Looking for a Good Track Car

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/vbclassified.php?do=ad&id=4708

We have a great 95' 355Ch available in NJ! Fresh, good spares, 3 sets of speedlines, new Ohlins, sticker slicks, ready to go! Easy to maintain with recent services done....has been a fantastic track car, no time to use it anymore, has barely been tracked the last 3 years (none in 09/10).
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If you are paying 5k for a belt change and racing a car... you need to find a new set of hands to help... also do steel brake rotors and pads add up to 25k?

 

there is nothing cheap about racing at all.....

If you make a decision, check out what you like. I like ferrari`s, but in the first place in Holland and Belgium there are almost no series you can compete in with say a 308. That`s whu I choose for a alfa romeo, there are say 4 different series overhere I can use the car in. And its easy and economical to maintain or repair. Is not slow either, with 850kg empty and 165 HP at the wheels. quite a challenge to better the laptimes everytime.

 

Current challenge I believe you need to use the car as built IE ceramic rotors if you plan to race it in the series.......so no way you can go to steel the regs don't allow it.

I have also been quoted $25k all in for the weekend for the current series....if you have the $$$ who cares if you don't you just need to start somewhere else and work your way up. As long as you enjoy yourself that is the point.

 

+1,000,000!

 

I'll add another vote for Porsche on track and Ferrari for the street. I run a 355 spider on the street but a lightly prepped 993 Turbo on the track.

The Turbo is a little heavy (though I've taken about 100lbs out of it and it sits at about 3250 with half a tank) but with light suspension mods it is a tremendous track car. I can run with almost everything out there in my (admittedly modest) midwest run groups and the costs have been very minor. It is a Porsche after all, and completely bullet proof.

Over 8 track weekends in the last three years I've had to do rotors and calipers once (about $800) and one set each of Sport Cups and Pirelli rossos. Car seems to run better after a track weekend.

I love both cars, but for track thrills on a budget, I'll take an older 911. For the blast down a back roadwell, both seem to function well. If bought wisely, they are just about depreciation proof too.
Bill

 

I'd add a third vote to having two different cars. No one knows for sure if they're going to love track driving or not. I have friends who love to go on rallies and don't enjoy driving on the track. Best thing to do would be to either rent a track day car for a few sessions or take one of the schools (Skip Barber) to see if you love track driving. If you do then buy something inexpensive (Miata, Ford spec, etc.) and use that as your dedicated track car.

Buy something nicer (Ferrari) for your rallies and gatherings. The track does beat up your car so it's better to have something you don't care as much about and can hammer around without worrying about stone chips (since you'll get ALOT of those), going off, damage, wear and tear, etc. It's a race car so it's supposed to get beat up!

 

As far as a track/street car goes (not a dedicated, purpose built racing car), I've spent a good deal of time right seat (and a few laps behind the wheel) in late C6 Z06 Corvettes.

Bulletproof, reasonable to keep up and a better tool, in my mind, to learn the craft.

Plus, we passed neary every GT3 at the Road Atlanta Chin Motorsports event, and there were a LOT of them there.

 

What is crazy out west is in SCCA T1 trim C5Z06's (the old 405hp ones) are setting T1 track records! We have been given bigger brakes and headers to equalize to the newer C6's and now the C5 is the car to have. In corvette challenge unlimited division the T1 cars with T1 leaf springs are beating modified C6Z's! Now that is amazing. If any of you know WSIR the new record for a T1 car is held by a C5Z and is 1:27++ on dot hoosiers. Not bad for a car you can buy for $30k.

 

BSR - Boxster Spec Racing - It's spreading very quickly across the country. Adopted by NASA, POC and some PCA areas. Donor cars are 9K, fully built cars 30 to 35K. A ton of fun racing identical cars with some of the best drivers around, many of them have stepped down from more expensive and faster cars to the Boxster because of the cheap fun and its go kart like handling. Only the '97, '98, '99 models are eligible for the Spec, they are the cheapest to buy. The engine problems you might hear about seem to be a non issue. After 3 years of racing I've heard of very few engine failures and most cars are racing with over 100k on the clock.
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We really pack the grand stands too.
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Hey, Andy which class do the BSR cars transpose to in NASA and are they competitive there? What's the spec tire?

 

NASA calls it 986Spec. The rules are the same for POC, NASA and the PCA areas that have adopted it. PCA calls it SPB. The POC calls it BSR. The spec tire is Toyo R888's. Not a great tire but not that bad and since everyone is on the same tire it's just a matter of what pressures you think work. We're only allowed one set of new tires per weekend. The tires are marked as you come up to grid before Saturdays race and those are the same tire that have to be on the car after Sundays race in impound. Here's a link to the NASA rules for the class:
http://www.nasaproracing.com/series/986_boxster/rules.pdf

 

where can u find spec cars for sale ? went to the nasa site but the spec boxster forum is blocked.......an i'm a registered user.

 

I'm not sure why you can't get on the site. Here is the link I use:
http://www.nasaforums.com/viewforum.php?f=76&sid=a6e5fb4c40ec69b84b63c2124ce13c51
It's not a very active board. We had a good active site that was shut down recently and there isn't a good replacement right now. My car is currently for sale because I just bought a new house without selling my old one and I need to tighten up my spending. Here's a link to an ad for my car. If you're interested or want more info or photos, pm me.
http://www.texasspec.com/index.php?/topic/40-fs-99-bsr/

 

I'm a huge fan of the Miata for many reasons. The fact that it is a "momentum" car with not a lot of power will encourage you to learn faster and become a better driver. It will amplify your mistakes. A high powered car will go fast no mater how bad a driver you are and make it much harder to learn the finer points that make a difference. Nearly every instructor has watched this and smiled the whole way through becuase we have encountered the exact conversation. No BS, we really do hear this almost word for word at least once a track day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7iUKaPlBl8&feature=player_embedded

 

Cheap (under $20,000)

1) Mazda Miata
2) BMW M3 1995- 2006
3) Acura Integra Type R

Mid ($20,000 - $50,000)
1) Z06 Corvette (a personal favorite)
2) Cheap Ferrari (345, 355) sorry FChat community I love them too
3) Maybe used Nissan GTR
4) 911

Expensive ($50,000+)
1) 360 Ferrari
2) GT2 or GT3 series Porsche

Just my $.02

 

You can have the coolest car ever but all by your self on the track sucks!
I race w/POC www.poscheclub.com 17 cars same class spec racing...
Laguna this weekend over 200 Porsches...