It wasn't the only casualty...

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Hence why I said cage it :)
Are they less lucky than if they ran out of talent in a Clio rs, probably not. At least they now have the option to turn it in to an Exocet, do that to the Renault and game over.

Not knocking the Clio rs by the way, good track car.

Drivers crash cars, not cars crash cars.

I can definitely recommend a MX5.... Yes, they are bloody slow, but they are such good fun that you tend to forget how slow they are. The MX5 is great to chuck around a track! In standard form there are a few issues, so I would aim to pickup a slightly modded one. We used the first trackday to see what we wanted to change....

The standard suspension is just terrible, it rolls around and its pathetic
The seats and sitting position isnt the best, I tend to slide around a bit
The car came with a mix of crappy tyres, so they need to change
The brakes are fine....

Main reason for choosing the MX5 was RWD, want the missus to learn to handle that, rather than a FWD.

My missus quite happily drives it around track (she has been out at Silverstone in the other car), but heres our parts list so far:-
-buckets and harnesses
-TR Lane roll bar
-rotas and yoko tyres (only the road ones, but will move up next time)
-brake booster bracket
-braided brake lines
-steering wheel change
-hardtop - thinking about going back to standard on this
-MeisterR ZetaS coilovers - waiting for these to arrive and then loads of parts get fitted

Looking at supercharging it at the end of the year, but honestly I might just leave it as is. Want to use it to learn some track (especially Nurburgring) and the other car is just too good :)

MX5:-
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps210b52ea.jpg
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps29f96735.jpg
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...pshzae19nu.jpg
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...pss46jlggb.jpg
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...psvgcjhiix.jpg
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...psh0dutfu3.jpg

At Thruxton, missus driving:-
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps6wg8cgfw.mp4

The other car ;)
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/a...psad1gbmv6.mp4

A few track prepped BMW 328i's on EBay; around a grand.
They make great track cars and you stay dry if it rains.

Definitely, seen some good ones on track, just watch out for the rear subframe issues (cant remember which ones it affects).

Caveman.

A couple of mentions of the 106, but no recommendations for it's sister-car, the Saxo. You'll pick up a VTS for much less than a 106 GTI, although you'll have to endure the 'chav' accusations. I had a VTR for a bit and the handling was sublime.

Graham, we haven't taken the mx5 to track yet, so can only comment on fast road driving. Ours doesn't seem to suffer too badly with body roll. Some cars come from factory with upgrade bilstein suspension. Model code sticker on the drivers door shut should show if the car has bilsteins on.
Seats, ours are fabric, so we don't slide about on them much, yours being leather will grip less.

The main thing to look out for on them are rotten front chassis legs, but really need to take the splash cover off the bottom of the engine for a thorough check. Oddly enough it's the mk2.5 nb that suffers the worst for it, these are the cars built after 2002. Ours is a 2000 model and seems fine.

On the road mine is fine (but depends how you drive), its on the track that the suspension really shows. Also its probably still the original suspension in the car, so will be tired. Mine is an Arizona edition (1.8, Torson LSD, etc).

Again, on the road the seats are fine (heated and comfy), but on track I was bracing my knees on the centre console and the door. I also find the sitting position a little too high. Hopefully the Sparcos will lower me down a little.

Only way to figure out what you need for tracking is to take it on the track :D

Yes, the rust can be bad (goes for all of them), we viewed another and the rust on the sills was terrible. This one has been on a ramp and checked over by a mechanic.

Yes, sills and rear wheel arches are common, but it's the front chassis rails that are the killer. Have seen many a decent looking example being broken for parts because of this particular area of rot proving uneconomical to repair, usually engine out job.