Race car - where to start with prep?

[turboman808]

Yeah if your just looking to test the waters then rallycross and autox are great places to start. Go have fun and learn as much as you can from others.

I prefer NASA to SCCA events. If you can find BMW or PCA events in your area they are good as well.

For short events like autox and rally you need to focus more on driver, tires and suspension. Your not gonna see much if any gains by playing with the motor. Just gonna bump you up a class.


When I first started in autox I was using a turbo honda civic. 350whp. I really sucked. I had a toyota celica at the time for daily use. 100hp on a good day with a automatic transmission. Went back and learned to drive the toyota celica first. Once I was fast in the celica I then went back to the civic but turned the boost down to maybe 225whp and by the years end I was winning SCCA SM class.

 

[Kai]

Originally Posted by j

Actually if I wanted to build a road race car my remaining 510 might be a better starting point... all the parts are cheaper and the car is much lighter to begin with, so it could conceivably compete pretty well in a modified class. Only problem would be the relative unavailability of body panels and some suspension parts.

If you want a car for road racing, I would seriously consider a Porsche 944. They can be bought for a reasonable price, they handle well, and there is a very active spec 944 class.

 

[otc]

I've always loved that model line BMW...not racing related quite so much but:

How much would it cost to buy and maintain an 80's 3 series as a daily driver (more like errands/weekend fun since I bike/train to work)? I'm comfortable learning/doing most of the work it would need and I would like to add a few preformance parts in the handling area if it needs it (and maybe intake/exhaust but probably nothing else on the engine side). Maybe try casual autox with the same car.