually watertight, that is...

Reply to
Timo Geusch

I'd be slightly worried about the cost of even a used rear window.

I've seen 924s given away due to broken rear screens and I wouldn't be too hopeful that it's watertight.

Reply to
SteveH

We'll see - it's the odd one out anyway, if I don't like it I'll just keep looking.

Reply to
Timo Geusch

One of the things putting me off trackdays has always been the chance of not getting home if you drive it there.. how often does that actually happen?

Reply to
PCPaul

Didn't make it to the track this year, was too busy, but did 6 days the year before.

Didn't once see a car crash and have to be towed off the track.

Saw a handful break down, but they went away courtesy of the AA / RAC.

Reply to
SteveH

I don't think I've seen a car at Lydden Hill that left on a trailer but didn't arrive on one. However I've seen several cars being damaged at Brands.

Reply to
Timo Geusch

On every trackday I've been to, there is at least one who stuffs his car. Most common reasons are running out of knowledge, getting too confident, showing off or starting to race better suited machinery.

Mechanical failures are rare if your car is in order to start with. Most of us carry an extra set of brakepads. Often these need changing when leaving the circuit.

Tires suffer too but even a bald tire gets you home :-)

Tom De Moor

Reply to
Tom De Moor

I've done a number of track days at Castle Combe and some hillclimbs in my AH sprite in the past and always drove away but it does somewhat temper your driving, at least in my case. Spun a few times but no damage.

Memorable days were when a Alfa day preceded the AH day and 3 alpha suds still littered the circuit having run off into the banking. Another day when lapping I saw tyre marks at a bend going off towards the banking that hadn't been there the previous lap, Marcos stuffed the banking head on, driveable but found it in the scrutineers shed later examining the bent chassis. Audi Quattro went side on into a marshalls post and shifted the marshalls post banking, Quattro is substantial and that shifted the side of the car at the B post in about 6"-8", luckily for that guy he had taken out track day insurance at about £60 IIRC. Those were the memorable days, could probably think of more.

Reply to
David Billington

Burn the heretic!

Reply to
SteveH

I should have seen that coming as I know there are some Alfa lovers here. I never had one myself but had some mates that did and they seemed a great car, on that day though the drivers stuffed the cars before they had a chance to rust off the track. For my sins I had a thing for Lancias, particularly Betas, and had a HPE then a Lancia Delta Turbo ie. I loved the character of the cars but the rust, my Beta was quite good as Betas go and the Delta better, but how did they ever build cars that rusted in such odd places like the roof, crap steel didn't help. The Delta was starting to go at the back edge of the roof from the inside when I sold it, may be an Achilles Heal thing in that was the one place that missed getting dipped.

Reply to
David Billington

Well, yes - it helps if you get the spelling correct.... people get angry if you spell it 'alpha'.

Reply to
SteveH

David Billington wrote: The

Both my Integrales were beginning to bubble along the back of the roof. Not good when they weren't that old at the time.

Reply to
Pete M

Sorry Steve, I know the correct spelling as you may note but wasn't paying enough attention and that typo got through.

Reply to
David Billington

I would have loved an Integrale but looked at the upkeep costs and decided the Turbo was acceptable. Nice cruising car but I don't think I would have done a trackday in it. Regarding Integrales, I always though it a shame that whenever I saw a Integrale rally car at Goodwood it was always in gravel or Paris/Dakar spec and driven in a pedestrian manner up the hill, would be nice to see one driven in anger in a format suitable to a tarmac hillclimb.

Reply to
David Billington

Well, slightly unrelated but when I went to the 'ring, in a like, I think

1hr 45m or 2 hr session, however long it was, there was a few accidents - although none caused a closure as the cars were driveable (I assume so anyway - the live map screen at the start showed where they were). One of them was a Cobra, who lost it on Hatzenbach (about 5 or 6 corners in), and had clearly spun in a pretty massive way, cutting an entire corner out on the grass - backwards probably. It had ended up settled against the barrier, but it wasn't destroyed, it must have hit very gentley as there was just a bit of a dint on the rear corner, and the light on that corner was smashed.

My mates dad has an R1 engined Caterham 7 clone, I can't remember the company name now, but someone on here knew it, I think it was Bob Sherunckle. He and a friend who is a brillaint mechanic built the whole thing in his garage, effectively without any instructions as it was only the

7th or so kit the company had sold - they took photos of the entire build and sent copies back to them I beleive. Anyway, it's well good on a track day, as you'd expect, and also, as it's very light it doesn't wear its tyres too badly or the brakes so he's never done the drive home with the tyres down to the canvas like some of the cars there had to do (there being Elvington airfield near York). However, that's not to say it was trouble free fun... Once a bolt holding a fairly major connection to one of the front wheels sheared, luckily my mate noticed and screamed and pointed a lot so they didn't commit to the fast approaching corner...

I went with them a couple of times, and once there was a previous shape Corsa with a 2.0 16v turbo engine. It looked standard on the outside to normal people, but geeks would notice the AP brakes, wider bore single shiny tailpipe, brake ducts replacing fogs etc. Anyway, he was out almost constantly, and it was bastard well fast, but it had a massive problem putting the power down coming out of a couple of the sharper bends and by the end of the day his right front (the inside that was spinning up) tyres was comically smooth. The left one was also buggered on the outside from being on the outside in the faster corners I presume.

Anyway, so what I'm saying really is that you may or may not want to think about wear and things on your car as well as crashing. Also, and this is very true of Elvington, you can get a mad amount of stone chips on the front end and if you are at an airfield, the surface can be very, very abrahsive and proper bone your tyres a lot quicker than you'd think. The, pretty much guarantee of getting some stone chips is what stopped me from taking the Vee, which already had FAR too many for my liking... Aside from that, have fun :-)

Reply to
DanB

There's also the small point that, if you're doing a wet track day, the rear will steam up and you'll have no way to clear it with the glass missing. No rear wiper, too. Which would be another PITA on a wet day.

Reply to
SteveH

And the same with Suds - that's Rusts to the rest of the world.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

They didn't actually rot any quicker or to a greater extent than the competition at the time - MkI Golfs rust in ways Alfa could only imagine, MkIII Scrotes were rusting as you drove them off the forecourt etc....

Reply to
SteveH

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