As title

It just seems to me that everyone is building track cars rather than buftying these days

This is great i think as it will keep the old cossie RST etc alive a little longer and gives us all somthing a bit more exciting to do other than just polishing

So who is thinking of building one ??

Paul

ps, i have just bought my new track toy some mods to do to it when i get time

 

yeah im building one,









still

 

well im 17 and been going to track days with my dad since i was older enough to see... also watched him over the years building his track car's

so when im old enough to insure an Rs without been bled dry thats going to to be my first track car

 

my xr4x4 track car will be 24v cossie powered next year

just need to get working on it!

steve

 

With the prices of old tatty saffs these days you can have a good track toy for 5k

5k is a lot of money but still the cheapest way to get on a race track with a cossie powered car

I have seen quick track toys built for 1k tho
Old xr 4x4 etc

 

the bloke whos havin my cage and buckets has just brought a saff for the track seems the way most are goin

 

Agree with the second part but how is lobbing cars into tyre walls and thrashing the bollocks off 10-20 year old engines less destructive than polishing?

 

Exactly why i bought a Q plate 3dr nearly 4yrs ago & paid half the price. Its not the quickest thing on trackdays but i always get people asking me about it at trackdays as you do'nt seem to see many Cossies at non Ford/RS trackdays. I much prefer non RS trackdays as you get a good mix of cars.

Trackdays are the way to go if you want to keep your licience. I could buy something that would be far better on trackdays but i love my cossie's

Simon.

 

It is for me

 

i'm building an escort mk.2 cosworth going to use this on track but will be using it on the road too.

gong for a group 4 type escort with the arches etc...

still going to use my escort cos too.

 

deffo,its the only way to get its full potentual
been trackin now for about 2 yrs
wont go back to being a concours plebe
had cossies for10 years
but if we did do the same old shows with the same cars in the same place we,d just go in the miss, car

 

I know I'm not an RS owner, but I enjoy driving my car more than looking at it

I'm not exactly "building" a car, but more making it more useable on track. Not been on a propper track day yet, that will come in the new year, but done a few sessions in it, and it's great fun.

The only way to properly compare your car to others, which can be quite suprising sometimes!

 

The funny thing is that a lot of people building "track cars" haven't even done a track day in their life!

There's a huge difference between building a track car and using their exisiting car on track, but people seem to be following fashion. No different than the housewife down at the tennis club with all the most expensive gear, but can't hit a lick, or the guy who turns up at the bowling alley with his own ball and bowls an 85.

Next year should be very entertaining

 

PMSL i think this is your new campain for this month Rich

 

 

I think it is.

Where's Mad Mac with his carbon fibre bodied XR2 - he's gonna appear on my poster campaign!

 

Ok so i have never be on track driving and only out @ combe twise BUT whots the difference we all have to learn @ some point ?

As said above you cant realy do it on the roads .

I do have experience Off road playing in MUD ect and everyone has to learn weather its a pinto of cossie

Also my Saph is going to be road use aswell

 

 

Ignore the ponster he is just the Victor Meldrew of Passionford

 

 

and with a big chin aswell

 

Track is far more fun than polishing

Thats probably why i havent had my bufty S1 out for 2 years.

 

paul

thats what i did with the rs2000 cheap track car and i dont care if i smash it or not


marco

 

i thought we'd recently agreed that cossies dont make very good track cars unless you throw money at them?

 

Alan - you misread the post.

People are going crazy, spending £3k on suspension, putting in 500bhp engines etc, and they have no idea why.

Building a track car (unless you have a huge budget) should be about the complete package, and that includes the driver. You don't need a 400bhp Cossie to be able to drive on circuit. In fact, that's probably the last thing you need.

I've been out as a passenger with enough people to know that for all the money they've spent on their car to turn it into a "track beast/weapon/whatever", it's all wasted when they can't even hold the steering wheel correctly, or know where the racing line is.

Track cars are fashionable at the moment, cos sure as shit, stripped out caged road cars are hideous to drive anywhere but on circuit, and most of these "track weapons" see more shows than track days.

I did a track day with a few MR2 Turbos are Bedford recently, along with the Elise forum lot. One guy who fancied himself as a bit of a driver (even though he's useless) came away from the day shouting about needing more power, even though he runs 300bhp! The reason? He was getting passed by loads of Elises and needed to pull away more on the straights.

He couldn't drive a slippery stick up a dog's arse, yet wanted more power, better suspension, bigger brakes. The problem was nothing to do with the car, as I took the car out, and pedalled the shit out of it, and it performed very well indeed. His response - "I didn't know the car could do that".

