Tom R.

There is one in my garage. 95 M3 purchased june 09 with 181K miles. same owner since it was 3 years old with 90k. New tires, front rotors, all pads, trailing arm bushings, records since 90k, no rips on seats, clear bra on bumpers, good paint - some parts repainted with an OK match, just tuned up, immaculate motor, pulls hard, etc.

i put my used R compounds on rims i bought off ebay that needed spacers, changed the shift **** and bought adapters for the recaros i had in the S2.

Without the cost of the seats, I was under 6k.

944/951guy

Not a fan of MR2's or mustangs for that matter.
Really want a P-car.
SO I think I made my decision. 944 NA it is.
The budget is not that big of a deal if I go over thats just what I have set and hopefully I stay around it for now.

loplop

I owned an '86 MK1 MR2 from 91-94, it was the first car I owned (as opposed to "parents car I occasionally drove"). Loved the thing! Never experienced snap oversteer--just smooth, progressive, easy to control oversteer. It did rotate a lot, it was a mid engine after all.. But never hairy and always easy to catch, even without power steering. The MR2 always told you when the rear was going to come out. It was a superb car to learn RWD dynamics with. I used to go through rear tires every 3-4k miles...

Someone mentioned a MK2 RX7. My dad drove one for 16 years, and I had a lot of seat time in it. Now THAT car had snap oversteer. I never totally figured it out, but it seemed to have some relation to the passive rear-steer (ripoff of the "Weissach Axle"). I liked it OK, but the 944 handles better. The rotary was so smooth, though, and they last forever if properly cared for.

I owned a 924 from '95-98, and now this 944, and I can definitely say both are more benign than either of the above.

Tom R.

Two completely different animals ya got there. What do you want advice on?

krystar

my friend with a 2g MR2 turbo had a fun 5 seconds on Gingerman turn 2 which is an uphill. i think he said he lifted or something and the thing just came around on him really fast and he drifted a good 100ft uphill heh

BeerBurner

If I may just throw in my own experience for the sake of another data point...

I have an '87 944 NA and a '90 Miata and have tracked them both. Performance-wise, I find that when similarily-equipped, the 944 tends to edge out the Miata. The biggest difference is due to the 944's extra power, especially when things don't go quite right and you have to accelerate from low rev's. While the 944 NA is no powerhouse, the Miata's 1.6 is completely gutless below 4k rpm and really doesn't wake up until 5.5k. Keep it above 5k and you're good to go, but if you're below that and you have to floor it you may as well start giving the passing signal now. Maybe the 1.8L Miatas will be better, I don't know...

Price-wise, the Miata is the clear winner. I did my whole suspension for what four Konis would have cost on the 944, and the Miata just doesn't break. Last summer at VIR, the two Porsche's I was paddocked with died... the 924S's engine went as well as the 951's turbo. The Miata just needed gas. That's it. I didn't even have to top off the oil! It's very "fire and forget" and doesn't require the new rod bearings that my 944 did. Upgrades, parts, labor and simple "bulletproofness" make the Miata a low-buck, low-stress way to get to the track.

That all said, the cost of entry for Miatas probably won't be as cheap as one would initially think. Yes, a Miata will be cheaper than a comparable 944, but a rollbar is a must for the Miata so tack on $500 right there. Then you have to worry about the 2" broomstick rule that many clubs require (if you lay a broomstick from the windshield header to the rollbar the top of your helmet must be 2" below that). Some clubs will let that slide if you have a hard top ($800-1,200) which is what I do. Seats and harnesses are also a good idea, moreso in the Miata than the 944 but it'll be a moot point if you plan on buying them anyway.

My VIR trip in the Miata revealed another unexpected disadvantage. The 944 has plenty of space for tires, tools and other stuff. I could barely fit the essentials (and my wife) in the Miata and had to drive down on my R-compounds as well as get someone else to take the tools, chairs, fluids, etc. This was never an issue when I went to Summit Point which was close enough to not need these things.

So, which car do I prefer to track? I'll be honest, I'm a Porschephile and I get a bigger grin from tracking the Porsche than the Miata but the Miata has won out as my main track toy simply because it is so inexpensive and trouble-free. Even my friends, who sometimes bust my ***** for driving a gutless car, can't respond when I remind them that I have never missed a session due to my mechanical failures but I have missed some helping them fix their cars and I've even lent my Miata to one of them when their Porsche wasn't track ready.

I do sometimes wish I had more power and that problem could easily be solved by bolting on a turbo. But then, I'm also a big fan of keeping things simple so I'll probably just keep things as they are for the time being. I may not be the fastest car out there but I know it'll fire up every time I turn the key. <knock on wood> If I had deeper pockets I'd run a 944 (or 911) in a heartbeat. But I don't, so I won't.

Just my $0.02...

BB.

SamGrant951

no affiliation http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/1458708715.html

shiners780

Fully prepped 944 n/a track car with SCCA log book for $4200: http://rochester.craigslist.org/cto/1441287510.html

944/951guy

Correct race the guts out of it.... For my pleasure not trophys.

944/951guy

Great deal but able to see it and the shipping would kill me.
Im in Portland, OR

Wipeout

There are some prepped 944s here on the west coast for sale I think, too. Glad that there's another person here in Portland that might be out on track with schwank soon!

Like Eric said, if you need any help, let me know - I help him out at the track and whatnot all the time.

porrsha

2 main questions for you. The easiest first:How did you get the rear hatch to close on 4 tires and rims? Maybe because of the roll bar I have that is why I have to put 1 tire in the passenger seat.
#2: The new SCCA STR class includes Miatas, 944 NA, and early 1980's 911's. I was thinking the Miatas are going to kick *** until I started seeing some posts like yours about the lack of low end grunt from the Miatas. If you had to choose between the 944 and the miata here..what are your thoughts?

krystar

this is with just a harness bar. u can still try with a full roll bar.

krystar

StoogeMoe also posted his stuffed trunk

BeerBurner

Good questions. Keep in my that my answers are coming from someone who just HPDE's and is in it more for the fun than being the fastest car out there. But I'll try and get into the racing mindset...

1) I've never actually done it because I just drove to Summit Point on the R-compounds. It's a short enough trip for me (~45 minutes) and I'm not competitive enough to want to worry about heat cycling and the like. But other people have mentioned being able to do it so I went with that.

By the way, I'm considering buying a small trailer for the Miata to tow my stuff to the farther tracks, but I haven't done it yet. I'm sure that'll work for the 944, too.

2) Personally, I think it would depend on how much money you have to throw at it. I find that the 944 has more potential than the 1.6 Miata due to it's extra power, but that potential comes with extra cost and maintenance. Looking at it the other way, I would expect that your typical X-dollar Miata would probably be faster than your typical X-dollar 944 since your money will buy more stuff (does that make sense?). Again, not having tracked (or even driven in anger) a 1.8 Miata I don't know how much that will change things since it has more grunt than my 1.6.

But to answer your question, given the resources to not worry about it I'd go with the 944. Unfortunately, I don't have enough of those resources which is why I'm going with the Miata.

BB.