Best Cheap IT cars?

What are the best Cheap IT cars to buy and race???

Thinking that if I don't do LeMons, I may just buy a cheap IT car.

Thoughts on someday (maybe next year) going from auto-x to road racing once in awhile.

Thinking I'd race it twice a year to keep up an SCCA regional license and maybe rally cross it once in awhile.

Chris

Rabbit Golf Sentra RX-7 Civic

Like both the idea of a rabbit /golf or RX-7 better than a Sentra or Civic.

Looking for any specific reasons why certain cars are better than others, I guess.

Porsche 924?

RWD, 50/50 weight balance, durable drivetrain, good parts availability, etc.

I would think that an ITC car would be the cheapest to run -the tires are smaller and cheaper to replace. Plus - they feel fast when you are wringing the crap out of 'em when the exhaust is mufflerless. But some of the ITC cars in the GCR are getting a bit old.

VW Rabbits/Sciroccos are quite durable. The early Honda Civic/CRX is also durable and both have good resale value. I'm not sure where the Ford Escort falls in the IT ranks - the later Mazda powered cars are cheap to purchase and there are TONS of parts laying around - just find out what transfers from the Mazda partsbin. Toyota has tons of varieties of compacts that are durable as does Nissan. I wonder how a GM J-car(Cavalier/Sunbird) would do cost wise? Mopar L bodies are another wildcard. I've seen 'em - but I don't know how they do on the track.

Make sure you can get a Limited Slip Diff. for what you buy.

Check what is on the grid at the Run-offs or June sprints and you'll see what is competitive.

I'm eyeing up Honda Accords for an IT possibility - they seem to be doing well in ITB.

Why not NASA? Spec E30 or 944, not going to get much cheaper than one of those. Close fields, and the E30 makes a great autocrosser with that setup.

Spec E30 is a great class, VERY cheap to run, remember with any car though, it can be cheap to build, but is replacement parts also cheap? Anything Porsche isn't always cheap, even a 914 isn't always cheap. E30's for the most part have very low cost replacement parts and parts are widely available.

My thought is IT-whatever (haven't seen a rule book lately) AND Spec E30. You may be able to swap parts for whatever series without too much difficulty.

Spec E30 is a lot less "built" then an IT car. I believe the E30 is ITS. You could run IT in a SE30 BUT just wouldn't be competitive at the top. Racing is fun though!

The IT guys hang out at improvedtouring.com. I see some nice deals there. I've also seen some old VW IT cars listed on vwvortex recently.

amg_rx7 wrote: The IT guys hang out at improvedtouring.com. I see some nice deals there. I've also seen some old VW IT cars listed on vwvortex recently.

That would be mine. It's listed for sale in the GRM classifieds if anyone is interested.

ITB Rabbit is what you should buy:

Only selling because I have two of them.

The Spec E 30 thing has me thinking.

Also...thanks for the list of the link for improved touring .com

I thank you...my wife might not but...

Chris

SE30 does not crossover well to IT, but then you don't have to spend as much modifying the car as you would in IT. It is also eligible for BMWCCA racing. I would look at the various schedules for tracks near you and see if any of these organizations have a regular schedule first. No sense doing a car for a club that is only racing close to you 2x a year. Where I live, NASA has so many opportunities to race that there's no way I could even afford to do them all, so SCCA isn't important to me.

swift GT!!! :lol:

With $5K, you could walk away with the above ITB Rabbit, spares, fuel, and entry fees for a season or two. That is better than therapy or hard drugs.

Neons aswell....they are an ITA car right now. They are said to be the cheapest car to run.

There's a prepped ITB Swiftready to go with spares for $4k now.

I was thinking that a Spec E-30 would be NASA legal, a great rallycross car, and a very, very slow ITS legal SCCA car.

And if all else failed, I could autocross it.

Chris

And thanks for making me think! BMWCCA racing would probably be more "clublike" like the local rallycrosses and the local autocrosses that I am having fun at.

When I was an SCCA flagger the BMW guys were also always a good group of people.

Hmmmmm

Chris

1966stang wrote: I was thinking that a Spec E-30 would be NASA legal, a great autocross car, and a very, very slow ITS legal SCCA car. And if all else failed, I could rallycross it. Chris

I'd do it that way. If I were to rallycross an E30, I want to have a pretty hefty bash guard for the oil pan, they are very fragile and by far the lowest point under the car. The bash guard wouldn't be (as) necessary (watch those curbs!) for SE30, IT, or Autocross so no need to carry around the extra weight.

Good to know, and thanks.

I knew the VW's had low oil pans, but not the E-30.

Chris

I've spent over $1,000 on replacing E30 oil pans. D'oh!!!

Ditto. Huge, truck quality sump guard and a complete extra suspension system to raise it back up. I wouldn't try to cross-participate in rallycross with a SE30.

The cheapest car is the on thats already done. The more popular a car is, the cheaper the parts and better the support. Trying to be the "one and only" gets expen$ive.