After following some mates down to Wakefield Park Raceway recently, I've been thinking more and more about getting involved in giving circuit racing a red-hot-shot.
That's said, I don't want to take the bug, and my chick magnet daewoo lanos doesn't quite cut the mustard!
I discussed the idea with the old man and as it turned out, he was quite interested as well, so we've decided to start scouting to see if we can find something we could take down, thrash around, and drive back on a regular basis.
I've been trying to think of some cars but have you guys got any suggestions? we don't have a large budget, like 7k, and it doesn't need to be quick, just something good to learn on. I was thinking trying to find a decent MX5? Honda Civic? Any drive type is fine really!
Looking forward to suggestions!
Cheers boys and girls,
Ollie
HappyDaze ·
Formula Vee is one of the best and lowest cost ways to learn, and enjoy the track. There are quite a few 1200 Vees running 2nd GEAR, and Wakefield Park race days. A AASA licence is all that's required. MX 5 is also worth a look.
SuperOwen ·
By drive back do you mean something registered? Kinda rules out a vee, although I would pay to see you drive one to the track and back!!!!
Ollie ·
Yeah I think I'd want it to be registered. I haven't got any special licence, just want it to be a street car 🙂
Formula would be fun, just lack of storage etc 🙁
Pollywaffle ·
AE86!
Sides ·
This is gonna sound really dumb.... but I reckon go for a Hyundai Excel.
Cheap as chips to buy and maintain, and since there were so many of 'em sold heaps of used parts around.
There's a dedicated series running for them here in Qld even, with 30+ cars regularly competing !!!
Polly- 86's are awesome, but I want something relatively stock, and they've all be 4age'd now!
Sides- I completely agree with you there, just kinda want something with just a tad more poke. I know I've mentioned I'm only starting, just figured it could be better to start with a more performances based car for handling etc
Sides ·
Yeah, can understand that... my mind is skewed a bit obviously by so many Excels circuit racing regularly up here.
Don't underestimate the handling of the old Excel tho... the guys in 'em who know how to drive are doing 61's round Lakeside, which ain't exactly messing around !!!
🥷
A first gen MX5 would be a pretty good bet for doing sprints and hillclimbs, but wouldn't want to circuit race one (have heard panels can be exxy). In stock trim they're a bit underpowered but very nimble (and RWD)... plenty of hop up bits available too as enthusiasm and budget allows. Good luck carting track rims/tyres in the boot tho !!!
😀
1303Steve ·
Hi
I'm partial to old Skylines and Sylvias 180SX etc, my sons drifts a R31 Skyline, you can do a bit to them to get them cracking.
A friend has an old Twin Cam Corolla, not sure of the model, its front wheel drive but he supersprints it and doesn't spend a lot on it.
Steve
waveman1500 ·
Ollie wrote:Polly- 86's are awesome, but I want something relatively stock, and they've all be 4age'd now!
All AE86s came with a 4AGE in them as stock, that's what separated them from lesser RWD Corollas and made them into legendary cars.
If you're on a low budget and want the car to remain street registered, there's only so fast you can go. Using the Beetle which you already have will save a lot of budget! It depends on whether you just want to have fun at track days, or actually race and compete. If you want to be competitive in real races, then you have to buy or build something which fits an existing class. At your budget, I would say that pretty much any circuit racing will be a stretch. The only two obvious categories which I know of that fit the bill are HQ Racing and Formula Vee. If you want to compete in an actual circuit race then having a road-legal car isn't really an option. Personally, I'd be looking at either Formula Vee or go-karts. In fact I have recently been strongly considering both of these options, but have decided it's still too much of a financial stretch for me.
Once you move to an unregistered track-only car, it all gets a lot harder and more expensive than grass-roots weekend speed events. You need a trailer and a car which can tow it, as well as space to store the race car and trailer. So your minimum racing set-up requires commitment of three car-spaces worth of parking. For me that would obviously mean that I would have to drive the tow car as a daily (in my case a Holden ute) and then sell my weekend-driver Beetle to make both space and funds for the racer. A lot of extra effort compared to just taking the Beetle to a few hillclimbs or track days now and then.
bajachris88 ·
Tarmac circuit or would u be interested in starting in speedway?
eg: like the sigma series? cheap as chips... although dirty and the circuits aren't more than a loop, but none the less would be fun to start on a very basic budget.
Ollie ·
waveman1500 wrote:
Ollie wrote:Polly- 86's are awesome, but I want something relatively stock, and they've all be 4age'd now!
