Track Car for Under $50k

That looks perfect. Mind sharing the mods you've done? Thanks!

 

Sure. The previous owners made numerous performance mods including:

BGB Guard LSD for PDK
BGB PDK trans cooler
BGB Cargraphic catless race headers (wrapped)
BGB Cargraphic race axle pipes and 2.5"magnaflow race exhaust
IPD race plenum w/GT3 TB
Softronic 'Race' tune with Durametric cable for tuning/scanning
LED sequential shift light
Wevo transmission mounts
Tarrett front GT3 swaybar and links
Tarrett rear swaybar and links
Moton club sport custom suspension with AST caster/camber plates and rear mounts.
750 lb springs front, 850 lb rear
GT3 brake master cylinder
Front GT3 brake ducts
Rear 997tt brake ducts
Bulletnose wheel studs
Ducktail rear spoiler
Momo steering wheel with custom paddle shifters

In addition, I added some safety and data logging mods:

Tarrett four-point rollbar
Momo Daytona races seats (driver and passenger)
Schroth six-point harnesses (driver and passenger)
NRG 2.5 steering wheel quick release
AIM SoloDL hard-wired to CAN bus and connected to AIM SmartyCamHD

I run Sebro slotted brake rotors and various pads including PFC08, Gloc and, most recently, Ferodo DS1.11 and Castrol SRF fluid.
I also run Bridgestone RE-71R tires (255 front/275 rear) on CCW race classics (18x8.5/18x10)

 

@Steveinfl with this setup she performs pretty well and can sometimes even mix it up with her big brothers.

Recent lap at COTA:
Recent Lap at Motorsport Ranch-Cresson:


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Wow - this is amazing...it's like a perfect recipe. Thanks so much!!

 

And this is how it all started. I blame my driving instructor for getting me hooked.
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+1 on Cayman S. I’ve owned three of them. One off the shelf new, one full prepped track car, and now a clubsport. Can’t beat the handling of a Cayman for the money. You won’t be the quickest in a straight line but will catch almost anything in the corners. Buy a 987S, add some safety, and add Stoptech ST60/40 calipers to keep your running cost down and you should be good to go

Also +1 on trailering to the track of at all possible. I’ve had to lend trailers out to too many people who’s car broke down at the track and they were stuck getting back home.

Be safe, have fun!


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So I will throw the contrarian view in here. I will qualify this by saying I own many cars including the ones mentioned here for track toys - cayman, lotus, corvette, 911s, etc . All excellent cars, and very different. For a change, I just purchase a VW Golf GTI that we are modifying for the track after much research. Mods are inexpensive, light car, great handling, New car 25k and even with 25k in mods which I don't think is possible, you are under budget with a dependable car. It just depends how serious you are with your mods, needs and skills.
My two cents
vdm

 

If you truly push the car (you are in the top run group and in the upper half of that group speed wise) you will break that car very quickly but many of the things that commonly break can be repaired at the track. Make sure you carry a few extra axle shafts and are familiar with changing them. Also you need to constantly monitor your subframe as many people at events have had failures in GTI subframes. Also as I’m sure you know there are major overheating issues with these when really pushed. But, with all this said from someone in the lower to middle run groups running a street tire the GTI is a fine car. Either way there is no such thing as a cheap track weekend but it’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on!


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Well being a married guy being on track is way cheaper than anything you can do with clothes "off." But it is kinda silly to limit the track car to $50k. The car is the cheap part! I'll be racing at CoTA next weekend.

round trip for racecar $2900
CoTA garage for 2 700 ea
plane ride 450
hotel 300
race registration 800
race tires 1800
______________________
$7000 no race gas, no food, no other disposables, nothing breaks. Anyone who races knows this is a cheap weekend if you can get away under $10k.

 

Haha. I will say though true “racing” vs DE events are night an day different in costs. Probably double the cost to per weekend for a race vs DE. But I do still spend around $3000 a weekend for just a DE. (Half set of tires, full set of front race pads, fuel, entry fee, transport to event, hotel, etc. all add up quickly!)


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Well it depends. You certainly can drive to a HPDE locally and not have shipping fees. And you can track on 30,000mile street tires for more life. The 200twr tires of today are awesome and cheap!!! I race so little in the rain that I'm thinking of just keeping a set of 200twr's to use as an inter and rain tire. I have a brand new set of hoosier rains that I have not put on track in 4 years! I guess I'm just that lucky. I'm not racing a really heavy 3700lb mustang GT and I'm destroying hoosier race tires down to the cords in a weekend! I've never had wear this bad on lighter cars. And that is not a camber or toe problem Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Agree !00% !!!
Parts are super cheap and the new intercoolers do a great job of the heat issue. I just wanted to offer an alternative to the others...
All of these cars are fun!!! And I am in no way a top tier guy wrt racing! I am too chicken, just out for a good time! Clothes on or off!
HA
vdm

 

That should read 100%!!!
vdm

 

My new addition.
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Hello,
There are some good advice here and if you want to track with the thrill of a high rev V8 (this is a Ferrari forum!) then the E90/E92 M3 is also a good tracker. Heavier than most of the cars listed but not necessarily less efficient. At Laguna Seca driving a friend's E90 I was lapping close to my same laps with a new 911 S.

