A 987 Cayman S (06-08) seems to have sweet spot in terms of price (~25k) and tire / wheel options. Little more HP that S2k, longer gearing and if well taken care of, the IMS bearing issue may be a low % issue.

 

Sweet cars not doubt problem is when things go wrong, i.e. known oil starvation problems with sticky tires, IMS, power steering system overheating. Replacing an engine cost as much as the car. Everything with Porsche on it has a cost so if you're talking performance per dollar I'd personally rule these out even though I'd love to own one.

 

This ^^^^ right here is what I would like to avoid. I did the buy the nice new car, do one track event. get hooked sink a ton of money into now the car is not practical on the street. What made it worse was the motor went around 80k. I had over 50k+ into the car sold for 10k. I tried to avoid that bought two slower mostly stock cars (eg6/gsr, stock wrx wagon). The track days where no fun with those cars. I just wasted money and day off of work.

Seems like nice, reliable & still fun cars I can take to the track once in a while is miata, s2000, c5 z06. and maybe some of the other newer corvettes. Not so sure on that, hearing conflicting reports on c6 & c7.

I have not heard anybody on here regret their s2000 for going to track. Just making other suggestions. Which is really nice to hear.

I am a slow mid pack guy that will probably only do two events a year. I will probably buy another set of rims for hoosier tires and buy brake upgraded if needed and suspensions modifications if needed.

 

You're probably slow... J/K, thought might not be total inaccurate.

It's all anecdotal evidence until it isn't... but there's some truth to the anecdotal reports, otherwise, they wouldn't be reported.

S2000 - weak diff and crappy brakes. I had no problems with the brakes for a year of tracking, until i got faster, at which point I was cracking rotors every 3-4 track days.

Evo - weak transmission

STI - weak cooling and likes to eat ringlands for lunch. I had one, and it took about 3 track days before I had cooling issues - decided that the weak ringlands was probably true too (sold it and didn't want to find out)

GTR - cooling issues / transmission

987 cayman and 996 carreras - oiling issues and IMS

RX7/RX8 - apex seal issues

corvettes - cooling issues (including the C5 - needs a transmission and diff cooler). C6-z06 (LS7 worn valve guides - leading to dropped valves)

BM-trouble-U-s - VANOS, rod-bearings, subframe, and OEM cooling issues

As far as the C7, the fact that multiple mags have been able to put it into limp mode during their track testing doesn't seem like a one off situation. I don't own one, but I've talked to two people who at the track who had problems with theirs - one guy moved on to an Ariel Atom. It started off with cooling issues. He said that GM "engineered" the car to allow it to run oil temps up to 300F+ before going to limp mode - in no situation is running sustained oil temps of over 280F+ good for longevity of parts (my research seems to support people regularly logging temps above 280F+). He upgraded cooling which led to other things breaking, which led to more upgrading, followed by other failures - eventual melted a piston.

As far as you "flogging" it, I don't know, unless you have comparison data to other people in C7-z06 running it to the absolute limit. You might think you're fast, but it could be that the car itself is fast and while you might pass the majority of people on an HPDE day, you're actually not pushing the limits much... Again, it's anecdotal evidence, but there's always some degree of truth to what you read out there. Also, at no point do I consider "street" flogging to be any sort of credible measuring claim for the reliability of a track vehicle. You say you've been tracking it for 4 years, but how many track days have you logged in your C7? Do you go to the track 2-3x a year or 10x a year? How long are the sessions you run, and do you run full sessions and in what ambient temps? And do you run all of the sessions, or only the morning sessions and take off by 1pm right when it really starts getting hot (something i see a lot of 'vette owners do)?

Also, this https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2...imp-mode.shtml
When was the last time you heard about non-issues turning into a law suit?

How about this one with Porsche?
http://eisenimssettlement.com/ - overblown enough to turn into a class action law suit also...

Everyone defends the chassis/platform that they're in until they aren't in it anymore...

Everyone likes to say that what you read about is "overblown". But, the fact is that the problems do occur, otherwise you wouldn't hear about it. All these issues that I specifically named for each of the cars/brands, why don't you hear about them across brands/cars? They all have the same parts (aside from apex seals and IMS). You don't hear about Evos having ringland issues or STIs having transmission issues, why not? They're essentially the same car. Go to the STI forums, and everyone says that ringland issues are overblown by a very small minority that is extremely vocal (only unhappy people talk, the happy ones are quiet they like to say). They'll say all sorts of things like bad tune, or you need an AOS (air-oil-separator) so you don't get oil in the intake can cause detonation, etc. etc.

