hey guys,

I wanted to gather your input on this. I have never tracked or auto-crossed any of my vehicles, and only modestly know how a car is driven in such events. I am currently looking to buy a MazdaSpeed 3 with 25k miles, but the seller of the one I am looking at told me (has been very upfront) he has tracked the car 5 times and attended 6 auto-cross events.

at the autocross events he said each event consisted of about 4 separate 60 second runs. he basically acted like neither was any big deal as far as wear and tear on the car except for brakes and tires, both of which have been replaced. do you agree, or should i look else where?

I just dont want to be running into problems a little later down the road. also, what kind of wear do these events have on the life of a clutch, etc?

 

i'd still buy
most people who track their cars maintain their cars better than regular people

 

I agree that people who would track / autocross their cars take better care of them than a lot of others. Keep in mind that you might come across a speed 3 that was driven by a 17 year old dropping the clutch and not realizing to change the oil for 7k miles.

I'd feel much more comfortable dealing with someone who actually cared about their car while they owned it.

 

Exactly, most of the guys I know who track are as **** as I am about maintenance. I am downright OCD about it.

 

I would buy it if it has never been in an accident and still rides fine.

 

lol i was gonna say **** but i didn't wanna offend anyone

 

thanks guys, you eased my mind!

 

Yeah 5 Autocross days doesn't sound bad at all. And I agree, he probably knows something about cars, and maintained his well.

I think there was a guy on this board somewhere who had an 8 with over 100K miles and had like 13k miles of track racing on it...or some ridiculously high amount like that.
________
PartyyGirl cam

 

Yeah, if the person uses the car for events and maintains it himself, most likely, the car's been better taken care of than normal, as long as "track" doesn't mean a "drag strip".

If possible, test drive the car out on a calm highway that allows 65mph, see if it tracks okay and doesn't have unusual vibrations (oscillations). Also try near full lateral loading both ways by turning at the limit and see if it gives you surprises. Note that you don't have to go fast to do a near full lateral loading.

 

You at least know its been redlined often!