All AE86s came with a 4AGE in them as stock, that's what separated them from lesser RWD Corollas and made them into legendary cars.
If you're on a low budget and want the car to remain street registered, there's only so fast you can go. Using the Beetle which you already have will save a lot of budget! It depends on whether you just want to have fun at track days, or actually race and compete. If you want to be competitive in real races, then you have to buy or build something which fits an existing class. At your budget, I would say that pretty much any circuit racing will be a stretch. The only two obvious categories which I know of that fit the bill are HQ Racing and Formula Vee. If you want to compete in an actual circuit race then having a road-legal car isn't really an option. Personally, I'd be looking at either Formula Vee or go-karts. In fact I have recently been strongly considering both of these options, but have decided it's still too much of a financial stretch for me.
Once you move to an unregistered track-only car, it all gets a lot harder and more expensive than grass-roots weekend speed events. You need a trailer and a car which can tow it, as well as space to store the race car and trailer. So your minimum racing set-up requires commitment of three car-spaces worth of parking. For me that would obviously mean that I would have to drive the tow car as a daily (in my case a Holden ute) and then sell my weekend-driver Beetle to make both space and funds for the racer. A lot of extra effort compared to just taking the Beetle to a few hillclimbs or track days now and then.
Yeah good points 🙂
Oh and AE86's came with 4ac (or 4k- cant remember) engines in aust, not 4age- Jdm models were equipped with them.
waveman1500 ·
Righto. I got confused and assumed that you meant Trueno.
waveman1500 ·
Oh, the other thing that I was going to say is that you shouldn't be fooled into thinking that the cost of a road car equals the cost of taking it racing! A bloke that I work with has a Chrysler Galant Improved Production car. The original base car would be worth less than a thousand dollars, but to build it up to run Improved Production cost him $30 grand. A set of racing slicks will set you back a minimum of $1000 and last for one season at a stretch. If you are competing in a class which requires a roll cage, obviously that will add a few thousand onto your build cost, once you have the cage, seat and harness. Then you need the race suit, boots, gloves, helmet and so on. Almost everyone I've ever spoken to about it has said that it's cheaper to buy a car which is already built than it is to build your own. Try having a look around this place: http://www.my105.com/
I guess I'm just looking for something relatively cheap, some sort of performance basis, that I can throw around the track with mates. Silvias and skylines are good, but theyve all been boosted etc and I figured I just wanted something stock I can throw some decent tyres on and have fun.
Maybe the excel is a good idea... Though an mx5 is looking like the pic at the mom
Early model wrx??? Cheapish plenty of options. Drive to and from. 7k should see you moving around track well and get you home
Flintstones ·
Why not just get another beetle?
there's plenty of cheap one's about and from the change you can upgrade the suspension and brakes....
then as you get more confident you can then upgrade the power, and as you know, there are heaps of options in that department.
easy enough to rego as well.
Cheers
Ollie ·
Flnstone I would get another bug but I'm already modifying one bug and I don't really want to have to to any modifications to the car I get, if you get my drift.
Aussie dubbin I was thinking about a rex, but as with Skyrines and Silvias, too many hectic mods have been done to find a really clean one.
And also, (hate saying this :P) could be too much power to learn with?
mactaylor ·
bmw manual e36, great cars, enough poke, and getting cheap
Phil74Camper ·
Are you a Volkswagen man at heart? If make doesn't matter to you, then all these suggestions by the other guys are great - BMW, Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, whatever. They're all OK.
But what if you want to stick with Volkswagen but, as you say, don't want another Beetle?
What about a Golf then? Extremely popular for this sort of thing in the UK and Europe where there are millions of them. Here you'll have difficulty in finding a good Mk1 ('76-'81), as we only got the LS and GLS. The Mk1 GTI was not sold here. As for the Mk2, we got the 77 kW 8V GTI in 1990-92 but there aren't many of them about.
But there are plenty of Mk3s here (1994-98). Our GL models have a 2.0-litre engine with 85 kW - the previous Euro GTI engine in fact. That's 114 hp bog stock, more than enough to start with. Then there are unlimited things you can do to it later to double and triple that. The cheaper CL has a 66 kW 1.8 litre engine. Or of course you could start with the 2.8-litre Golf VR6 - 128 kW (172 bhp). Give Matt at Camden GTI a call http://www.camdengti.com/
1303Steve ·
Hi
Don't be scared of buying an already modified car, you can save the $1000 that other people have blown on a car.
