Lee Ivatt

iTrader: (1)

Hi me and my best mate are thinking about having a go at tracking a car.

We dont want to spend megga money, but obviously want to spend enough to make it worth while (ie, half decent power and good brakes, saftey devices etc)

Trailering is an option and i have the faclilities to do this, there was talk of a road legal toy. id be intrested to hear peoples views on this.
advantage to a trailer is it dont matter if it goes bang or worse we ding it. but then a road legal would be easier and probably more useable and likley to be used.

Obviously the main thing is the car. She has a mk3 golf gti, which shes looking to sell, at with the current climate i doubt she will get much more than £1k for it, so were tempted to strip it and convert that.

seems the obv choice, as the cars already there, and we know its condition etc. also if it was a road legal, then again just a bit easier than buying a new unknown motor.

Other thoughts are an old e30 or similar, mainly because of the rear wheel drive. but then again maby thats not a good thing to start with.

we both agree that we enjoy driving fwd cars. I personally love rwd, but i do know its a lot easier to over cook it, but sooo much more sidways fun.

Also, cost and events. What do you guys do, rwyb's or some sort of season ticket thing? neither of us really know much about this, and this is the one thing im most concerned with, as i can see a lot of money being spent if were clued up first.

So, any advise would be much appreciated. PREFERBLY FROM THOSE WHO ACTUALLY have TRACK CARS, i dont want pages of opinions from people no more experienced than me.

Thanks

Matt Evans

RWD is fun, but be warned, most tracks now are getting silly about people who they think are "drifting", even though most of the time its an unnavoidable side effect of giving it large!

Ive seen loads of people bollocked at trackdays for this!

At the end of the day, if you can have fun for as little outlay as possibe, thats what its all about!

Plus you need to be able to afford it if it goes spectacularly wrong, ie having a "jim" moment.

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

I'd start off with something fwd and mass produced (i.e. cheap to source parts / engines for) - so Golf / Clio etc, would be ideal .

The Mk III Golf is a little lardy in my opinion, so I would be more inclined to go for the Mk II 16v (if you can find a good one) or the Clio 16v.

alistairolsen

keeping it road legal will allow you to test tweaks you make, and give it a good shakedown before you waste money going to a track with a car that isnt ready.

BM08

I had a mk3 16v for 6months, once the suspension is sorted then it will be great on track id imagine as mine handled really well with the suspension done, and it went very well(150bhp standard) and would rev all day, plus the brakes were fantastic(disc all round)

Rick Astley

Hows about a 205 gti?

Lee Ivatt

iTrader: (1)

thanks for the suggestions.

Well it looks like the golf a possible then.

If we used it then naturally we strip it as much as physically/legally possible

roll cage, coilovers, 2 decent and safe seats n belts, and probably some bigger brakes.

A little pug is a possible option, but i think if were going down the more having a bit of fun rather that all out speed then we may as well stick with the golf.

We know the car inside out, know its history, know whats broken, is gna break. where as with a new car, it feel its a bit of a gamble maby, especially not knowing the true state of its engine etc.

Also im liking the idea of road legal, 1 its a lot less hastle, and it it does go pop, i can just pop back with a trailer. And also if its road legal, i think it may help us to control our spending buy not buying unnessisary kit and the likes.

Ok so what im really intrested in is the working of it all. How do you go about taking up such a hobby. Is it best to join a club, or do you just turn up at rwyb style things, and things like insurance or certain legistations you need to adhere to. thats what id like to learn more on.

cheers guys.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

small and french is a good combination IMHO, id look at a clio i reckon if going for a budget fwd trackday car.

xr2i-carl

Iff the golf is only worth 1k, its not really worth insuring for track use TBH.

There are several companies which organise track days, you dont need to be a part of a club.

www.motorsportvision.co.uk organise track days for 5 different circuits.

Gregs

keeping it road legal is nice but have you had an insurance quote with a cage in!!! lol

Rab

306 GTi/Rallye. Buy some R888's and off you go

Spiky

iTrader: (1)

great advice

failing that a clio 172 with r888's

Rab

Either way it'll be awesome amounts of fun!