budget track cars...?

All over the world, Nissan products are involved in road racing, track days, time attack and autocross.
le_ryan
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For use in road course and auto-Xit has to be cheap to purchase, easy to work on, and have a high new/used parts availability...and lets not forget fun to drive..ive narrowed down the final 5 in order to:*note* all are early 90s, and i make 23,000 gross yearly.if you can think of a better car to suit my position, post it, and why.thanx for your help....


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Joe
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CRX.

<- will be building one in the next few years for a honda challenge racecar. with a special engine

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Red coupe
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MK1 mr2...cause I want one and cause there easy to work on

Miata cause I enjoy and have more expeciance with rwd

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nismofly
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do you want to run wheel to wheel or just track days?

for the miata youll be able to run spec miata, exetremely popular class, with the 240 you could run whatever comes out of the present SE-R cup...the other 3 you could run honda challenge, easily the biggest NASA class

depending on how the next couple years go ill either be building an s13 coupe for nissan cup or whatever it comes out as, or a hybrid engined itr for honda challenge

le_ryan
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at first im ganna do auto-X and road course runs any chance, after i gain more experience, i wanna do wheel to wheel..if i get a 240 im ganna drive the ka24de block into the ground then swap it for sr, but i dont know how that will effect class.see i want to be able to join as many races as posible...i would perfer RWD but i just bought a 91 CRX shell for $200.. if i come across a 240 for the right price ill just set them both up.. but i need to know, of my options, wich car/cars will be the cheapest fun...?

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zippitta
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Have you thought about a toyota corolla(not neccessarily an "86"). My step-father and I had 3 different corolla's that we raced at a circle track. The toyota corolla always handled well, had decent power:weight, and had a great weight distribution. If you are making a full race car, that is what I reccomend.

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TrueSlide
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510, dirt cheap, drop a KA in there and you have a decently fast car, light car. RWD. Cheap as hell.

le_ryan
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i ahve heard of the 80s dodge turbo being fast and cheap track cars, but i dont know the relyability of it , i know my 91 240 was pretty relyable, and have always heard good things about the crx. the 510 may be alittle hard to come by for me, and im not too fond of the corolla, but they are something to look into...thanx people, any other cars?

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Red coupe
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e30 325i

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TrueSlide
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510s are CHEAP!!!

Check out datsun places like dimequartley and such, you can get 510s with a blown or no motor for like $500 and less.

The problem with the 510, its old technology.

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float_6969
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I've autoX's both a CRX and a Miata, and the Miata is more fun. It's even the little 1.6L as opposed to the 1.8L.

turtl631
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A Miata or a Civic hatch would probably be the best ways to go if you want to do wheel to wheel eventually. There's so much parts support and proven suspension setups. Not enough people really track 240s, so a lot of the stuff on the market is just crap or is tailored more to drifting. I'll be setting an s14 up for track days, but i don't plan to do any wheel to wheel stuff. I won't haev that kind of money for a long time. An EG civic would be a good choice IMO, not as old and rusty as most EFs, still light and with tons of parts available. Or a miata, depends whether you want fwd or rwd I guess. The civic and miata are very different cars.

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Bubba1
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Miata, hands down. Not only dirt cheap to buy, set up and operate, it's also RWD, convertible, has removeable hardtops that are easy to come by, and they're wickedly fun to drive. Also two words..."spec miata". I have several friends that have them and race spec miata. Several of them park their Audi's and bring their little miata's to the track. The only downside to them is if you're over 6' tall, you might have trouble fitting in them.

Datsun 510's are great, but they're gettng increasingly hard to find a rust free example.

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nismofly
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Bubba1 wrote:The only downside to them is if you're over 6' tall, you might have trouble fitting in them.
the only reason im in an s13 right now and not a miata, when i had mine i always had to have the top down, otherwise my head made the soft top look like a gt40 with the lump in it

dont worry though my uncles prepping it for SM right now, i might see what i can do about fitting in it

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InsanityInc
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E30 BMW. Oodles of racing support, not wrong-wheel-drive and more displacement than a soda bottle.

Liquidus
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I own/love my s13 but i reccomend the miata. They're so nice, aluminum hood and trunk lid, super light, rear mounted battery, and really cheap.

The car is cheap, LIGHT, small, and parts for it are cheap.

