What would be a good W2W starter car

Salanis wrote: I am in much the same boat, but a couple of steps ahead of you. I'm getting a spec 944, that is currently on it's way, and will be here tomorrow or Monday. Getting all my pre-req's taken care of to have my first race in February.

My friend I referenced in the op is selling his old MG and potentially his Jackson Supercharged Miata to pick up a 944 Spec race car from an old collegue of ours. This is all great advice. In the end a car is a car just as long as we are racing right? (at least if its RWD ) The more I look into this the more I realize I may be in a little over my head at the moment. I may take one more year, get my HPDE levels kicked up and watch the W2W raced with Midwest Council and start re-entertaining this idea.

I have a group of 4-5 guys that would love to form a team and race some enduros and maybe even a 24hr at some point. I guess to get started you jump in and sink or swim right

ROTARY_X_7 wrote: The FD is a blast on the track isn't it. The trouble is my FD has 35K original miles/paint etc, and is beautiful specimen from 94. I have no problem HSAX the car as there aren't many people on the track, but similar to a GRM article from Sept/Oct, this is not a car that would make me shrug my shoulders if I put it into a wall. I would cry ;) Good call on the book. More reading and more driving instruction is in my future for sure. I think the FB will be the route I will start. I just love triangles....

Yes the FD is a blast everywhere but it is rare and expensive to replace. I have too much blood, sweat, money and tears in my FD to drive it all out. Actually, I never drive a street car all out on track. Not enough safety equipment.

I recently got a Miata that I'll be prepping for a race series. I might start in ITA to get used to W2W racing again. W2W close racing is a different from HPDE. I used to race karts as well.

ROTARY_X_7 wrote: My friend I referenced in the op is selling his old MG and potentially his Jackson Supercharged Miata to pick up a 944 Spec race car from an old collegue of ours. This is all great advice. In the end a car is a car just as long as we are racing right? The more I look into this the more I realize I may be in a little over my head at the moment. I may take one more year, get my HPDE levels kicked up and watch the W2W raced with Midwest Council and start re-entertaining this idea.

Pretty much. To me, 3mph faster than a guy in an identical car is more exciting than 30mph faster in a car of a totally different league.

One advantage of something like the 944 vs. a Miata is that I have way more room. Not only do I have a higher ceiling, but I also have space for a passenger seat (to instruct or get instructed), and mount the cooler for a Cool Shirt. I also get to brag to friends that I race a Porsche.

Even if you're not quite ready to go W2W and need more HPDE time, it does not hurt to pick up the car sooner rather than later. You'll have more time to get used to the car and learn it's characteristics. Even if you decide you got the "wrong" car, you can probably re-sell it for about what you pick it up for.

I started W2W in my 944 spec back in 2002 when the class just started. Still fun even after all these years. What makes it fun is the competitors race hard, but still see the fun in it. We race hard on the track and then share stories. If something happens in track (ie contact) we discuss it and try to learn from it. We realize that contact is bad and respect each other and each others cars. And of couse the costs are very managable. Lower costs mean more time on track and more events per year. Plus contingencies from Toyo help sweeten the pot a bit. Even so we never let that overshadow the fun aspect. For us racing is fun first. Everything else is second.

I had pretty much resigned myself to never being able to afford to race w2w until I met a guy who races a Formula 500. Despite being a single seat open wheel car, those make Spec Miata look expensive. Not so much in the purchase price of the car ($5K for a used runner to $20K for a brand new car by a top builder), but in the consumables - they are simply stupid cheap to keep running. Plus, they run in F-Mod for autocross.

So right now, that's what I'm saving my pennies for.

The only down side the Formula cars is fewer places to run them. SCCA racing and autocross is about all.

Any full bodied car can run in just about and DE/Race group in the country. I know some places with local orgs or marque specific clubs that do track days. I would say 95% are only for full bodied cars. Open wheel cars have fewer options.

Something to think about.

True... ...although I'm figuring I'd be on a tight enough budget where specific events and auto-x would be about all I could run. Maybe hillclimbs as well...

If you were in CA I'd give you a great deal on my Honda Challenge H4 project Integra. I think the Spec Miata is a great starter class but at least out here it's gotten really crowded and that's why I went the H4 route - just don't have the time and resources at this point in my life to continue racing.

Only way to figure out what's a good size in your region is to go hang out at the events.

This:

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/1550256354.html