Top 10 best track cars
08-12-2010, 06:00 PM
#27
^^^ No way a Mustang or a camaro should be a top 10 best track cars. For 1 the mustang has a Live axel, and 2 they both are pretty heavy. Not very good track cars. Go look in a Car&Driver mag or Motor Trend and you will see the cars they put to the test at VIR...
....
08-12-2010, 07:10 PM
#31
So I bought the new Modified magazine today since they have an autocross RX8 project going on. As I flipped through the pages I saw a "10 best track cars" segment. Basically they were trying to find the 10 best cars for the track based on price, stock performance, mod friendliness, how easy it drives at the limit, and bang for the buck factor. I usually love these kind of comparisons so I read on. However the first page showed #10 and #9 to be:
Nissan GT-R R35
Honda NSX
FAIL! I thought price was a factor and the first car I see starts at $80K? WTF? NSX's aren't cheap either. Next up was the RX7 (hard to find, harder to find in good shape), 350Z, S2000, S14 240SX, STi, Evo, Intergra (...seriously?), and a Miata for #1.
I was really disappointed in the review. Great idea but not impressed at all. So I was wondering if we could make our own list of sub-$35ishK cars that are a good track/street combo while factoring in price, stock performance, aftermarket support, and how well it pulls of a good track/street ratio. My opinion:
WRX/STi
Evo X/IX
2011 Mustang GT
2010 Camaro SS
2010 RX8 R3
BMW 135i
C5 Corvette
Nissan 350Z/370Z
VW GTI
Honda S2000
In no particular order.
Nissan GT-R R35
Honda NSX
FAIL! I thought price was a factor and the first car I see starts at $80K? WTF? NSX's aren't cheap either. Next up was the RX7 (hard to find, harder to find in good shape), 350Z, S2000, S14 240SX, STi, Evo, Intergra (...seriously?), and a Miata for #1.
I was really disappointed in the review. Great idea but not impressed at all. So I was wondering if we could make our own list of sub-$35ishK cars that are a good track/street combo while factoring in price, stock performance, aftermarket support, and how well it pulls of a good track/street ratio. My opinion:
WRX/STi
Evo X/IX
2011 Mustang GT
2010 Camaro SS
2010 RX8 R3
BMW 135i
C5 Corvette
Nissan 350Z/370Z
VW GTI
Honda S2000
In no particular order.
135i - heavy, cooks its brakes, no lsd, electronic lsd will cook the rear brakes on some tracks, uninvolving to drive and to make it into a track car you need to go with the TC Kline prescription which ain't cheap.
Camaro SS - This is an anti track car - here is a review: http://www.streetfire.net/video/2010...ew_2047565.htm
Mustang GT - have never seen one on the track, live rear axle, overall a heavy car.
rx8 r3 (I have one) - for a proper track car you need to take out whatever makes the R3. Springs still way too soft, hd shocks still can't handle track as they designed for road use. Much better to buy an 05/06 and throw away the suspension.
VW GTI - great little hatch, nowhere close to a track car, fwd, no lsd.
E30s, E36s, Miatas, 944s, Vettes, Else / Exige and 911s is what you see most often but again a proper track car is likely caged or too stiff to drive on the street.
Judging by some of the responses on this thread, I wonder if people actually been to the track.
08-12-2010, 09:47 PM
#33
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Looking at your list:
135i - heavy, cooks its brakes, no lsd, electronic lsd will cook the rear brakes on some tracks, uninvolving to drive and to make it into a track car you need to go with the TC Kline prescription which ain't cheap.
Camaro SS - This is an anti track car - here is a review: http://www.streetfire.net/video/2010...ew_2047565.htm
Mustang GT - have never seen one on the track, live rear axle, overall a heavy car.
rx8 r3 (I have one) - for a proper track car you need to take out whatever makes the R3. Springs still way too soft, hd shocks still can't handle track as they designed for road use. Much better to buy an 05/06 and throw away the suspension.
VW GTI - great little hatch, nowhere close to a track car, fwd, no lsd.
E30s, E36s, Miatas, 944s, Vettes, Else / Exige and 911s is what you see most often but again a proper track car is likely caged or too stiff to drive on the street.
Judging by some of the responses on this thread, I wonder if people actually been to the track.
135i - heavy, cooks its brakes, no lsd, electronic lsd will cook the rear brakes on some tracks, uninvolving to drive and to make it into a track car you need to go with the TC Kline prescription which ain't cheap.