ZL-Auto
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datsun 240-260-280 they're not all that hard to find, easy to get down under 2000 lbs and pretty much any engine fits in them. Plus the basic transmission used in them and the diffs are dime a dozen if you blow something.

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Red coupe
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meh Z's are awesome cars, but for a track car I think your money could go furth with some of the others mentioned.

At least in Cali 240z with blow engine still goes for a good couple thousand. I dont think Ive even seen a 260 for sale...Maybe the 280 but you could find newer cars, just as capable for similar price(i.e. less refurbishing needed)

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sr20goofus
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cheapest way to go for a good amountof fun....i say the honda civic....

my bro is a NASA instructor he runs 91 Civic, roll bra, buckets, B20 non-VTEC, Ohlins suspension, ITR Brakes, bunch of lil engien bolt ons. He is fast as hell at teh tracks we go to, and he hasnt invested the amount of money i have into my track 240 yet and i dont even have a cage and good suspension yet.....we both run R-comps also.

my vote is for the civic because parts are a dime a dozen, the aftermarket and race market is HUGE even compared to the ever growing 240 market.

Nismo_Freak
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SE-R Cup is a good affordable entry.

240sxjeff
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The CRX would be a good bet I had one like 3 years ago and it handled way better than my 240 on the track with like half the money invested in it.

But I would vote either a miata cause they are a bit lighter or a 510 because I've always wanted one but never wanted the troubles of a car that old

StatixNWH
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i would choose between the Miatia and the Teg......DA tegs are awesome IMO, they look good and they handle like nothing ive ever seen, my friend had a DA dumped to the ground with 15's with some slicks with some slight camber.....handled CRAZY! you could take a shard curve at 50 and wouldnt even squeel the tires......i said to him "its like a arcade video game"

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naed240sx
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StatixNWH wrote:i would choose between the Miatia and the Teg......DA tegs are awesome IMO, they look good and they handle like nothing ive ever seen, my friend had a DA dumped to the ground with 15's with some slicks with some slight camber.....handled CRAZY! you could take a shard curve at 50 and wouldnt even squeel the tires......i said to him "its like a arcade video game"
Wow this is such a professional arguement. hahahahaha. We all know that dumping your car to the ground makes it handle good.

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fullthrtl_tech
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i would say the s13 or the crx due to the fact i have never driven a miata. But looking at the miata there is a reason why alot of people race those little things. Drive the ones u like and feel whats comfortable to you then make a decision

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sr20goofus
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at NASA race events...Miatas and Hondas are the most abundent.....next in like is Mustang fox body and Porsche 944's....all those guys manage these cars on some kind of budget...

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emperor_lunchbox
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I was just gonna mention the 944.I had planned on getting into some track events. I will be going with a miata, E30, or a 944.If I were in your situation I would choose the miata for sheer cost. A miata can be had and maintained for half of the E30 and 944. The miata is a good choice, depending on the class and the type of racing you do you could get a miata track ready for around 5k. That's not too shabby.

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sr20goofus
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944....too much money, when something goes wrong, big money fixup...the lower end of porsche quality, more abundent in junk yards than 240's, in my area at least. E30 (not posiive if that is M3 or not) if yes, then dont waste your money, fun track car, but sooo much money for spare parts and upgrade parts. the Miata or civic are your best choices for aftermarket and eprformance parts along with cost effectiveness.

ks2_tuning
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You need to look at a car that you can grow with for a couple years, the miata fits that well, you cna Auto-X then move up to the hpde stuff on track, buy the spec miata stuff and go wheel to wheel all in the same car... just always have a clear goal set for yourself and that will guide you when buying parts or making mods. as example don't buy a set of wheels for the auto-X that won't be allowed in spec or pro miata

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nismofly
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^^^ thats pretty much what im doing, and why i bought my car (i had a miata but didnt fit in it enough so i wanted something else)

ive been auto-x'ing since i got the car, and ive done one HPDE, i plan to run every event i can starting next spring

after running HPDE for a while, i plan to start running NASA time trial (time attack), and depending on the event id maybe run the HPDE thats running the same weekend, which is what NASA does a lot of times, at least in the northeast

ks2_tuning
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do the NASA events on the east coast draw the big fields like they do out here on the left side of the country?


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