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ok, so thoughts of getting a "one car fits all" have fallen through.

having a bit of a track day bug, but also needing something practical, my current 5 series doesn't hit the spot.  an RS4 is too pricey, so now i'm thinking of keeping the 5 series and getting a track day fun car.

thing is i am on a budget, but scouring the ads for track cars notes that modest caterhams can be less than £10k.  thing is that since most of these 2nd hand cars are 5+ years old at least, they seem to hold their value amazingly well.  ie. next to zero depreciation!  so by using finance, i should be able to get away with just interest cost.

anyone have any advice on buying a caterham?  there are loads of different models out there.  what are running costs like?  also what else apart from a caterham?  westfields look a bit more "kit car" but are cheaper.  i'd prefer something i can drive on the roads as well, saves trailers and what not.  biggest downside is i don't have a garage :(

 

Kee, excellent thread.  Gets the old grey matter working this one.

The world is your oyster with regards to this one, really it is going to be down your personal preference.  Looking at your choice so far of a Caterham, I guess you want something quite raw and interactive. 

The Caterham will always be a good choice, be it in a value for money sense or from a driving experience sense, and this is why they remain so popular.  Depending on which one you go for they are cheap to run - unless you decide to mod them in which case the Sky's the limit - and easy to work on.

A couple of years ago I bought a Westfield, working on exactly the same basis as you - and hated the thing!   I never gelled with the car, and to this day I can't quite put my finger on why.  Just one of those things I guess, but it is worth considering in your case.

Other options for you are either to buy a ready built road worthy track day car - or to build your own (but I don't know how you feel about doing the work). 

I ended up going for the second option and built a Porsche 944 track car.  In reality it was nothing more than a series 1 944 with everything stripped from it that wasn't necessary and a roll cage bolted in.  I even ran it on standard size wheels and part worn as-cheap-as-possible tyres.

It was blinding!  It lapped Brands Hatch slightly quicker than a standard Elise on standard tyres and did so all day long.  All for two grand.  This isn't meant to sound complacent but if I had crunched it on track, I could live with the loss financially.  I didn't and ended up selling it for a profit.

This is something you could do with what ever car takes your fancy, and still hopefully fulfils all your requirements.

Best of luck.

If you contact the owners club they will always offer advice. Have a look at either lotus7club or lotussevenclub I think .co.uk in both cases and you should be able to find your local meet. Go along and talk to a few people. That's exactly what I did a few years ago and the only reason I don't have one now is that we emigrated.

Thanks guys.

Strangely a slightly leftfield suggestion has come, from the missus of all people!  She has suggested I do a CBT and get a bike!  Two wheeled thrills and I hear you can track bikes. 

There is the danger aspect though which doesn't appeal though.

 

Ahh the old two or four wheel debate.

Personally the two wheel variety scare the "^&! out of me.  Just a quick question on that note, have you just sorted your life insurance.  When the better half suggest something that left field, you need to start getting worried!  Chuckle.

Another option which I didn't think of before, spend your money on driver days.  I'm not talking about these frustrating red letter days and the like.  I'm on about the full blown Bedford Autodrome Palmer days and the events like the one I attended this week at Rockingham.

I won't bore you the details of mine (overall driver of the day out of 36 drivers - I need to gloat every now and again), but you get the chance to properly drive a full range of cars including Mini Cooper S, Ferrari 360, 996 Turbo, Single seater (round the oval), and most importantly for me at least the race V8 super cars (read Australian Touring Car Holdens).  Brilliant day and you don't have the worries of trying to get a crunched car home at the end of it.

http://www.rockingham.co.uk/drivingdays/masterclass.asp