The S2000 isn't the best car, but if you want to track regularly and not go broke doing it, it's one of the best bang for buck cars that balances reliability, cost of consumables, entry price, performance, and enjoyment factor very well. The BRZ/FRS fuel injector seal problem seems to be resolved. ND-MX5s seem to have transmission issues - not sure if that has been remedied yet. NB/NC MX5s have their kinks and bugs all sorted out, and they're super cheap where dumping $10K in mods into the car still gets you a track car for less than $25k.

To the OP, how fast do you want to go, and how much do you want to spend to do it? For the S2000, you could do ~10 track days a year on a budget of ~$4-5k, which will cover brake pads, tires, fluids, gas, tires (RC-1 or NT-01s) and track fees (assuming $200/day fees).

 

A year ago I was considering a used Spec Miata that had run top 5 in two SCCA Majors that year (each with over 50 entries). Made by a top Spec Miata builder, it was under $25k.

A big issue is whether this also a daily driver. A fast and safe track car is not a street car. The suspension will be too low, too stiff, with a cage that is unsafe without a helmet and with a containment seat that is both unsafe without a helmet and limits head rotation needed on the street.

The Ariel Atom is (a somewhat expensive) track car. I'd go back to my recommendation of a Spec Racer Ford where version 2 is under $15k and light enough to be towed behind a small SUV. The SRF3 has better weight distribution and the engine is less susceptible to damaged valves from over-revving. It is the most popular road racing class in the US maintaining resale value while also providing the option of getting an SCCA license and going w2w road racing.

Another would be a perimeter frame super late model stock car (which could run NASA ST or with the right parts SCCA GTA, a regional only class) which would also be under $25k, even cheaper to maintain, very fast (2850#, 500hp), and the safest of the any of the alternatives. However, it would need a bigger trailer and probably a full-size SUV or pickup to tow it. Sidebar: I have an offset super late model in the garage and used a 26ft enclosed trailer. Around 9000# loaded with the car, tires, spares, tools, compressor, generator. The size of the car and the trailer just take up a lot more space.

This is an interesting Road and Track OpEd on HPDE track days with a historical perspective: On the Brink: The unacceptable danger of modern track-day coaching https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...y-instruction/ via @RoadandTrack

 

 

I saw an Ariel Atom style exoskeleton available for Miata drivetrains which seems like it'd be ideal for a dedicated track car.

 

Interesting discussion

I thought Spec Miata was more popular than SRF? I dont keep up with SCCA any more.

A couple of thoughts:

I will second that the Porsche's built from 1997-2008 (M96 and M97) engines were not designed by Porsche for track duty AT ALL. They seem to have oil starve and oil temp issues that are not easily solved. It is pretty hard to add an oil cooler to the cars because of packaging and their does not appear to be a satisfactory solution to oil control (slosh) at least for me. LN Engineering (one of the recognized experts with these cars) says on their web site not to track them with anything less than a 250 TW tire. I think these cars are fine (particularly the M97, 2005 and later) for street use but they dont appear to hold up at the track with out lots of $$ and budget.

I think the C5s suffer from oil starve issues if you start running R Comps, get the suspension set up reasonably and learn to drive aggressively (brake late and hard, get the car set up neutral so you are comfortable cornering with sustained high gs. I have read that the LS6 is better in this regard - not sure what years that version came with? All of the fixes for the C5 seem to be well documented and relatively affordable (oil coolers, water coolers, bushings, brakes) but its a long list.

I remember reading about the E46 M3s when they first came out. They had some kind of semi dry sump multi pump system that helped keep oil starve issues at bay? Lots of parts need to be thrown at an e46 m to live with har dtrack use but that might be an option at $25K?

 

Spec Miata and SRF are close in car counts. However, the SRFs are a bit more equal since the builder has very few options. There is a bit of variation in the Miatas, some the result of budget variation and some from trying to get the last edge. The SRFs are tightly controlled. The Miatas have a NASA class, the SRFs don't. And the Miatas have a roof, helpful when it rains. When the dust settles they both cost about the same to run. The SRFs are easier to repair after a crash and easier to work on.

The Spec Corvettes seem to fall in a similar price range as a Spec Miata, with 1000# more weight, 245 more hp, and 50% wider tires. They recommend the LS6 pan which has a baffle or adding these trap door baffles: Trap-Door Baffling Inserts for Chevrolet C5 Corvette Oil Pan EGM-202 If it develops into a class it could be interesting, However, an experienced Corvette race car builder expects the actual cost to build one would be closer to $40k-$50k. If the class doesn't develop, the smaller market for the cars in the classes the Corvette can run in will attenuate resale value.

Crash damage with a unibody chassis often means the chassis itself needs to be replaced, often running 40%-60% the cost of a new car. I was told that the Corvette with a well-built cage will limit the damage a bit like a super late model stock car. It will be significantly more expensive than the late model stock car to repair.

 

I know a few guys that track regularly with their C7's without issue. Keep in mind these aren't Z06's which the magazines did have trouble with the cooling on.