mooty

unicorn above is not trouble free, my pink unicorn's horn broke off and became a horse

987.2 is quite reliable.

FRZ not so much

my s2000 was great and my frinds has been supeorcharged for years and he is realy really fast. no prob over 100 track days, his not mine.

my e36M3 with etra cooling and all, nope. bmw hates me.

vantage

How was your Exige? You have to fix some things like oil / fuel starvation and toe link, but after that, pretty reliable, but depends how you modded it, particularly with respect to power.

MaxLTV

E90 M3 is interesting - I had 60+ days on mine and sold it for pretty good money without major repairs. So that kind of makes it reliable.

But I had 2 brake failures of stock brakes before I splurged on a BBK (I'm cheap, especially when it comes to mortal danger), and after that, it pulled red line any day the weather was above 45F. I was running one cool down lap per 2-3 10/10s hot laps on most tracks, running 50% water mix and cleaning radiators regularly. So I would not call it a satisfying track car, even though nothing major broke.

On the other hand, 991 GT3 literally never made me cut a track day short in over 3 years of active driving (save for 3 months for stop drive & engine replacement). I once almost blacked out driving it at 117F but the car was still doing well - sub 2 minutes around T-hill with me seeing double. Still on the second engine and looking forward to the third one. As long as the wait is not months, I'm happy about a free engine refresh.

So can I call it reliable? Probably not, given the engine replacement. But on the other hand, I've never had to compromise my track enjoyment even a single time or even a little bit - nothing ever broke (on its own), overheated or went into reduced performance mode. It's more than I ever expected from an unmodified car.

The only issue that's nagging me is ceramic pucks in brakes cracking. Not to the point of replacing then yet, but still, not cool.

Terry L

To maximize reliability, (1) buy the newest car you can, (2) do not modify it it in any way, (3) do not run slicks or R comp tires and (4) drive carefully and do not put it into the wall. Of course, what fun is that?
I don't think there's much question that Porsches are the most robust of the high end performance cars, and don't generally require mods for reasonable track work,but you pay a premium.

GrantG

An early 911 (1965-1989) that has been well loved is surprisingly robust and reliable at the track (not to mention much more engaging to drive than a new front-engine Japanese choice).

In this case a modified example can be preferable if the mods address things like safety (cage, harness, suspension, fuel cell) and longevity primarily.

Shockwave

You really can't go wrong with the S2000. Cheap thrills. Consumables are nothing compared to tracking the GT4 and the risks are also substantially lower.

12487175_10101590122929807_8537314475325725622_o by blueprint012, on Flickr

fishing

IMO you can't beat Formula Mazda for fun, cost, and speed. It has no trade offs for the street. There are no drivers aides. Gearbox is a dogring sequential H pattern. It has easily adjustable aero, suspension, gearing. It runs on 87 octane. Weighs 1150 pounds, has 185 HP, and something like 1200 pounds of downforce. Pulls 2gs. Championship drivers will get 2:14s at COTA (despite about 125mph peak speed there), MSR 1.7 CCW 1:12s, MSR 3.1 2:12s, Hallett CCW 1:13s. Very little heating issues except for the hottest 30 minute run sessions of the summer. Even then, one or 2 cooling laps for the session solves the problem. Brake pads $175 for all 4 corners once a year. Goodyear slicks $1000 for all 4 corners. The motors are almost bullet proof. Biggest wear items are gears, but they are usually only about $300 per gear to replace. Bondurant offers a slightly detuned, higher geared FM in some of its race programs. It's not a street legal sports car. That's its biggest issue--finding run groups. I will only drive it in groups with other open wheel or low light weight cars due to safety. Professional maintenance in some areas may be hard to find.

I am fortunate as they are headquartered at my home track. I use a turn key service and just arrive and drive as time is too valuable for me, especially living almost 2.5 hours from the track. Would love to see more people with them. $16,000-$22,000 will get you a car. Mine is a 1991--serial number 002.

Here is a video of me at MSR running a few 1:14s. I am not the fastest but can hold my own respectfully. The GoPro wasn't mounted well to see hands, steering, and shifting but it will give you a sense of the cornering speeds.

texasviany

^ Nice video

In the same vein I rented this:
I am renting a faster version later this year. I never drove aero before and with a car like this, I can clearly see how I suck on the track.

I hit 2:17 at COTA with traffic but since I was renting, I left a lot of buffer.

fishing

Thanks Karl. That LMP Wolf Experience looks awesome!

dizzy8085

This thing has been very reliable on track. I'm glad to hear all of the praise over the e90/e92 m3's. I'm thinking that I'll scoop up a used one for my next daily. Hell of a value right now. 8300 rpm v8 with itb's for 25-35k. Good buy IMO.

texasviany

I had 3 of those for street cars. Awesome car...one of the best that I ever had...however for the track, it needs a lot of money....especially the brakes, which are worthless.

Vince964T

I have a bit of an outlier:

My 964Turbo 3,3. Regular maintenance, 13 years of track days, I would guess 150dayss on the track.

Left me stranded 1x with warm up regulator failure, otherwise appart from a turbo hoose that blew just before a race and would not sit, it has been free of issues both engine and gearbox. Leak down/comp test was perfect last I checked. It's fast to, with small mods it's 997GT3 territory easy.

It would probably keep going just as strong if I had not made huge mods last 3 years !!

Overall it looks like the 964 NA is also very reliable as a track car.

THEY DONT MAKE THEM LIKE THEY USED TO

monochrom3

+1 for the e46 M3. I know there are vanos issues but I never had any. 20+ days with no issues at all. Wish I kept it

Had a jinxed e36 M3 but replaced it with another one last year and no issues beyond normal old-car replacement needs.

Now moving to swap an s54 into the e36 to get the best of both cars. Probably tempting the track gods but should be a super fun car. Okay I'm off on a tangent

Spyerx

Hahahah 10 days, 30 days....
I know of 996 and 997 GT3 with 100s of days and no major mechanical failures. Just maintenance.

Formula Mazda are awesome. But so small. Been on track with them and it's very hard to see them come up on you.

Terry L

Agreed. My 2007 GT3 accumulated around 100 track days over 5 or 6 years and the only major failure was 2nd gear synchro. Of course, not counting numerous and expensive upgrades!