Trivia Question: Ideal Track/Street car?

[paultg]

For a daily driver with incredible track potential? I'd say that Chrispy's Nissan 370Z is quite freakin' awesome, and I'm not even much of a fan of Nissans.

Great, fun, capable car...in the right hands, of course.

To expand on that you can get a nice used G35 or G37 as well, with 2 or 4 doors (might be more street friendly). If budget is a concern I'd stick with the lighter cars like Joe suggested, Honda Civic, Acura RSX, etc..

[Chrispy]

An all around car that does everything is always a compromise. Despite the awesomeness of the 370Z if I needed a 4-door car that can dominate a New England Winter and still show well on the race track I would probably be looking at a Evo or STi. The Evo comes with a few more track friendly bells and whistles like seats. Overall I still think you are probably better off with 2 cars if it eliminates the need to compromise both.

[breakaway500]

"An all around car that does everything is always a compromise." Well said.. Same is true about tires..and motorcycles. Two cars? How..limiting!

[eastcoastbumps]

I've had a lot of Subarus, and I have to say, they're not the ideal track/street car. Good compromise, but there are better options. After extensive tracking the 2.5 turbo motors will stretch head bolts. At that point the motor has to come out, heads resurfaced, new gaskets and new bolts (or ARP studs). No fun. Anything with a 5x100 bolt pattern will eat front wheel bearings with sticky tires. That's all Subarus with the exception of the '05+ STi's. If its just an occasional track day here and there, the motor and bearings will last until its time to trade it in. Right Ryan?

The great thing about Subarus is that they're like Legos. Nearly every part interchanges between nearly every car. Any motor will bolt to any transmission. A little work and you can get any shock/strut from a '93 to a '07 to fit any other chassis. The ideal Subaru is a stock '05+ JDM STi with the 2 liter. For what its worth, swapping in a JDM 2.0 STi turbo motor into a regular WRX 2.0 is nearly plug and play.

The EVO X makes a great compromise as well. The earlier ones have a very 'econo-box' feel to them, but are fast and damn near bullet proof.

If you want an all wheel drive sedan, and don't wear a flat bill, a V8 S4 or BMW 335xi would be a great car as well. No experience with them, though.

In my eyes, the Porsche 911 has always been top dog when it comes to the ideal track/street car, with the exception of the base 996. They're too unreliable. Get something air cooled, or turbo charged, or with an unusually long name and you'll be fine. The more letters and numbers in the name, the faster they go. The only downfall is that they're expensive. Want AWD? You can get that too!

The S2000 has been great for me and Paddy. You'd be surprised how well a taller guy fits. I'm 6'0 and have no trouble. If our cage was designed slightly different (it takes up some room behind the seat), someone over 6'3" would fit fine as well. The torqueless wonder might be misery on the street if you're used to something with more gusto. And you can get a hard top. Come and see me at the next event if you want a test fit.

[chaos4NH]

Mazdaspeed 3 (pre ugliness 2010!!!!) The Grocery Getter just turned over 93,000 miles after a business trip to NJ. Other than a couple of things caused directly from my boo boos, it has been gas, break pads and rotors. I calculate around 6,000 track miles to date. Upgrade the rear bar and add a front one, Mazdaspeed coilovers (manufactured by KW), and understeer becomes very very minimal. Very supportive front seats and huge hauling capacity! Lots of groceries (or tires, tools, hay bales, grain bags, saddles, beer, etc).

[TroyV]

Having driven Pete and Paddy's S2K on track, I can vouch for how good it is.

Even though they are long in the tooth, I still think the E36 is the probably the best all around DD/track car. The support is extensive, and their set up is well documented, as are the trouble spots. With a little homework and maintenance, you can have one, even with high miles, running very respectable lap times anywhere.

My personal fav would be a E36 M3 sedan in Avus blue. I'm a sucker for the blue ones

My 328is was purchased for 2000 dollars to be a cheap track beater and I was planning to turn it into one before I bought the Miata. I have had it three years, and turned 240k miles on it last week. For the sum of cash to refresh the brake system, some bushings, pads, tires, and perhaps some new cooling bits, I have no doubt it could be a good SSB car. The car dyno'd at 179hp/190lb/ft on a dynojet last year.....damn good for a car with this many miles rated at 190/206 from the factory.

[savage217]

E36 m3 well maintained is awesome. I was considering buying an evo and selling my M3 many time because they are so firggen fast. 380whp relatively easily means you can suck and still put up respectable times. I guess I don't really want to track one with that said

If price is no option Porsche, Corvette or GTR for sure. The GTR drives itself

[Chrispy]

The GT-R was only 0.4 seconds slower than the 370Z and I think he was on the tires that he drove to the event on. I think the problem with the GT-R is that you are restricted to 19" wheels? I've heard of people squeezing on 18" wheels but probably not if they have the fancy carbon ceramic brakes.

[savage217]

^^

That car is just amazing. I think if Mike Geldart was at this event he would have been close to FTD. He drives the shit out of that GTR

[paultg]

I thought of another car: 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track or 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T Track
I really like this car but haven't driven one yet. I would think it could be competitive in whatever COM class it fits into, especially if it remained in a stock class with race rubber.

[nateh]

Here are the criteria I would propose:

- Older, so that the electronics are simple. In particular:
-- Straightforward to defeat the ABS.
-- No stability control.
- Easy availability of aftermarket goodies so that later modification to ST or SP is relatively inexpensive.
- Inexpensive enough overall so that if you write it off you aren't out of the sport.
- Not particularly powerful. (Believe it or not, it's more fun that way.)

Zipzat4's list is great. To this I would add older BMWs and, of course, Miatas.

[Grippy]

I second the MINI Cooper S, as a nice all around fun car that should be pretty good on track. Great in snow with snow tires, and gets great mileage. We had one for nine years and just replaced it with another.

If you need a bit more room, how about a Legacy GT?

It is hard to argue how effective an E36 can be.

I'm kind of surprized we haven't seen a Solstice or Sky, I would think they are pretty affordable now.

[cuda6666]

I was considering buying an evo (because) you can suck and still put up respectable times.

Hey, I resemble that remark! Oh, you said "Evo" not "Subaru."