Bang for your buck in a track car

[stentech1]

I had the opportunity to drive Joes ls powered 944 and it was great. Another low cost car that is also low cost to maintain is an sr20 powered 240sx. The sr20 motor turboed, is very durable and does not need many tweaks to make higher than stock power. 300 rwhp is very easy to get on pump fuel. These cars are for sale on ebay frequently with the conversion already done. A well prepared fox body mustang can be made to work well also and parts are very reasonable to upgrade the car for track use. Check out Maximum Motorsports web site.  Your rsa is an awesome car many of these cars mentioned may not have the level build quality,  durability and reliability of your car. Plus your rsa and all 964 cars are very fun to drive. I had a 964 turbo and I can say it was one of the most fun cars I have ever owned. 911s are not the least expensive to repair, with out question but they need very few upgrades to endure DE or racing applications.

SM 

[Darren]

I love that SR20 motor also, my girlfriend has one in her car.  Most of the guys Todd and I race with in PTE with NASA have Nissan SE-R's with that motor.  There is a guy on the SE-R forum selling a nascar-like chassis setup to run that motor for $2500 I think.  For $3000 with motor that would be a very nice low buck setup!

Several of the Factory Five guys went to NASCARs.  You can buy them for $6k or so and of course they are tube frame cars with big iron!  That is a serious consideration I think, but not as cool as a Porsche I guess

[fasthonda]

hi!

i'd have to say, 'bang for buck' you have to take a hard look at the japanese offerings....

for instance, check out this car http://www.nasaforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24413

it sold, recently for i believe under $13k.  a reliable, fast, fun car, with plenty of speed (if the ballast were removed, and if it were running hoosiers instead of toyos, i am sure it would go a low 1:21 at summit point).

with the proper 'high flow' cat, i'd expect that you could street licence it, if you really wanted to, so that it could be driven on the street.  i've driven S2000s before, and they are F-U-N on the track!!!!   sort of like a miata on steroids!

good luck with your search!

todd

ReidSpeed

[AMoore]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the early 90s turbo charged six cylinder cars from Japan;  Supra, 300 ZX twin turbo?  I know they can be heavy but I bet they could go pretty well with the right set up.  Has anyone seen one at the track?

[Darren]

Stay away from them -- like you said they are all heavy, don't handle particularly well, and there aren't very many of them on the race track.   Turbos are also notorious for motor issues, all of them.  You'll spend half the time at the track worrying about them.  Also if it's strung out and you're running race fuel then there goes the budget right there!  I know Todd loves his Civic turbo, and its fast as stink, but the fuel costs have to be his most expensive part of running that car.

Scot's S2000 that Todd linked is a great deal, that is a very fast and well done car.

You don't want to get something that has expensive or difficult to find parts, that has to be one of the criteria.  If my Integra has a bad axle I can run to any parts store near any track and buy an axle for $45.  Compare that to a Porsche axle at $350 or more.

Low budget means low weight -- the lower the weight the lower your running costs for tires, brakes, fuel, etc....It also makes it accellerate, handle, brake better.

[George3]

AMoore wrote:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the early 90s turbo charged six cylinder cars from Japan; Supra, 300 ZX twin turbo? I know they can be heavy but I bet they could go pretty well with the right set up. Has anyone seen one at the track?

Aaron,

There are a lot of good suggestions here. You should test drive a few to see how they feel to "you."

After driving them, some of the cars may seem heavy and lumber thru the corners. Others, may seem light on their feet and... dance like a butterfly, but sting like a bee !!

[ccm911]

AMoore wrote:

The low hp cars do not appeal to me except on small tracks like Shenandoah. I love the rush of going fast in the straights and getting the point by.

Now that isn't road racing. That is drag racing.

Miata sounds like the winner here. Cheap and easy to maintain. I mean, $1,500 for an engine replacement. Our fiend Darren would be in Heaven at those prices.

[fasthonda]

hey again.

darren's right;  if shaving pennies is part of your 'bang for the buck' thought process, you should stay away from a turbo anything.  maintanence and upkeep is always more on a forced induction car....  (but boy are those lil snails fun!     )

as for the question about older japanese 6 cyl cars;  the only one i'd consider would be a late model Supra TT.  it's the best of the genre, and those motors are incredible power houses, and able to make insane power on the stock block/bottom end/head.

they can handle, too, if set up right.  it is true that they are heavy (3500 lbs+) but they can be made to handle, and with all that power and tq, they can fly!

here's leh keen driving a true 'street car' on street tires:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld0yzlYK1ls

i've seen this car in person;  they truly do drive it all over the place (its a GSC car).  and it was run in 1lap, too, i believe.  bad ass car, which would put many big dog P cars to shame (imagine what it could do with some huge sticky hoosiers on it, to put some of that massive power to work!).

only problem right now with a Supra TT is that they go for big $$$;  they are appreciating, and a nice one is not cheap (think $15k+++).

stay away from the third gen RX7 TT;  they are very fragile and break easily (but damn they are fun to drive;  i put one thru it's paces at summit at the national Mazda meet one year).    the 300zx TT are heavy, and require lots and lots of upgrades to be track worthy.  i'm kinda 'meh' about them.   the Mitsu 3000 GT VR4 TT are SUPER heavy (over 4k lbs) and are extremely 'pushy'.  i drove one at WGI;  had fun in it, and with the AWD it was great in the rain.  but so so so heavy, and so hard on the tires and brakes.  and the TT motor is no where as good as the Toyota's.

i'm telling you, the S2000, at 225 whp and 2600 lbs without ballast (with the driver!) would be a real hoot.  go find another of those for under $15k and you are in business!!

todd

PS  my civic turbo, at under 2200 with driver and 320+ whp is insanely fast;  i've always run it with cast off junker tires, and still i can run with the big dawgs in the red group.  with fresh tires and brakes it would run at the 'pointy' end.  and yes, darren is right, fuel is a BITCH to pay for in the honda;  i run C16 ($12 a gal) and it gets about 6 mpg.   when i bring it back out of retirement, it'll be running on E85 ($1.80 a gal!).  

[bobt993]

AMoore wrote:

Darren wrote:

AMoore wrote:

Josh's new acquisition had me thinking. What would be the best bang for your buck street legal DE car, considering cost to buy, and cost to run. Cheap, plentiful, quality parts a must.

Street legal DE car = bad on the street, bad on the track

That is silly. I didn't say street comfortable, just meant something you could drive to the track. There are many examples of very track capable street legal cars. My heavily modified RS America, most GT3s, and Z-06s, George's Evo. I would estimate 80% of the cars at DE are street legal, and at least half of those are very capable track cars.

What stops your 996 from being street legal?

^^^^^ He can't get it over a speed bump??????

[Darren]

Now I can't even get a jack under it!