ColorChange

I have been looking at getting a dedicated track car to reduce my speeds and increase my safety at the track. This is a DE car only, I do not intend to race it so I am not stuck to any spec series. I had it narrowed down to an Elise, 944, old 911, or a Miata.

I think I am going to go with the new '06 Miata. I don't want an old car for mechanical reliability/safety reasons. I think the Miata will be comparable to the Elise but will be much less expensive to buy and run.

I plan to gut it, add a hard top, full cage and knee bar, fire suppression, kill switches, fuel cell, full containment seats, window and side nets, and anything else I can think of for safety. The only thing performance wise I might do is some suspension and an exhaust.

I will probably wait until early winter to pull the trigger to try to negotiate the best deal. Any comments or suggestions?

Jack667

Color - didn't you have a similar thread going about 6 months ago? If so - maybe it would be best to re-open it. If not - sorry - I must be confused with someone else...

Greg Fishman

CC,
Look at my car!
http://mall.rennlist.com/scripts/fea...uery=retrieval

Mike Buck

Good plan CC. Just leave off the suspension and exhaust mods. This for DE remember

ltc

You're correct Jack.

This current thread is the 3rd time for Color.....:

8/29/04:
https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-and-drivers-education-forum/155421-cc-dedicated-track-car.html

6/14/05:
https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-and-drivers-education-forum/209699-elise-dedicated-track-car.html

ColorChange

Jack and ltc,

I could have revived the old threads but they focused on different cars or conditions. Is this forum uncouth to start a new thread of an ongoing topic?

Greg: Your car is great, but I am trying to lower my speeds, not increase them.

M758

Tim,
The Elise is nice, but will cost more to aquire and maintence costs may be high due to less common parts.

944 and 911 - Nice because they are cheap to aquire and are Porsches. That is nice since at PCA events you will find plenty of others who know alot about these cars and how to drive them. Their downside is that thay are old.

Miata - Meduim aquisistion costs, parts cost should be low since it is new and parts should be common. Down side is they can feel small inside have least hp of all.

Really you will be pretty good getting any of these cars. My preference is for the Porsche's since they come with the "Porsche Support Community".

However get one and run it. I believe you will learn alot with it.

MJR911

CC, Mazdaspeed is going to make a 2006 Miata pro car... basically a 2006 miata with all the safety stuff and stock motor. Would be a DE workhorse! Search specmiata.com for details.

Greg,
I saw your car in the classifieds, looks like a VERY well prep'd and realistically priced 993. What are your future racing plans?

Greg Fishman

Thanks, it is a good car and I haven't had a DNF in 4 years of PCA events.
My plans are to buy a Spec Racer Ford and race in SCCA. Lots of competition and relatively cheap to run, etc. Also lots of shops that can do the arrive and drive thing, towing long distances and prepping the car is getting frankly getting a bit old. I want to spend my time racing not getting ready to race. I would also like to do some Grand AM Cup racing but that is probably out of my budget.

Earlierapex

CC,
Have you driven a miata at the track? They are a lot of fun because they handle so well, but MAN are they slow. If you want to slow down and be safer, then just use street tires. They are more fun anyway (slide around a lot more).

How about a Boxster? Just fast enough to be more fun, fantastic handling and a Porsche?

-dc

Adam Richman

Tim, if its purely a safety thing, its going to come down to how good of a fabricator you have and how tall you are. My neighbor has an Elise and whereas its a great looking and from all accounts, driving car, I just don't know what kind of personal improvements you will make (in the guise of comparative lap times).

The Miata is just such a good car all around and terribly fun to drive. I am 5'7" and fit in a Spec Miata fine but if I were in that 6'+ range, I think I'd be spending a lot of time seeing how to position myself safely inside the cage. I think its less of an issue w/ a real good cage builder, seat mount fabricator but off the shelf safety parts and this car don't seem to suit a taller person well. If you did go w/ a pre 97 1.8L, its going to have a lot of upside as far as where you could Time Trial it (or race it later if you decided) or just sell it. But I think selling a race car that hasn't raced is always a bit tough.

The real nice part of it is that you will probably never do an open track day without another Miata (Spec Miata or CSP or IT) present. Therefore, you will never have an issue of getting comparative lap times to gauge your performance. Also, the cat is relatively out of the bag here on set up - there should be such a well established starting point that you would have to really look hard to mess up where to start with this car.

Now if I had the cash, Greg's car looks like it'd be a whole lotta fun!!! But alas, its not going to be slower LOL

ColorChange

Greg's car is great. It throttle stears like a dream and was set up fabulously for Putnam. If I weren't trying to slow down, I would do it.

mrbill_fl

I'd look in the classifieds for a spec miata with a current log book.... things do change, and you may want to go race... its a really fun class. you can spend a lot or a little, 5k to 25k range, But you know it will be safe with the log book. (never assume a cage will pass tech), and better resale price and market.. and if you race it, mazdamotorsports give you great discounts on parts.

sure there slow, just dont use the brakes!

If you want to go faster, I'd get an older 911. there almost a cheap to run, and way cooler!

my .02

oh, on the Elise....great car, very un-forgiving.. I had a student lift and crash out... very fragile too. more like a open wheeled car.

JackOlsen

Modifying an off-the-showroom car has a lot of downsides (mostly dollars) and very few upsides.

What are your goals, CC? If improving your driving in a safe track car is what it's all about, then I don't see how you benefit from engineering a one-off racer out of an off-the-shelf model.

This seems like a no-brainer, to me. Buy a turn-key Spec Miata from an established Spec Miata builder. You'll know exactly what you're getting. The r&d will already be done -- especially with regard to safety. You won't waste a year getting the suspension/drivetrain/etc dialed in. You'll be able to get a meaningful metric on your driving skills by simple comparison to the lap times (and data) of thousands of other Spec Miata drivers out there. Building a better-than-spec version of the same car will only produce more laughably useless data explosions like your recent Turbo-versus-944 post.

The Spec Miata is a fun car to drive and a cheap one to maintain and repair. And so long as you keep it in spec, you'll be able to sell it without an unreasonable loss when you move on to something else.

My .02.

onasled

.... experience some REAL fun and get a Mini Cooper S!

Seriously though, if you try one you'll have a hard time walking away from it.