We bought my sons R31 Skyline with a heap of mods already done for a bit over $2000, it had $1200 worth of coilovers on it, race seats, upgraded front brakes, big wheels, extractors with 2.5 system and it was an almost one owner car. It got my son to uni in Wollongong and is now a weekday commuter and weekend drift car.
1303Steve wrote:... it was an almost one owner car.
🙂
That's a bit like being almost pregnant, isn't it Steve ???
😀
It's definitely true... if you don't care what brand/model the car is, you're gonna be better of buying something already modified... we all know you can't sell a modified car for anywhere near what you spend on it.
E36 and a Golf are nice cars and yes you can get them up and running cheap, but being German parts costs will be pretty scary.
Same goes for a HQ... all the good used parts have been used by now, so you're talking new or repoop bits for most everything, which is why the HQ series is going the way of the dodo.
A Sylvia or Skyline would be OK - heaps of aftermarket bits, and you can pick 'em up pretty cheap. Another big benefit is their boot is big enough to carry track rims... only drawback is they go "issh" when you change gears, and Constable Plod may pay you more attention than you want !!!
Craigy's suggestion of an older Ford would be OK - heaps of them built, so parts will be fine.
That Datto could be interesting... ditch the FJ and throw an SR20 in it, and you've got virtually a bullet proof combo that will go great !!!
👍
matberry ·
Crikey, can't believe what I'm reading......well I can really BUT my opinion.....go Volksie, either get another one or play with your present one. If later it's too fast for the street (yeah right), get another one for your driver.
I love Volksies bacause they are not considered fast but can be easily made to go that way. Look at Craigs (EDIT or was it Glen; oops😂) 'wrecker racer' now that car didn't cost too much....
any beetle, even a swinger, once lowered with decent tyres goes round corners better than most cars, add to that a 1915, even a second hand one can go well, and your racing.
Good advice getting someones project tho, VW or otherwise, still be the best way on a budget.
JVLRacing ·
Glenn torrens done a great job with a budget racer vw....and just added what he needed to keep goin....
Sides ·
Oh I'm with ya Matt that it should be a Volksie, but since Ollie has already decided NOT VW... what can ya do ???
Hilcllimb's and Sprint's are ideal for a worked Beetle, but when it comes to circuit racing I think like how Eric Bana said it... "don't go racing in something you care about".
Oh and wrong Torrens... it's Glen with the wrecker racer.
😵💫
ian.mezz ·
track cars aint cheap 🤪
Ollie wrote:After following some mates down to Wakefield Park Raceway recently, I've been thinking more and more about getting involved in giving circuit racing a red-hot-shot.
That's said, I don't want to take the bug, and my chick magnet daewoo lanos doesn't quite cut the mustard!
I discussed the idea with the old man and as it turned out, he was quite interested as well, so we've decided to start scouting to see if we can find something we could take down, thrash around, and drive back on a regular basis.
I've been trying to think of some cars but have you guys got any suggestions? we don't have a large budget, like 7k, and it doesn't need to be quick, just something good to learn on. I was thinking trying to find a decent MX5? Honda Civic? Any drive type is fine really!
Looking forward to suggestions!
Cheers boys and girls,
Ollie
Ollie ·
Steve I'm digging that Skyline!
I just worry that I'll spend money on a modified jap car it and poof! Some shitty FMIC that bob hasn't installed properly will fly off and destroy an engine. Plus if my old man and I did split it, he might drive it to work every now and then, and although he'd hate driving an excel, he isn't a man that is keen on jap cars
I really don't want something that I have to pour money into (Yes, we've all heard that before!), and something that I can just get used to driving quickly around corners.
Mat don't get me wrong I love the dubs, and couldn't agree more, but I know that I'll have to spend time and money getting it to handle and go like something I could already buy. PLUS I'm still trying to muster the funds to complete my 2276cc swap, so all funds and going into that.
That said all this inputs been fantastic, and the golf wouldn't be a bad idea (albeit parts). hmmm....
STIDUB ·
if you dont want anything turbo'd an early NA silvia will be cheap as chips, and parts cost sfa thanks to the drifting popularity, and yes theres a reason, they handle very nicely, both straight and sideways 😂 - use the lack of interest in the non turbo models to your advantage
Obviously won't have heaps of power, but handling wise could be quite fun. Cut your teeth on it and then sell as a package when you upgrade to another race car.
(no its not mine if anyone is interested, I just love surfing fleabay!!)
