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To track car or not to track car?

2K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  Adamski_m 
#1 ·
Hello guys I'm at a bit of a cross roads with my car, after a good few trackdays with the car I'm toying with the idea of buying a cheapo run around and turning my car into a full on track tool. The car as it is isn't very pleasant to drive in town as it rides very harshly with my coilovers set up for track work. Another idea was to return the car to standard for daily driving and look for something else for a track toy. I had an e36 328 track car which I loved but it wasn't quick enough for me, part of the reason I bought the 125i was for some extra power for track days. Do you guys think full stripped without a roll cage a e82 could be pretty light viable track car?
 
#2 ·
Im keeping my E82 to be able to do both and can just change the damper stiffness to cope on track if i wanted to.

BUT me and a mate are going to buy a Clio 172 as an all out track toy because its cheap and we don't giver a crap about it.

Tracking a £10k + car to me sounds daft compared to a £1k one with thousands of spare parts available.

Just my opinion of course
 
#3 ·
Would your 125i be a really impressive track car - it should be for the price!

I'm with Danny_Boy on the bangernomics track toy being the most fun. My last track day car was a MK1 MX5 with brakes, tyres and Billies. It was often the slowest car there, but it was a great tool to learn in. I bought it from salvage and spent a total of about £200 on used parts and pads over the 2 years we thrashed it, then sold it for what it owed me to some autotesters.

I now have a Corolla T-Sport, utterly gutted, full harnesses, lowered, camber bolts, Federal RSRs, proper fluid and brake pads. In total, I've spent about £1200, but it's done 6 hard track days with multiple drivers...and it's hilarious! I'd prefer a rear drive track car, or maybe a 4wd, but I don't need one till this one goes bang. Maybe I need a MK3 MR2 with the engine and box from my Corolla...

My 135i is much faster, but I don't want to damage it. A relatively minor off could cost me more than my total investment in my track Toy and yet, I could get more than half my money back from the Toyota if I broke it for parts. Consequently, I really enjoy thrashing the disposable Toy and I've learned a lot in it.
 
#4 ·
For sure :)

I don't know what weight you'd get down to but imagine a lot less than standard. Only issue I can think of is if you want more power down the line you might be better off with a 135. You'd also get the better brakes too. MX5/Clio etc are all fab track cars but if you've had a 328 before and found that too slow you'll find the same with these.
 
#5 ·
I know the cheap and cheerful track car idea makes sense but I just don't get much excitement in anything fwd of something not particularly quick. I don't think my car would be worth too much money now as it's got a load of stone chips and paint has peeled off the front bumper from presumably a poor respray. It's also just away to cross the 100k barrier which really hurts a cars value. It seems like a capable car on the track maybe a tad heavy and as mentioned above it could do with some better brakes. I just want someone to tell me it's a good idea :lol2:
 
#6 ·
It depends what you want. I've tracked mine before and probably will again, but I had much more fun driving a mate's £800 328i because I was happy to drive it to its limits, brake hard and late because if I stuffed it it wouldn't be a disaster. If I stuffed the 130i it'd leave a pretty major hole in my wallet.

Having said that, if it were my own car I'd go for something lighter because the 328 felt porky (made worse by the fact it was set way too soft), and is hard on fuel and brakes as a result. I find the fun is in late braking and cornering rather than straight line speed, so I reckon MR2 or MX5 would make good choices with a couple of tweaks, and would be much cheaper to run on track.
 
#7 ·
sixpistons said:
It depends what you want. I've tracked mine before and probably will again, but I had much more fun driving a mate's £800 328i because I was happy to drive it to its limits, brake hard and late because if I stuffed it it wouldn't be a disaster. If I stuffed the 130i it'd leave a pretty major hole in my wallet.

