creator8

I've owned a few long hood cars and have a 993 Targa as a daily driver. I sold my last long hood (72 RS Look set up for track) with the intention of buying a used Lotus Elise. I've been going back and forth now on the Elise and finally my wife, who's opinion when it comes to cars I actually listen to sometimes, asked "Why would you want one of those over a Porsche?"

So my thoughts have been turning to buying a well priced 964 Coupe with the intention of stripping the interior, putting a roll bar/cage, race seats, RS door panels, harnesses, wheel, suspension, wheels and tires and generally setting it up for fast street and track driving--a ghetto RS as it were. I've been checking the classifieds--Autotrader, eBay etc and seen a lot of what look like pretty reasonable cars--not pristine or concours as obviously I don't want that--in the $14-$18k range.

An Elise will cost me over $30k. I reckon I could get into a 964 set up for around $20k (I get deals on aftermarket parts, tires etc). The Elise will continue to bleed money, I think the Porsche will hold its own. I'm familiar with P cars, love the way they drive on and off track, and am a big fan of the 964RS as most of you are.

Any thoughts on this? How will a 70--100k mile motors hold up to track work? Anything particular I should look out for?

Thanks,

Chris M.

You won't find a 92-94 964 in that price range unless it's a salvage title or has significant problems. It's possible you'd find an earlier car but at that price I'd get a VERY thorough PPI and make sure it has all the standard updates like a LUK flywheel, a distributor vent kit, a retro-sealed or non-leaking engine, and good service records.
Also, look closely at those ads if you want a manual C2 coupe. A lot of cars in that range are either C4s or Tips. If the ad doesn't say whether or not it's a C4 or C2 look at the pictures and just ahead of the shifter you should see only one rotary **** which is the spoiler control. If you see 2 of them it's a C4. The 964 is a great platform for a track car. Good luck searching and let us know what you find.

CWay27

The Elise will bleed but not that much more. A porsche is a porsche but the lotus is also a pretty amazing car for the track and am also considering one in the near futur. It's light, already has the bare minimum, the engine has no secrets (Toyota 4cyl.) and it's newer.

All around car, I would go with the porsche but track only car, I would opt for the lotus.

Good luck

kusee pee

I think a 964 would be a more fun track car than an Elise if set up right. Noiser too which makes a lot of difference! How about an Exige instead? I've long been a fan of it and I think that would make a much better track car than an Elise. Just a thought...

Megatron-UK

Would depend on the track I would think; the 964 would certainly be more at home on higher speed circuits, but the Elise (or Exige, if you have the budget) would be my choice for virtually everything else.

kusee pee

Actually Megatron, on reflection you are right. The Elise would be best on track purely as the better car. I just think that I would get more of a buzz from the 964, probably just because it is a 964. Know what I mean? It's just a more special car. In a similar way, the Exige is much more special than an Elise. But much more expensive too!

Megatron-UK

I looked at picking a S1 (Rover VHPD K-Series) Exige up when I was looking at the 964 Turbo (along with 4.5 Cerbera's [I found the seats and pedals to be incredibly uncomfortable] and the Lotus Esprit V8 [cylinder liner problems terrified me!]) ... the Exige is certainly a hell of a car; but I couldn't bring myself to spend ~£30k on something as basic, especially when whatever was going to be bought was going to be used to commute about 50% of the time

dave morris

I tend to agree with Chris .... finding a 964 you'd want to own for $14,000 might well be a real challenge. Same goes for $18000. Maybe not impossible ... but you'll probably spend a long, long time searching.

The 964 is a fantastic track car. I highly recommend it.

What everyone always says is that if you really want a track car, buy one that is already set up as a track car. It's absolutely true. If possible, from somebody you know. Preferably a car you've seen driven on the track ... and is capable of decent lap times. If you can buy all the parts you'll need to put a good track car together at 50 cents on the dollar ... and buy the car itself for $20000, you'll still spend a lot more going that route than you will buying a well-prepared track car that is already done right. There are so many mistakes you can make along the way.

Good luck.

Tom W

You can get cheap 964's if you look. I paid low 20's for mine 3 years ago.

You should hear a chorus of voices in your ear telling you not to do this (like Dave). Buy a track car that is ready to go for your intended purpose (race or DE). While the initial purchase might be "cheap", it's the 5x the purchase price that you spend building a track car that can get pricey. (Heck, I've sworn for years I'm not dumb enough to do that ). Buy a car from someone changing classes/cars in POC.

RS 197

Go for it.

The 964 RS is the most enjoyable Porsche I have every driven. You should be able to duplicate the experience in a stripped out 964. They are a blast................ You won't like the Lotus if you are a Porsche guy. I never have any problem looping them at the track. They sound like bumble bees.

Stick with Porsche. You won't regret it.

creator8

I'm not necessarily looking for a pure track car. More a project that can be used for track and banged around the canyons--applying R Gruppe ideas to a later model car. I'm sure on paper the Elise is a great pure track car but I'm coming to the conclusion that I am "a Porsche guy". I'll take feel over lap times any day. As far as price, I've seen a few cars advertised in the mid teens that look like candidates.

PC2

You should have kept the long nose and added a 3.6 to it.

garrett376

I'm one of the dumb ones. I've purchased a street car and converted it into a race car 4 times now. For me, it's a lot cheaper because all labor is done by me. But money isn't everything - I trust myself to set up my car, not some one I don't know. My life isn't worth some guy who might forget to do something crucial! My latest street-car to race-car conversion was the cheapest ever - it cost me $100 over the price of the car! I already had the suspension, safety devices cage, fire system, brakes, tires from my other car - it just took time (3 months!!!)! It just cost me $100 for a new weld-in cage mounting kit.

In the end you get what you pay for. If you find a $18000 car - you may likely need a new engine, new suspension, transmission rebuild, new bushings, rust repair, alignment, etc. There's a pretty stark difference between what you get with a cheap car, and otherwise. If you don't do the work yourself, the cheap cars can really be prohibitive.

By the way, I've got a C4 with the Safety-devices cage feet already welded in for sale... and it's price is $26,000! Not a cheapo, but not expensive either! (selfish plug, I know!)

JasonAndreas

Sorry to highjack but were you able to federalize your RS?

RS 197

The RI has just about completed the conversion. the car will be fully DOT compliant and road legal when he is done.