I'm not shouting my own talents here. God knows, I'm far from the best driver on here - clearly, that's "I've been driving RWD for 60 years Marco" but I have a fair bit of racing experience, and a lot of track experience, and there's far more to be gained from spending money on learning to drive properly than there is adding another 200bhp under the bonnet for example. Even the mulleted father of 26 children will agree with that.

 

Well why did'nt you say that 1st time

I do agree Alex F said to me the best way is to get some lessons its worth every penny I will be doing this also Alex said he would sit in and show me also Or tho i think hes mad

My cossie wont have the best of every thing its being done on a budget Stg 3 2wd i have put a 6 point cage in and some other small bits on it and yes i have stripped it out But i have the other car for every day use or tho i'll use the cossie when ever i can on the road

And taking it to the shows

 

 

But they ain't half BORING

2 laps of anywhere and thats me wanting to

I then go hunting just to make it half interesting

 

I do hope Phil doesn't read that or he'll want you shot at dawn Rich

I'm off to watch the cricket

 

paul looks like uv hit the nail on the head with the trackcar thing
desided to build a car me self ,dont get time to drive the rs much , plus i need to keep my licence for me job so no good driven like a nutter on the streets wen theres is a track round the corner

ano that u all say take the rs on track but its no good wen the shell starts to rip apart

 

I used to do concours with my S2 in 99, 00 and 01, as well as track days, but as i really dont want to bend it and good S2's are getting rarer and rarer i have just started building a mk3 track car

Might be done for next year, but will have to wait and see...
I might even get a post started in "Rebuilds & Restorations"


BTW very well said PON

 

Some great replies on this

At the end of the day i feel people just want to get more out of life and what better way ( if your a car freek ) than to build a cheap track toy and go have some fun .
Its also about meeting people with the same interests as you , chats and swopping info in the pits is what its all about , I had a great giggle with Sean bicknell in 05 at croft on and of the track , Borrowed all Mike rainbums tools this year to try to fix my heap and keep it going .

All in all i have had a good 3 years worth of track days and can only say to anyone thinking of building one is ,,"do it " but just stay away from me on track until you can drive it

 

my saph will be seeing track action next year, although i have bought some bufty bits, but only cos the engine bay looks shite as standard, not bothering with lots of power, just gonna go for a reliable 300bhp, good brakes etc, already has konis, so just gonna try to have a good laugh and cane the car, buftying is boring

 

im building a track car for next year at the mo

Focus RS with 4x4 Cosworth Power, Engine from the green Escos 529bhp Beast

 

Whilst I do appreciate what you're saying Richard, i'm building a track car, and expect I will be taking lessons.. but for me it's about fun.. I can't get away with having fun on the public roads, so the place to do it is the track.. I might or might not be able to drive for shit but at the end of the day I'll be enjoying myself finding out.
Same reason I'm going sprinting in it next year too... it'll be FUN! If I do manage to win a few things then great, if not then so be it I'll have done my best and ragged the arse out my escort whilst doing so.. (And no, I'm not a believer in the whole "it's the taking part that counts" mentality so will definitely be trying!)

 

 

I had a budget of £6k for my Saff. £3k for the car initially, then spent another £3k on it, cage, coilovers, adj TCAs (cheers Tony ), seats, bits and bobs such as brake hoses poly bushes big cooler etc etc.
Had a lot of fun getting it ready and lots of swearing in the garage late at night. Bought lot of good parts as cheaply as possible. And kept the power at stg 1 (280bhp).
As mentioned before big power is all good and dandy but what do you learn. I personally want to become a better driver and plan on improving my driving skills and getting the best out of the car say 90% of the potential.
Rather than BIG power and getting 50% out of the car, mostly on the straights and shitting it around the bendy bits.
Of course all of the above is RWD, man in control of machine hopefully rather than machine in control of man.

 

I have 129bhp in my track beast

But its better than my 380bhp Saph on track

 

I actually agree with PON to be honest.

Tis very amusing seeing people spending so much money and time 'building' a dedicated track car, kind of makes me think they´ve forgotten the whole point is to enjoy the car and have fun. Hardly gonna do that if you spank the arse out of it the first time you take it on track, esp if you´ve spent silly money on it.

I had great fun in my little Fiesta RS1800, I uprated the brakes, lines and breather, got a spare set of wheels just incase I tore the tyres to pieces, and all that (including buying the car) cost under 900 quid.

On top of the fun factor I could still use the car to drive to work if I wanted.
Spending silly money on a dedicated track car, unless you are a track day veteran, is just crazy to me, but each to their own.

 

now that is what i call a track car

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=160058087423

i also totally agree with PON.