10-13-2017, 01:56 PM
The dilemma is real though, if you want to race in college, what do you do? Assuming you don't want to risk your daily and want to get a cheap platform to learn on, your options are pretty limited and people will still steer you in a lot of the same directions: NA or NB miata, E30's, E36's, E46'S. Nothing wrong with any of those really, but they are getting old now, the first two pushing 30 years in some MY. If it was 2008 and I asked you what would be a good, cheap race car to learn on and you told me that something from 1978 would be a decent option, I'd try to find your orderly to escort you back to your room and give you a pill. But, on the other hand, "cheap" racers don't exist like they used to. Options sort of dried up in the 90's and 00's save for a handful of cars and most of those are collectors cars now (looking at you Supra and FD RX7). I still blame SUV's and Fast and Furious for the decline of the sports car in the 2000's.
A lot of you raceguys picked a platform and invested in it for like what, 5-10 years? Jake, you built your miata over several years and DJ, you've been racing your E36 for as long as I've known you. Both cars were/are pushing 30 years old, right? I just can't think of too many other newer platforms that would offer that sort of longevity that can be picked up on a college student's budget anymore. When I was in school it was everything I could do to afford my '98 M3 as those seemed to be quickly appreciating in value and I had to sell it once I realized that I never had the budget for the parts to drive it on the street let alone track it (I also had 0 mechanical skill on a car that needed an owner with at least LvL 1 wrenching
) S2000's are way too expensive now, Mustangs need some serious suspension work to be decent, and besides the C5 corvette (which is not a good first race car), good luck finding anything from GM that would be "fun". Of course you have Miatas or you can do what Ryan did and turn your economy 4 door into a track car (which is still one of my favorite builds on here because of the ingenuity), but the options still seem a lot more limited. If you don't want a NB Miata or an E46 for a first track/daily car, you'll be hard pressed to find any other racers on a college budget.
So what does that leave you? A perfect first track/daily used to need be 4 things: Reliable, sub $5000, have good road manners, and have a wide availability of parts. Miata's and E36's fit the bill when I was in school but for current students, I'm not sure if either would be good options anymore. E46's may not be bad, but I think the 330ci is still pretty expensive (for a college budget) for a decent example if I remember correctly. That really only leaves you with the Miata, which is usually what happens in these discussions. In reality, I'm not the most qualified to answer, this thread just brought back memories of my struggle with trying to go full-ass on racing in school only to realize that it's not really viable until you get a big enough budget.
TL
R Find a Miata and autocross.
A lot of you raceguys picked a platform and invested in it for like what, 5-10 years? Jake, you built your miata over several years and DJ, you've been racing your E36 for as long as I've known you. Both cars were/are pushing 30 years old, right? I just can't think of too many other newer platforms that would offer that sort of longevity that can be picked up on a college student's budget anymore. When I was in school it was everything I could do to afford my '98 M3 as those seemed to be quickly appreciating in value and I had to sell it once I realized that I never had the budget for the parts to drive it on the street let alone track it (I also had 0 mechanical skill on a car that needed an owner with at least LvL 1 wrenching
) S2000's are way too expensive now, Mustangs need some serious suspension work to be decent, and besides the C5 corvette (which is not a good first race car), good luck finding anything from GM that would be "fun". Of course you have Miatas or you can do what Ryan did and turn your economy 4 door into a track car (which is still one of my favorite builds on here because of the ingenuity), but the options still seem a lot more limited. If you don't want a NB Miata or an E46 for a first track/daily car, you'll be hard pressed to find any other racers on a college budget. So what does that leave you? A perfect first track/daily used to need be 4 things: Reliable, sub $5000, have good road manners, and have a wide availability of parts. Miata's and E36's fit the bill when I was in school but for current students, I'm not sure if either would be good options anymore. E46's may not be bad, but I think the 330ci is still pretty expensive (for a college budget) for a decent example if I remember correctly. That really only leaves you with the Miata, which is usually what happens in these discussions. In reality, I'm not the most qualified to answer, this thread just brought back memories of my struggle with trying to go full-ass on racing in school only to realize that it's not really viable until you get a big enough budget.
TL
R Find a Miata and autocross.
2008 4Runner
1974 CB360
2015 FJ09
1974 CB360
2015 FJ09