Joel ·
I started turning my black bug into a dedicated track car but sad thing is, as much as it would be awesome to make a track bug and mop the floor with all the boy racers in style, the cost of getting the brakes and suspension upto track standard and then an engine and trans that are track worthy you can spend half that $$ on some jap/euro shitter with more power/brakes/suspension stock with huge scope for improvement.
JVLRacing ·
overall...its still goin to cost u money $$$$🤓
ian.mezz ·
just get your olds car and get to the track . 😊
BiX ·
I think you need to decide on if there is a series or type of racing you want to do. See what entry level series there are at wakefield.
MX5's are good, and there are some good series running with them.
Excels are easy and cheap - the run the track series in qld and rally series along the east coast. You will be able to get a rally spec car, with coil overs, seats, cage and spares for 6 to 10k. get the struts rebuilt for 1k and away you go. Upgrade as you go with brakes and engine stuff. I think a llot of lantra stuff bolts straight on (ie larger brakes) but is not used in the rally series due to restrictions.
Old jap cars are an option....
Always though about a early BMW myself......
cnfabo ·
so many ways to go about it....the thing about racing is you will always want more...if you are a diehard volksy lover just buy one and start with that.....greg mackie uses std steel rims with second hand formula vee tyres=cheap..shocks off eshocks.com are cheap, under $300 for adjustble konis etc....i made adjustable sway bars for around $150 each...find some type 3 torsion bars=cheap....put adjusters in your beam yourself $50....find a used bucket seat and harness....with low power stock brakes will be fine...so here is a cheap start for way under 7g's.....but then again some of those other cars are a good deal too......
im just trying to say whatever you do you will want more power,better handling etc.....so start off with something you could see yourself building up on.....
cnfabo ·
Joel wrote:I started turning my black bug into a dedicated track car but sad thing is, as much as it would be awesome to make a track bug and mop the floor with all the boy racers in style, the cost of getting the brakes and suspension upto track standard and then an engine and trans that are track worthy you can spend half that $$ on some jap/euro shitter with more power/brakes/suspension stock with huge scope for improvement.
he he this is also so very true.....sad but true,damn it....
matberry ·
cnfabo wrote:so many ways to go about it....the thing about racing is you will always want more...if you are a diehard volksy lover just buy one and start with that.....greg mackie uses std steel rims with second hand formula vee tyres=cheap..shocks off eshocks.com are cheap, under $300 for adjustble konis etc....i made adjustable sway bars for around $150 each...find some type 3 torsion bars=cheap....put adjusters in your beam yourself $50....find a used bucket seat and harness....with low power stock brakes will be fine...so here is a cheap start for way under 7g's.....
whatever you do you will want more power,better handling etc.....so start off with something you could see yourself building up on.....
This last statement should be set in concrete. Race want you love, you'll enjoy beating them even more.
To many people think they need the 'magazine list', the current trendy brand names and go fast parts that without them they just aren't in the race......(where's that sarcasm key). Low buck can be done, and I bet the fun factor is inversly proportional to $$ spent.
Yesterday arftenoon, after reading this thread, I went to the shops in my lowered 1915 IDA powered beetle (even with 135's on the front), if you can't have a blast racing something similar I'll eat my hat, there is enough power and handling in a light weight beetle to scare the pants off you....and power is only part of the equasion.....not the be all/end all. Corner speed and handling in a beetle is awesome and what racing is all about and I'm sure you'll find a Volksie can be very competitive.....esp when your racing the clock...(and yourself), who wants to be a front runner anyway? 🙂
I hillclimbed and sprinted a Mk1 Suzuki GTi with a budget similar to that 7k you mentioned. Massive amounts of knowledge on a particular site (not sure if I am allowed to link to it here). 300fwhp+ has been seen from turbo versions, if you want more in the future. I've been lurking here a while and learning all about these aircooled wonders - always liked them - but I'm curious...can a Beetle be prepared and raced for a 7k amount? The Excel series is great, and as someone has already mentioned 61-65 seconds around Lakeside is a very decent time! The Excel cars are also limited with engine modifications - if that condition was removed...
Camo ·
Don't know how much it will eventually sell for on ebay, but a great little circuit car and its got the balls to go with it.
An early naturally aspirated RX7 is hard to beat, a series 2 or 3 would be a good start. You can pick up a decent one well within your budget and despite what many uneducated people will tell you, they're reliable and quick. A stock or extend ported 13B with a modified 4 barrel or 48IDA Weber will have more than enough power and be heaps of fun.
The only real downside is that if you can't tune it yourself, you need to find a workshop that knows rotaries to do it for you, most mechanics know very little about them.