I've owned three Accord V6 sedans (2004, 2010, 2014) and I've loved every one of them. I've been starting to wonder about the feasibility of a 2008-ish V6 6-speed coupe for track day use. Yes, I know that it's front wheel drive, doesn't come with a limited slip and uses struts, but it also has about 270hp and 250lb-ft of torque. Curb weight is 3387 lbs. I'm wondering how much fun it would be on the track with shorter springs, reasonably sticky tires and a fat rear sway bar. Opine away... 
Can't any worse than tracking and road racing an 89 SHO 3055 lbs gutted with a cage. Not sure what width rims the Accord has, but some TL rims are 17x8.
The lack of a diff might be a concern on a very tight track but with sticky tires and an open roadcourse it should be a rocketship. We had a guy autocross one locally with decent success.
Most track days would be at Lime Rock. Probably a few at Thompson, maybe New Hampshire and Pocono.
You own a Miata and a Porsche?
In reply to 2002maniac:
And?
To own a P car and to track a P car, I would think to be two very different things.
2002maniac wrote: You own a Miata and a Porsche?
Um, yeah...
But here's the deal, it would take too much to turn the Miata into a track car. I know this because I've had two caged Miatas. I don't fit in them very well and I don't want to go through the nightmare of installing race seats in another Miata.
I'm thinking about a reasonably priced car that's reliable, has cheap consumables and that I can walk away from if it blows up or I turn it into scrap metal.
I don't need to go Porsche-fast on the track, and I don't want to smack into anyone or anything with it.
Someone brought one to a track day I attended at Homestead a couple years ago. Stock-ish, gutted, wheels/tires/suspension, maybe an exhaust.
It was waaaaaay faster than my Miata.
Anything is better than no track day toy so I say go for it!!!!!
dean1484 wrote: Anything is better than no track day toy so I say go for it!!!!!
^Excellent point.
I built a cage in a Mazda MX6 back in the day. It was a pretty fast SSA car, and then the SCCA did away with SSA. Out came the cage. Sourced new carpet and door panels, then shipped the car off to the auctions as a low mileage used car. I would think the MX6 and the Accord V6 coupe would be comparable.
Why not:
I'm in the "do it" camp. A bigger RSB and some Konis/mild springs would make for a great dual-purpose car. I've always heard these were much more fun to drive than most people presume.
One thing I might want to look into is preventing oil starvation if you go with really sticky tires.
There probably won't be much info out there though. The handful of people looking into Dry sumps on those cars are looking to reduce engine height to make it easier to swap.
I would think hard about sticky tires. You need something that will hold together on track, but adding sticky is a good recipe for taxing suspension/brakes/oiling and a bunch of other stuff. If you can keep grip moderate and predictable I think it would be a hoot. Ask it to do too much and weak spots will start to show fairly quickly.
Only incidentally, I've been theoretically building a V-6 Camaro with the Z28 suspension package from GM Parts. Slightly better power/weight than an FRS in a car engineered to handle several hundred more HP. It should be a recipe for durability at moderate speed.
Wouldn't a depreciated camaro work better? I'm not discounting the accord...but I'd do a gen earlier personally
I like your thinking, because I've often thought those are kinda cool. Buy some sort of Godzilla radiator and go nuts.
Lol, "track day" car, owns a Porsche and a Miata.
Man, you guys must witness a lot of accidents at tracks to be so paranoid about something happening to your car.. or dont trust yourselves driving.
HiTempguy wrote: Lol, "track day" car, owns a Porsche and a Miata.
Two Porsches and a Miata. 
In reply to HiTempguy:
Eh, there's a balance. A balance between speed and comfort and consumables and the potential cost of an accident. I've decided I don't really want to go as fast as the V wagon really wants to go on track. I'm not willing to push the 911 too hard (because my wife would kill me if it blew up) and consumables for both of those cars are $$$. Maybe my Civic is the hot ticket? I haven't quite fallen in love with it. A bit harder to live with than I had hoped. Maybe it will grow on me.
There's a lot to be said for a car that will drive comfortably to the track, do a bunch of laps at 85-90% at speeds that are fast enough to be fun and keep up with some of your friends, and not cost an arm and a leg. The trick is finding that car if it's not a Miata.
^^^ Isn't that car an E36 M3 with the cooling system taken care of and the rear suspension mounts reinforced etc? Plus out of all the BMWs the straight 6 in that thing still sounds the most glorious to me when we are at autocross. (and they frequently get top BMW time of day)
petegossett wrote:HiTempguy wrote: Lol, "track day" car, owns a Porsche and a Miata.Two Porsches and a Miata.
Again, the Miata isn't a good choice for me and it would be sold to make room for something else. And I can throw away four or five Accords for the price of one of the Porsches.
In reply to Jaynen:
It is, but most of the cars on the ground are turning into old crap boxes that need a metric ton of basic maintenance to get to the "nice reliable dual purpose track car" state.
HiTempguy wrote: Lol, "track day" car, owns a Porsche and a Miata. Man, you guys must witness a lot of accidents at tracks to be so paranoid about something happening to your car.. or dont trust yourselves driving.
Towards the end of my last track day, I decided that I was too tired to go back out and chose to pack up early instead. As I was loading my Miata onto the trailer, I watched a guy stuff his M3 into the wall at Pocono.
That's just not for me.
I say go for it. Could be a hoot.
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