Jadyn Clark Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 What are some of the best cars that can be competitive, and are easy to find for sale? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbogrill Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 Here are some of the winner on some big races: I would say BMW and Miata is the easy and fast button. However building a competitive car of any make is not easy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyKid Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 Boxster E30 NC/NB/NA Miata Ordered in the amount of work to make them competitive. Altimas can be a good platform as well. Ignore the Tuttle eclipses on the list above, that's six figures of learning to get them where they are and finish. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 7 hours ago, Jadyn Clark said: What are some of the best cars that can be competitive, and are easy to find for sale? Its track and skill dependent. Short answer: Purchase that Miata before someone else does! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiredBirds Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 9 hours ago, Jadyn Clark said: What are some of the best cars that can be competitive, and are easy to find for sale? Whatever you and your team are familiar with. With the way points are structured right now a Gen II GM F-body (Camaro/Firebird) would be my choice. 150 points, big gas tank, 350/4speed and butt loads of aftermarket support. Plus you can walk into any parts store and buy what you need. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 26 minutes ago, TiredBirds said: Whatever you and your team are familiar with. With the way points are structured right now a Gen II GM F-body (Camaro/Firebird) would be my choice. 150 points, big gas tank, 350/4speed and butt loads of aftermarket support. Plus you can walk into any parts store and buy what you need. Only problem with that is the cost of consumables to run up front is gonna be 2 x what a miata or e30 cost to run. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 20 minutes ago, wvumtnbkr said: Only problem with that is the cost of consumables to run up front is gonna be 2 x what a miata or e30 cost to run. Doing the math in my head this morning it made me shiver for a second. CMP is going to cost more then our "normal" in fuel/brakes/tires (new tires are 2x hankook along w/increased brake pad usage from better grip) @Jadyn Clark If you did not know, we run a v8 infiniti w/automatic, the auto gives us rule book points to work with @ real world cost of sacrificing brake life due to a lack of engine braking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiredBirds Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 31 minutes ago, wvumtnbkr said: Only problem with that is the cost of consumables to run up front is gonna be 2 x what a miata or e30 cost to run. how's that? you mean like gas? The biggest up front expense would be cost of the car...unless you want a rusted out hulk. Parts for an Fbody are going to be cheaper than an import, especially a BMW -signed BMW 540i owner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snorman Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 4 hours ago, LuckyKid said: Altimas can be a good platform as well. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 (edited) 23 minutes ago, TiredBirds said: how's that? you mean like gas? The biggest up front expense would be cost of the car...unless you want a rusted out hulk. Parts for an Fbody are going to be cheaper than an import, especially a BMW -signed BMW 540i owner. You are missing something, imagine putting in 12-16 gal of fuel in every 2 hrs as well as smaller, cheaper tires & brakes. This is 50% of our decision to build a class C V6 3.0L e30 Edited June 21, 2021 by Team Infiniti 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 1 hour ago, TiredBirds said: how's that? you mean like gas? The biggest up front expense would be cost of the car...unless you want a rusted out hulk. Parts for an Fbody are going to be cheaper than an import, especially a BMW -signed BMW 540i owner. Tires, brakes, fuel... Talking about consumables. Weight equals more cost for consumables. Miatas are able to get below 2k#. E30 can get close ish to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiredBirds Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 1 hour ago, Team Infiniti said: You are missing something, imagine putting in 12-16 gal of fuel in every 2 hrs as well as smaller, cheaper tires & brakes. This is 50% of our decision to build a class C V6 3.0L e30 15 gallons lasts us about an hour and a 1/2. The C5/6 brake upgrade was only about $800. New pads/rotors are as cheap as you want to find. Tires are not terrible. The Gen II has a 21 gallon tank. You could build a 9.5:1 350 and run 87/89. Those things I don't really count. There is a lot of room with the points on something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiredBirds Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 3 minutes ago, wvumtnbkr said: Tires, brakes, fuel... Talking about consumables. Weight equals more cost for consumables. Miatas are able to get below 2k#. E30 can get close ish to that. we get multiple weekends out of our tires and brakes (Gen III), the Gen II's are lighter and have bigger tank. Plus I wouldn't have to modify the floor to get the seat in...we'd have to drop a Miata floor 4-6" to make it legal. Again just stating what I would