If your friend has $35,000 to spend on the purchase of a car the NSX would be sweet because he could make it like this http://speedhunters.com/archive/2011...danji-nsx.aspx but that is going to cost a lot more.
RX-7 would be sick, fc or fd. I have not driven many cars, but the previous post about a spec miata sounds like an awesome way to go.

 

None of the above.

Lotus Elise (Exige might just make the $35k cut)

C5 Z06

Cayman S

Second Gen Viper

Any of those would be a better choice than the ones mentioned.

 

Buy a miata and mod the crap out of it!

 

I am going to ignore the cars that you posted...

Instead, I will say if you have $35k to spend, that is $30k+ to spend modding a Miata, or $15k to spend modding a C5 Z06. I would find it very hard to think of much that would keep up with either of those.

And yes, the Flyin Miata car is pretty cool. 949 racing makes some pretty fast miata's too. And guess who's wheels Flyin Miata used...

Plus for tires you are going to be using either 225/45r15 Nitto NT-01's ($160 each) or if you are going for the gold, 275/35r15 Hoosier r6/a6 (~$250 each) I'd like to see you find race tires for anything else in that price range. I would highly recommend that you check out some of the Miata forums, and check out some of the cars running in the Miata Challenge, or Super Maita Challenge. Those cars would blow your mind. 400+hp supercharged/turbocharged beasts that easily run 10-20 seconds below spec miata times at most bigger tracks.

 

how could he mention an sti and not an evo? I would go with the rx7 or supra over those. But I would DEF. go with an s2k or miata. I want a miata

 

Used Cayman S.
You can get one for sub $35,000 or a Porsche Boxster is even cheaper.

 

Here is how I will reply
He needs to get RWD, NOT AWD
If he wants to learn car control, he should just step up to RWD

 

Depending on where he'd be tracking, he might have to deal with some hassle for an aftermarket roll bar with a Boxster. Wouldn't have to worry about that with a Cayman. I'd go for the Cayman for that reason alone, not to mention nice things like chassis rigidity and weight.