Best,
Luccio

 

Surprised no one mentioned a Mustang. These guys will often have sorted vehicles for sale.
https://www.fordperformanceracingschool.com/

Personally, I much prefer to have a vehicle (van or truck) that can bring my track toy to the track..... that’s why I would stick with a cart or motorcycle. Get a truck, some ramps, and super cheap consumables... and if it breaks down you can still get home. Plus you have easy mobility to get to many tracks. It would be fun for you to drive Mid-Ohio..... but not fun having to find a way to get a wadded street car back home.

 

elige
boxter
4c

of those in stock street form the 4c is closest to a hard core track car in feel, and will feel quickest.
howver if youre ok with some mods
An elige can be 300hp easy and with ohlins sublime, its also inexpensive to run, durable.and feels ever bit the race car.
boxster is a bigger heavier car and close to stock slow, \
spend more buy a used gt4.

for under 50k street legal go elige or 4c if you can find one that low.
everything else will feel big and heavy.

or tubo miata

 

Is the elige some sort of hybrid of the Elise and the exige? I haven't heard of an elige?

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an elige refers to an Elise or exige
They’re essentially the same car. The differences stock are supercharger and some bodywork.
Many prefer to start with an Elise it’s slightly lighter and the aftermarket supercharger setups are superior plus if you’re doing shocks etc it makes no difference which one you start with.

some exiges came stock with a. Lot of good bits . but they cost way more and for less you can build up a faster Elise.
How much power they have, suspension etc that depends on a specific car hence the term elige cause they’re essentials one.

Fastest one I drove was an 06 Elise with inter cooled supercharger from BOE I think it was northof 300hp atbrue wheels but was not pesky like some others. It could just chew through the gears in any gear smoothly.
Many like Nitron shocks I prefer online.

look at inokinetoc website, it gives a good idea of what’s available for these cars
Also BOE engineering.
Best to start with a stock or close to stock car and as your skills and desire increases keep adding to it.

my Elise is bone stock, no supercharger, just baffled oil pan rotors and harnesses and has great balance, favorite car ever, it does it all. Track road weekends etc. all it’s needed is pads fluids and sometimes rotors. Pads will last something between 20-39 hard track days, that’s 5x a cayman, and rotors last seasons not weeks. Lightness has it virtues.

I also have a track only exigie v6 cup but that’s a mean animal more like gt3 performance and in many ways not as sweet as a 4cyl elige/

 

Agree [emoji817]
I built up an 05 Elise to a track monster, supercharger, Ohlins suspension, CF everything and eventually a roll cage.
Agree funnest car ever!
Then moved to a 211 for track duty.
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the 4cyk elige platform is simply a sweet running and handling car.

everyting that made a classic British roadster great in a modern mid engines platform that’s light and robust.

short of a Renault r5 Turbo 2 there it is the best steering road legal car ever made.

an Elise is one of the few cars I know of that works out the box on track. A gt3 and a 4c are two others.

I was not convinced about the 4c untill I drove one on track. Yes As the mags say it was twitchy at the limit, which maybe is part of its charm. Yes it relied on electronics a lot to stay in shape. But it simply cornered flat in a way only dedicated track cars normally do, there was practically no road cat mush, the brakes were great and the ower felt really strong through the gears.
The letdown was very heavy feeling and slow steering, at least comoared to an elige.

I have no idea about the reliability and durability of the 4c but as a 50k purchase to drive to and on Track it would be pretty top of my list.

still as we know an elige will happily do 59k track mikes with nary a complaint and I know of one over 100k with about 25k of those on track. You can’t beat a really stiff chassis and Toyota power train

 

ahhh.... that makes sense.

 

The big decision to make is if you want it to be street driveable on a daily basis, or if you're willing to trailer it.
If the later, I think you can get a decent used truck, open trailer, and a real race car that's already sorted out within your budget.
If the former, it is really nice to be able to just drive to the track without a ton of preparation, buy cheap street gas, and get some other use out of the thing. But unless you keep it to just a couple days a year, you will almost certainly fall down the slippery slope of upgrade
I went down both roads many years ago, and came to the conclusion that you can take a fine street car, spend a bunch of money making it run reliably at the track and ruin its value, or just buy a real race car that somebody else has already sorted out and knows all the setup you'll need while it actually holds value over time if there's a popular race class for it.
I have utterly failed at saving any time or money on either route, of course. I now have 2 race cars, a fullsize pickup, a second garage, and I'm shopping for a bigger trailer AND something light, fun, and probably Red.

 

True race car, street legal in Europe - not very fast (specially when I am the driver) but allowing real wheel-to-wheel racing:

 

My 4C was excellent on the track and I’d fly by Evora and every other lotus I came across. Though never encountered Eddie out there . But I will say, as fun and exciting as it is, they cost quite a bit for the maintenance( belts, chassis tightening, service) unless you learn to do it all yourself. It’s quite time consuming the bolt tightening process. It’s essentially a modern go go kart with a DCT. I’d still prefer a cayman, they are so nicely balanced and if you are driving outside the track, it’s civilized. The lotus is a track car that can be driven on the street. It will be a blast on the track, but not so much if you are encountering traffic. If it’s just for weekend drives, you may love the experience it gives you. That’s what great about all these cars, they each provide some unique experience.