Having said that, if it were my own car I'd go for something lighter because the 328 felt porky (made worse by the fact it was set way too soft), and is hard on fuel and brakes as a result. I find the fun is in late braking and cornering rather than straight line speed, so I reckon MR2 or MX5 would make good choices with a couple of tweaks, and would be much cheaper to run on track.
Yeah it's hard to make a Bmw a light track car! I like to drive the car on the limit on my local track as I know the corners it would be fairly "safe" to go off the track on. Had a look at prices for 125i on auto trader and they are still holding decent money, it would probably work out easier for me to buy something with a lsd and decent brakes already like an e46 m3 etc. Thanks for the words of wisdom chaps :)
 
#8 ·
Adamski_m said:
sixpistons said:
It depends what you want. I've tracked mine before and probably will again, but I had much more fun driving a mate's £800 328i because I was happy to drive it to its limits, brake hard and late because if I stuffed it it wouldn't be a disaster. If I stuffed the 130i it'd leave a pretty major hole in my wallet.

Having said that, if it were my own car I'd go for something lighter because the 328 felt porky (made worse by the fact it was set way too soft), and is hard on fuel and brakes as a result. I find the fun is in late braking and cornering rather than straight line speed, so I reckon MR2 or MX5 would make good choices with a couple of tweaks, and would be much cheaper to run on track.
Yeah it's hard to make a Bmw a light track car! I like to drive the car on the limit on my local track as I know the corners it would be fairly "safe" to go off the track on. Had a look at prices for 125i on auto trader and they are still holding decent money, it would probably work out easier for me to buy something with a lsd and decent brakes already like an e46 m3 etc. Thanks for the words of wisdom chaps :)
If you have the budget for an e46 M3 that's already got some set up done, then that's definitely a better option :D
 
#9 ·
Got to agree, the FWD thing can get a bit boring pretty quickly, you also have to keep in mind that you can insure the BMW for £100 or so if you want to use it.

Ive got a Mk3 MR2 I use for cheap lols and tend to keep the bimmer for the bigger tracks, but even after dropping £4K on the 135 to make it into a reasonable track car I have to be honest and say the MR2 is more fun though ..........
 
#10 ·
Jacksteel said:
Adamski_m said:
sixpistons said:
It depends what you want. I've tracked mine before and probably will again, but I had much more fun driving a mate's £800 328i because I was happy to drive it to its limits, brake hard and late because if I stuffed it it wouldn't be a disaster. If I stuffed the 130i it'd leave a pretty major hole in my wallet.

Having said that, if it were my own car I'd go for something lighter because the 328 felt porky (made worse by the fact it was set way too soft), and is hard on fuel and brakes as a result. I find the fun is in late braking and cornering rather than straight line speed, so I reckon MR2 or MX5 would make good choices with a couple of tweaks, and would be much cheaper to run on track.
Yeah it's hard to make a Bmw a light track car! I like to drive the car on the limit on my local track as I know the corners it would be fairly "safe" to go off the track on. Had a look at prices for 125i on auto trader and they are still holding decent money, it would probably work out easier for me to buy something with a lsd and decent brakes already like an e46 m3 etc. Thanks for the words of wisdom chaps :)
If you have the budget for an e46 M3 that's already got some set up done, then that's definitely a better option :D
Sadly the 125 would have to go to help pay for an e46, I would love to have a m3 track car though! Would probably have enough money left for a bicycle for daily driving :lol2:
 
#11 ·
docwra said:
Got to agree, the FWD thing can get a bit boring pretty quickly, you also have to keep in mind that you can insure the BMW for £100 or so if you want to use it.

Ive got a Mk3 MR2 I use for cheap lols and tend to keep the bimmer for the bigger tracks, but even after dropping £4K on the 135 to make it into a reasonable track car I have to be honest and say the MR2 is more fun though ..........
I bet that's a fun car! I do enjoy tracking my car but I think it would be more fun fully stripped and lightweight but it wouldn't be worth anything when it came to selling the car. A cheap and cheerful track car is probably the best route I suppose :cry:
 
#14 ·
Seeing as the 125i are holding their money ok I think I will probably sell up get a cheap and cheerful daily driver and get myself another e46 just for trackdays and weekend driving I think
 
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