Camaro SS - This is an anti track car - here is a review: http://www.streetfire.net/video/2010...ew_2047565.htm
Mustang GT - have never seen one on the track, live rear axle, overall a heavy car.
rx8 r3 (I have one) - for a proper track car you need to take out whatever makes the R3. Springs still way too soft, hd shocks still can't handle track as they designed for road use. Much better to buy an 05/06 and throw away the suspension.
VW GTI - great little hatch, nowhere close to a track car, fwd, no lsd.
E30s, E36s, Miatas, 944s, Vettes, Else / Exige and 911s is what you see most often but again a proper track car is likely caged or too stiff to drive on the street.
Judging by some of the responses on this thread, I wonder if people actually been to the track.
I think you're confusing my post with being more about track orientation than anything. My goal was to list 10 cars that worked well on the street AND track. There are definitely cars that would smoke my list on the track, but I wanted my list to also be very easy to drive on the street.
The 135i. I love the car's interior and the fact that its so torquey down low. Are there cars faster than it? Yes. But I'm sure it could hold its own at the track and I would never run a car with stock tires or brakes at the track.
The Camaro SS. Similar reasons as the 135i and you can't ignore the aftermarket support for this car. Again, yeah there are definitely better platforms to start with when considering racing such as AutoX or pro circuit racing, but its not hard or expensive to upgrade the Camaro SS into a pretty good track car if you're dead set on owning one.
The 2011 Mustang. Never even sat in one and I'm judging this car on paper. But apparently Ford has tuned the live axle suspension to handle pretty well. Also keep in mind that drag racing is still a form of track racing and thats where a live axle dominates is at the drag strip.
VW GTI is same as the 135i.
For whatever reason I forgot that old M3's were so cheap and I never even knew that you could get old Porsche's for that kind of cash. I wouldn't want to drive a Lotus on the street.
08-14-2010, 01:43 AM
#34
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Its a pretty retarded list.. really... if you spend some time hanging around some of those cars' forums, you'll see some owners gotta spend at least 3 to 4k just to have their car survive a few laps on track and that's assuming their car won't be a DD.
Some cars are just way too heavy and too expensive for the average joe to remove weight, they are better off using another car for track.
Top few track ready in my opinion (sorry only knew enough about jdm cars to comment):
S2000
EVO
STI
Type R's
Some cars are just way too heavy and too expensive for the average joe to remove weight, they are better off using another car for track.
Top few track ready in my opinion (sorry only knew enough about jdm cars to comment):
S2000
EVO
STI
Type R's
08-14-2010, 02:36 AM
#35
Under 35k$ you have
s1, s2 lotus elise and exige (that makes up for 4 spots already).
Caterham and westfields 7s
westfield xr2
radical sr3
Ariel atom
bmw m3 e30
An ultima gtr if you're lucky enough to find it
Those are the "best" track cars you can get for that money, your list only shows car that can be fun a track day but have nothing to do with track cars unless you're talking about a starting base. In that case you'd still have to drop a couple of cars from that list for a reason or another.
08-15-2010, 07:04 PM
#36
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Why not cheap track cars for the money? Clearly, a track car's going to get tossed around quite a lot, and not everyone's got the cash to keep such a thing running. You really want something simple and easy to work on.
Pontiac GTO - simple, cheap, usable in the real world and if the Top Gear boys are any indication, you can practice your drifting like a maniac. Not too great around the corners, but it's a lot of car for the money and you can claw back some places on the straights. (I might upgrade the brakes, first of all. o_O)
Toyota MR2 - especially the second-gen ones, very light and tossable and if you can get the turbo, so much the better. Third-gen ones are down on power but you can run with the top down, yeah?
Porsche Boxster - OK, fine, maybe a bit less on the "cost to keep running" angle, but you can get a dirt cheap Boxster in pretty good condition in most Craigslists.
Pontiac GTO - simple, cheap, usable in the real world and if the Top Gear boys are any indication, you can practice your drifting like a maniac. Not too great around the corners, but it's a lot of car for the money and you can claw back some places on the straights. (I might upgrade the brakes, first of all. o_O)
Toyota MR2 - especially the second-gen ones, very light and tossable and if you can get the turbo, so much the better. Third-gen ones are down on power but you can run with the top down, yeah?