do if I was starting from scratch. Plus there are already a ton of Miata's and BMW's. You can swing a dead tailless cat in the paddock w/o hitting a dozen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 We ran a 78 Malibu in the past. We got it down around 2700#. We would go through a set of tires, a set of brake pads, and about 10 gph on track. The rx7 we race now does about 3 races on a set of tires, uses about 7 gph and brake pads last about 3 days of racing. If we call the brakes a wash, and just by 10 gph of fuel for heavier car versus 8 gph for lighter car, and say the tires last twice as long on the light car, T hats $400+ dollars per weekend cheaper for a light car. This assumes that the tire costs are similar (even though the heavier car most likely has more expensive tires). And also, that we are talking about something like the rs4, and not re71r. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 8 minutes ago, TiredBirds said: Plus there are already a ton of Miata's and BMW's. You can swing a dead tailless cat in the paddock w/o hitting a dozen. There's a reason for that! OP asked best cars that are competitive and easy to find for sale. E30, e36, miata, boxster. They are also all light and easy on consumables. Apparently, some other cars can be easy on consumables as well. However, those cars above are easy to get parts for (in the paddock). Have huge support, and are winning on a regular basis. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbogrill Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 Why is is E30 more competitive than E36/E46? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wink Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, turbogrill said: Why is is E30 more competitive than E36/E46? Points to play with, and weight would be my guess 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 3 minutes ago, Wink said: Points to play with, and weight would be my guess This. However, there are still some competitive and winning e36 from the last year or 2. @NigelStu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhr650 Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 A lot of E36’s were run out a few years ago when the rules were very unattractive for them. I believe with the latest ruleset you could build a very nice and competitive E36. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiredBirds Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 2 hours ago, wvumtnbkr said: There's a reason for that! OP asked best cars that are competitive and easy to find for sale. E30, e36, miata, boxster. They are also all light and easy on consumables. Apparently, some other cars can be easy on consumables as well. However, those cars above are easy to get parts for (in the paddock). Have huge support, and are winning on a regular basis. I'd hardly call a Boxster affordable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbogrill Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 21 minutes ago, mhr650 said: A lot of E36’s were run out a few years ago when the rules were very unattractive for them. I believe with the latest ruleset you could build a very nice and competitive E36. What would those differences in rules be? Free suspension non adjust suspension and brake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aleric Sanders Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 I've got an E36 that has been getting improvements between each race for the past 5 seasons (as the money has allowed). Started out slow, but have been catching up to the front. The VPI changing from 500pts to 475pts in 2019 on a '94 325is helped a bit. Took those points to add a front splitter and rear diffuser (diffuser now replaced with a wing) and some materials points to make the cooling system more robust. At the 2020 VIR24 our car ran a fastest lap that was within 2.5 seconds of the overall winner's time and faster than the 4th place car's fastest time. Would have been a decent race if there wasn't a mid-race clutch change. We have since made some changes to close the gap this year. The object is to stay reliable and to run consistently good times. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiredBirds Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 27 minutes ago, Aleric Sanders said: The object is to stay reliable and to run consistently good times. THAT 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, TiredBirds said: I'd hardly call a Boxster affordable. You can buy boxster with trashed interiors and crappy paint and stuff for 5k. Or, you could have last year. Haven't looked in a bit, but my sister just bought a real nice "S" for 12k. Also, nobody mentioned affordable. But, it's cheaper to build a newer nice car with aftermarket support than building something unique. Ask me how I know.... Edited June 21, 2021 by wvumtnbkr 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 9 hours ago, wvumtnbkr said: Only problem with that is the cost of consumables to run up front is gonna be 2 x what a miata or e30 cost to run. A set of decent tires, not the hot ones, will run about $1200 alone for a car the size/weight of a second gen Camaro. A set of hot tires, that one would need more than one set for a weekend, are around $16-1700. 22 gallons every 2 hours. (Less than 2 hours in most cases, so just ballpark 90-100 gallons for 8 hours) Things add up fast. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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