Tell me your cheap track rat stories, less than $3k

Have this nagging desire to buy a cheap fun car for track days and maybe an occasional autox. Something purchased for under say $2500 with minimal additional investment. Something just to get out there and not worry if something breaks, or the car goes kaput. Something I can walk away from, and say boy, that was fun. Now I actually bought an E36 M3 this past summer with this in mind to use as a summer DD, and occasional track toy. I love this car! But I have thoughts that it is maybe a little too nice for a track rat. This is a very well cared for example, '97 coupe, less than 100k miles, excellent condition. Got it on the cheap.

My thought is that early E36 325s can be found all day long in the $1500 to $3k range. I want something cheap, add a set of tires, brake pads and fluid and go have fun.

I'd like to hear from people who found a cheap car for a couple grand, with additional minimal investment and got a good year or two of track days out of it.

Track ready for $3k - just needs tires and brakes? Leave some money in the budget for repairs and maintenance for sure. And go over the whole thing stem to stern so you know it's solid enough mechanically to survive - you don't want to miss any track time because your car broke.

Of course, you know what I'd use.

Read this month's Grassroots Motorsports magazine, they have you covered.

I think you could (mostly) duplicate the build on our ZX2 for about $3-4K total ($1000 car).

Look at the bottom of the page linked below:

http://www.mcscc.org/results/2010/ax/MC.AX.2010.TrackRecords.Milwaukee.pdf

It's built to SCCA ST(C) rules, but as you can see it goes around a track pretty well.

Is this going to be a track and autox only car, with NO street use? If so, there are lots of IT cars out there in your price range.

I just sold my '87 Toyota Corolla FX16 GT-S. It ran in SCCA ITB through 2007. I bought it as a track only car, but never got to use it. Sold it about 3 weeks ago for about $1500. Beyond an oil change and perhaps fresher tires, it really was track ready for HPDE or autox. The guy who bought it is going to run it in SCCA, so the cage needed updating.

Check SCCA forums, NASA forum, IT forum, etc...

CL search for 'race car' locate $1000 fully prepped (insert poop-box) with spares and tires, go buy it, go race it a few times...

If you don't already have one, it seems you need to invest $1500 in a car hauler and another $1500-$2500 in a car.

Where are you located?

My total budget is about that, but it's requiring lots of work on my part.

I was searching the lemons forums for a potential car to run there/chump with my brother and dad. Someone posted that they would give away a 67 fiat 850 (wink nudge) to anyone who would pick it up.

2 emails later, we headed down to get it.

He had blown the engine and moved on to bigger and better things. Saying it was a fiat 850 is a bit of a misnomer, he had totally redone all the suspension with an aftermarket abarth kit, and had gone to scca nationals 3 years with it.

So car = free
ej20tt = 600 porsche 915 transaxle = 800

you get the idea. It has been a challenge getting all of this working together though.

My sawzall miata here

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Was well under 3k. I basically took a stock miata and cutoff everything not required for a track car. It's much quicker than it should be and with much less weight, the stock brakes and cooling system are enough to allow me 40 min track sessions without any heat issues. It's super cheap, reliable, and fun. I'm assuming you could do similar with any platform if a miata is not for you.

Klayfish wrote: Is this going to be a track and autox only car, with NO street use? If so, there are lots of IT cars out there in your price range. Check SCCA forums, NASA forum, IT forum, etc...

Yep. Want cheap? Buy a built car. Don't build one.

I bought my race ready former SCCA Improved Touring VW Rabbit for well under your budget with spare wheels/trans/tires turn key and ready for that exact reason. Go whip on it, shrug shoulders if it breaks.

I would stay away from an E36 since they tend to have more expensive parts as I am sure you know. Miata's are the default choice of this forum since consumables are cheap and parts are abundant.

Are you planning on making it street legal to drive to and from events? If so you are not going to want a completely built car, look for something with just a roll cage not a full.

Yep. Want cheap? Buy a built car. Don't build one.

Wisdom. Pennies on the dollar.

The story of my $2,250 944 Turbo: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/my-new-944-turbo/25922/page1/

And now for something completely different. You could duplicate my Daewoo Nubira track rat for about 2500 bucks if you started with a 2.0L.