Porsche Boxster - OK, fine, maybe a bit less on the "cost to keep running" angle, but you can get a dirt cheap Boxster in pretty good condition in most Craigslists.
08-16-2010, 06:40 AM
#37
omg, thank you bse50 for mentioning the Atom. I would give any car on the origonal list half a lap and hunt them down.
Triangleman~ I had two third gen MR2's. They are great but they decieve you as far as what they can handle. And if you do loose control, just enjoy the ride and see what happens cause you're not recovering (experience talking).... And I will not comment on a GTO being a track car.....
Triangleman~ I had two third gen MR2's. They are great but they decieve you as far as what they can handle. And if you do loose control, just enjoy the ride and see what happens cause you're not recovering (experience talking).... And I will not comment on a GTO being a track car.....
08-16-2010, 10:07 AM
#38
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The GTO isn't a track car - per se - but I reason it's useable on the track (and would be a fun departure from all the lightweight nimble things nipping around the corners). I'm trying to find cars that can perform at least decently on the track but can also serve as daily drivers. As cool as the Atom/Caterham/Lotus breeds are, they're pretty much track day toys for those with the cash to have other rides. ;D
08-16-2010, 03:03 PM
#41
Vtak just kicked in yo!!
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Lotus Elise
Mazda Miata
Mazda RX8
Chevrolet Corvette C6 Grand Sport
Dodge Viper
Porsche 968
Audi R8
Mitsubishi Evo X
Honda S2000
Nissan 370Z
This would be my list, just off the top of my head in 30 seconds at work between tasks. I would probably modify it if I had some more time.
EDIT- order doesnt matter btw, not ordered in any particular way, just my opnion of 10 good candidates.
Mazda Miata
Mazda RX8
Chevrolet Corvette C6 Grand Sport
Dodge Viper
Porsche 968
Audi R8
Mitsubishi Evo X
Honda S2000
Nissan 370Z
This would be my list, just off the top of my head in 30 seconds at work between tasks. I would probably modify it if I had some more time.
EDIT- order doesnt matter btw, not ordered in any particular way, just my opnion of 10 good candidates.
08-16-2010, 03:47 PM
#42
RX8. Yeah, I get it.
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Looking at your list:
135i - heavy, cooks its brakes, no lsd, electronic lsd will cook the rear brakes on some tracks, uninvolving to drive and to make it into a track car you need to go with the TC Kline prescription which ain't cheap.
Camaro SS - This is an anti track car - here is a review: http://www.streetfire.net/video/2010...ew_2047565.htm
Mustang GT - have never seen one on the track, live rear axle, overall a heavy car.
rx8 r3 (I have one) - for a proper track car you need to take out whatever makes the R3. Springs still way too soft, hd shocks still can't handle track as they designed for road use. Much better to buy an 05/06 and throw away the suspension.
VW GTI - great little hatch, nowhere close to a track car, fwd, no lsd.
E30s, E36s, Miatas, 944s, Vettes, Else / Exige and 911s is what you see most often but again a proper track car is likely caged or too stiff to drive on the street.
Judging by some of the responses on this thread, I wonder if people actually been to the track.
135i - heavy, cooks its brakes, no lsd, electronic lsd will cook the rear brakes on some tracks, uninvolving to drive and to make it into a track car you need to go with the TC Kline prescription which ain't cheap.
Camaro SS - This is an anti track car - here is a review: http://www.streetfire.net/video/2010...ew_2047565.htm
Mustang GT - have never seen one on the track, live rear axle, overall a heavy car.
rx8 r3 (I have one) - for a proper track car you need to take out whatever makes the R3. Springs still way too soft, hd shocks still can't handle track as they designed for road use. Much better to buy an 05/06 and throw away the suspension.
VW GTI - great little hatch, nowhere close to a track car, fwd, no lsd.
E30s, E36s, Miatas, 944s, Vettes, Else / Exige and 911s is what you see most often but again a proper track car is likely caged or too stiff to drive on the street.
Judging by some of the responses on this thread, I wonder if people actually been to the track.
08-16-2010, 06:36 PM
#43
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08-16-2010, 07:24 PM
#44
08-21-2010, 09:40 AM
#45
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The corvette on the other hand has a bunch of cheap plastic that looks like it is out of a 98 Grand Am. If you have ever seen a Corvette with more than 20k miles the leather on the seats is completly worn out.
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