Thoughts on a Retro trackday car.

If you can live with something a bit tatty and FWD, H22a Prelude 2.2 VTi would be my choice.

You can pick tatty ones of these up for peanuts these days.

Something someone else has prepped. There may be the odd thing you'd have done better or differently, but these cars very rarely sell for anything like the cost of assembling them. FWIW, you wouldn't get me barrelling round a circuit in a ratty old piece of tin, of uncertain structural strength with no mods - bare minimum will be better brakes and good shocks IMO. A cage would be high on my list of priorities as soon as you got to the point of carrying any speed...

My choices would be: 205, MR2, E30, Ratty 924.

As I said to Timo, it's useful if you can buy something there's a race series for and prep to something along those lines if you want to recoup any kind of resale value.

Or a Clio 172/182. Ratty ones are round about £2-3K now which is easily the cost of prepping a car, and these are supposed to be good out of the box.

Hmm. Okay so trying to think of this from another perspective, if I wanted a track day car to learn about how the stuff I usually drove handled and went under stress, then something front wheel drive with a turbocharger could suit.

Perhaps that's why?

Is the Escort SI turbocharged, then? :-P

This one if you can find one that's not terminally rusty. Which is a

*big* problem. They handle rather well out of the box so you pretty much don't need to do anything to them for basic track fun.

The heresy...

I like them, but FWD for a track car seems wrong, even though I know they can still be fun. Thing is while plentiful, decent modding/tuning stuff can be pricey. But it is thought as I like Jap stuff.

He drives a Shogun, his missus has a 1.4 focus.

Neither is particularly like a late model Escort.

On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:02:30 +0100, Elder grumbled:

If he's insistent on FWD, you'd get a ratty 1.7 Puma for a similar price .I'd bet they're a right laugh on the track, they're just so chuckable. Like an old 205 without the killer oversteer.

Mike P

I know what you mean. Naturally before it would be taken near a track it would have the brakes looked over.

He likes 205s as he has had a couple, but having had a couple of 3 series he reckons they would be too heavy. 924 I could live with.

Probably not looking at resale value in the end, that is why it would minimally modded.

Have a look on the Pistonheads classifieds, there's a good selection of trackday cars that will already have had the work and money spent on them. Something like this,

On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:45:24 +0100, Elder grumbled:

I got offered another tatty MX-5 with a bit of T&T for £600 a couple of weeks ago,. It was going to need a bit of sill-welding for to get it through test but other than that it was ok and would do what you want.

Mike P

That was my big worry, I know they can, and the reason for including them is, for basic fun they don't need as much to handle as say a Volvo or some other such older small RWD car.

Yup, and this is from someone who has owned both rwd and front wheel drive escorts and capris and cortinas/sierras in the past including a

1.6 engined rs2000 MK2 lookalike and a 2 litre cosworth sierra lookylikey that drove OK for what they were.

Ha, looks nice and well done but was thinking more like =A3500 for=20 something tatty with ticket, a dulux paint over, and a couple of hundred=20 quid ebay for second hand bits like bargain buckets.

--=20 Carl Robson Get cashback on your purchases Topcashback

Seriously cannot drive one or it would be ideal. Hate that I cannot=20 drive one, I really do. I really wanted one when I had =A34k to spend at=20 christmas, but once seated I knew it would never have the knee height=20 arround wheel. It was so gutting, at least today after the drive I know=20 I could be very, very comfortable in a 911 should I ever be able to=20 afford to maintain a decent one.

--=20 Carl Robson Get cashback on your purchases Topcashback

I seem to remember you finding them a tad too tame, for track work...

I disagree.

Plenty of decent FWD stuff gets slung round Lydden - 106 GTis etc.

And that's the point; they book at 6.7 to 60 out the box, and tend to put up with loads of abuse - no need to mod to get decent use out of it.

The main thing that isn't cheap is the fuel - they drink it when ragged.

I also wanted a Retro track car. Which I can also use every day if I want.

Golf GTI then. Yes, the unfashionable MK3 in my case. Hey, we're all different.

I'll be picking it up tomorrow when I get some insurance sorted out.

Now, where's that event calendar.