Stupid road trip idea, enable me and what car

Fresh in from the bad ideas department:

I haven't driven on a track at all this year, mainly due to lack of POS car to drive on said track. The MR2 isn't ready and probably won't be for another few months, the CRX doesn't have trackable suspension or brakes (and I can't get those easily) and neither the Porsche nor the Evo are going anywhere near a track apart from spectating.

There is a two-day track day at Buttonwillow later this month, which got me thinking. I have some vacation days that I need to take before the end of the year, so I could theoretically fly down to LA, try to buy a cheapo car, slap some brake pads, fresh fluid on it and maybe some tires, take it to the track, drive it home and maybe sell it for notaprofit.

Of course, putting it this way, it's about as stupid as it gets - trying to buy and track a cheap car in a place where I have zero support network, don't know which shops to trust, either.

Please tell me why this is a really bad idea and why I shouldn't do that.

Of course, I could also investigate the '88 CRX that is for sale in town...

Forgot, re the what car - no Meotters due to ergonomics issues. Plus, we're talking challenge priced cars here.

DA9 integra should work. A little easier to find decent than a CRX. Really at that point, it's a CL search. Lot of options just need to find the right one.

something that the owner is having issues getting to pass smog

Why not just rent a car? Reach out to the handful of companies that do LeMons and Chumpcar rentals... likely easier than having to buy (register & insure) then upgrade and finally sell. Just pay and drive.

Yup, I'd do an arrive and drive in one of the endurance series if you could. Otherwise, go to a driving school or karting event. Your idea sounds wild, but is ripe with potential for epic failure.

You know an idea is bad when you get 6 posts in and no one has said "doooooooo iiiiiiit!"

Or like in AutoXR's thread rent a 5.0 Mustang from Hertz (I think they do Corvette's too)

itsarebuild wrote: You know an idea is bad when you get 6 posts in and no one has said "doooooooo iiiiiiit!"

Yeah, that probably means it's so epically stupid that it's either magazine-worthy or I'll end up somewhere between jail and a mental institution.

I think what would determine the answer would be what car you would get.

So.... what cars are available down there in your price range?

Easy button = Just rent a car from 7s Only in the Buttonwillow complex

It'll be much more fun hooning one of those on track that dealing with the BS of buying and selling a car in a short time frame.

http://www.sevensonly.com/Cars-For-Sale.html

Just to clarify, the plan was that if I bought a car down in LA, I'd drive its remains home after the track day. So I'm not planning a "buy on Friday, sell on Monday" endeavour.

In reply to amg_rx7:

That looks like an interesting option, especially as I like RX7s.

The best option is to buy a car that is outside of the LA area and drive it in. That way you are putting a fresh car into the market and can work on it at home. You have less time to sell and have to deal with titles, but better access to tools.

I see the appeal of driving home, you'd have the time and tools to sell it. In that case, look for anything that is running but tired, and not available back at home.

How is buying a cheap POS and doing pads on it any better than just putting pads and fluid on the CRX?

Seems like there are still quite a few mail order companies that provide CRX suspension bits, even performance ones.

Maybe we're just not understanding what's going on here, but the car isn't that complex to repair, parts are still available and you'd essentially be doing the same with whatever POS you limp out to the track with anyway.

It depends which CRX we're talking about.

If we're talking about the one that's parked about 30' from where I sit, there are pretty much no performance bits available anymore that one can find without lurking on Red Pepper Racing for a while.

The '88 I mentioned is one I noticed on a used car lot on Monday, I haven't had the time to look at it yet. For that one however I can still get performance parts, but with my luck it's an HF or an Si running on three cylinders...

Just rent a car, any car.

Infiniti Q45.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/4763631699.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/4769046502.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/cto/4778725744.html
http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/4787733666.html
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/4768698412.html
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/4765758488.html

iceracer wrote: Just rent a car, any car.

Went to willow springs on a track day and the car that was to be tested blew the radiator right off the trailer. One of the guys running with us had rented a Bonneville (circa ~2005) to drive from the airport to the track. It assumed track duties for a couple of drivers. Besides having to watch the brakes, it was a blast. Smooth is still fast and practice is better than nothing.