Okey-dokey ladies and gents, here we go! Round 11 is as follows…
#The Relatively Affordable Trackday Car Challenge!
###The Brief
Time to time travel to give or take 10 years into my future, and (hopefully) life will be going quite well for me. I have some money saved up and want to invest it in something a bit more fun than my daily driver and weekend runabout.
I want a trackday car. Something that drives brilliantly, looks good and can set excellent lap times.
And, I’m making my search nice and broad. I’m looking for literally anything from any year. I love cars from almost every decade, so I’m happy with anything, whether it be a chrome clad classic car or a modern tech-filled vehicle. The key really is how the thing handles, accelerates, brakes and drives - any extra equipment or styling is more of an added bonus in my eyes.
###The Requirements
[ul] • Drivability and sportiness. They are everything. I’d expect the sportiness to be higher than the drivability, but make sure the difference isn’t too great.
• Lap times are going to be one of the main points of comparison. However, I want to be able to use my car on different tracks, so don’t tune it to work on just one circuit. I’ll be using three mystery tracks in my reviews that will judge the cars on a variety of different corners, straights, elevations etc…
• Looks are important. They won’t be a deal breaker, but they matter to me.
• The age does not matter, I’ll accept any trim, any year etc… But, no carburetors. Injection only.
• Reliability matters. The higher, the better.
• This car does need to be at least somewhat usable on the road. Practicality won’t be important, but I need to be able to drive it too and from the track and it may have to do some long distance cruises. Therefore, comfort shouldn’t be terrible and the average economy shouldn’t be horrendous.
• Interior style and quality does not matter. I’d prefer the lower weight, and I only need 2 seats.
• 95 or 98 RON fuel please, as these are both readily available where I live.
• Engine noise must be at 50 or below, and a catalytic converter would be preferred. Otherwise, the road tax will be crazy!
• The safety must be at least 45. I will be fitting a roll cage once I’ve bought the car.
• I’m in the UK, therefore I’m using UK units: MPG, MPH, ft lb for torque and CC/L for displacement.
• Be creative but at least slightly reasonable. You want to put 56 different intakes on your car? Do it. You want a 5.0l inline 4? Try it out. Any body style, any engine, you name it. I want a car that’s going to be unique and interesting, as long as it doesn’t compromise how the car drives.
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Now for the really important bit: the cost. Gather round and listen.
My budget is ~ £19000, though I’m happy to go up to £20000 if the car is worth it. Automation Money Units will be considered the same as GBP. However, because I’ll probably be comparing older and newer cars together, and because these are likely to be quite rare and unique cars, I’m introducing (what I think is) an Automation first: Depreciation Calculations!
Use this spreadsheet to work out what your car is worth in 2016. The variables are prestige, age and cost when new.
Because these cars are not big sellers, you must have a minimum of 35% profits in the original sale year.
Depreciation calculations are calculated from 2026, as this will be the year in which I will be buying them.
###The Submission
Name your cars in the following format:
[ul]Model: CSR11 - Username
Trim: CSR11 - Car Name (company, model, trim etc…)
Engine: CSR11 - Username
Variant: CSR11 - Engine Name
[/ul]
Include as much detail as you can in your forum post. Pictures are of course nice, but I want to know about the car. You can’t beat a car that’s had clear passion and love put into it!
The deadline is Tuesday 26th at 21:00 GMT. Good luck!
Any problems, clarifications or complaints, just say! I’ll do my best to get back quickly to you. If possible, mention me in your post (i.e. @DeusExMackia) and I’ll be able to find it quicker!
Here’s a downloadable copy of my cost calculator: