When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I’ve read what I can but still have a few questions, what’s recommendation regarding track cars?
From what I’ve read the classics are 1295kg and newage are around 1395kg, ideally I want a classic but I have enough resto projects on and don’t need another, are they all as rotten as people make out? I know the bugeye’s are starting to go are blobeye’s suffering the same fate? If so where are the common areas?
from other reading, I see the Subaru’s suffer oil starvation so ideally I’ll need to install a baffle plate and AOS, will this make the engine safe for track work? I’ve heard 280bhp is a safe tune, so will probably sit at that for a bit, is there any other must haves for a track car?
classics mainly only rot sills and rear arches either are easy enough to fix the dearest part being painting it after if it’s rear quarters but if it’s a track car then paint isn’t that important.
Tyres and decent chassis set up are your two most important things to spend money on brakes too but you can buy 4 pota for 100 quid these days
Impreza’s aren’t the best to get round corners. But your have a lot of fun in one
Thanks hustler, well that doesn’t sound too bad on classics, and as you say a track car can be painted in all kinds of manners, can you still get the repair panels at a decent price? I did have a look but only managed to find oem ones that where expensive.
End game will be caged, and stripped, that should help handling along with stiffening the chassis, I’d rather be having fun out on track than chasing 0.01 of a second, I’m not competing, I currently have a mk1 TT 225 but being 6’6” I just don’t fit in it comfortably, and I’ve always wanted a Subaru so why not, plus when I seen the newage weighed as much as the TT I thought it would be rude not to
Would I fit in a Westfield? I’ve never been in one but they look tiny, it would also have to be turbocharged and then probably out my price range.
I’ve always fancied a scooby, I also wanted a 2.5xten Forrester as a daily but chickened out, I looked at the specs and thought I’d have more room and proper 4wd over my TT so would be a good swap.
haha, fair point, i'm a bit of a lard-**** and too tall as well, so I'm not sure I'd fit comfortably in one either... my friend has a caterham narrowbody, and i definitely cannot drive that, but there's the westfield widebody (SEIW or something) that should be possible
My main reason for asking if you're sure you want an impreza as a track toy is because they cost an arm and a leg to run.
Mine wasn't massively modified last time it was out on track from a power point of view (~370 hp?), but i used more than 100 litres of fuel around cadwell in a day, and the tyres take a hammering, the brakes are big and expensive etc etc. In comparison, my friend will rock up in his R400 caterham, hoon around for the day, use about 1.5 tanks of fuel (which on the cat is about 40 litres), his brakes are tiny so cost almost nothing to replace (and they don't wear at anywhere near the same rate), and his tyres last forever too (i'm talking 10 track days easy), and they're also much cheaper to replace because they're smaller.
Oh, and his car is fast around the corners too, to rub salt in my wounds
A realistic cost for a track day for me is about 500 pounds (including track fees), assuming nothing breaks, where-as for my friend it's about half that.
Having said that, the impreza is great on track - it's so much fun to hoon around without having to worry about people and lamp posts and hedges etc etc, that you soon forget the cost when you're out on track.
Subaru’s come from a racing pedigree so your half way there already. As long as your not wanting to go out and set any records (with out spending 0000s) there more then capable of a good laugh.
Although ratger ashamed to admit one of most capable cars on a budget iv ever seen on track is a Mazda rx8 if you forget the fact the engines want rebuilding every 10 minutes and there a fortune to rebuild and there down on power.:. That doesn’t sound good to start.
They are really really good round corners like a Subaru engine was designed for a low center of gravity the chassis is really good there rwd and they Rev for fun
and there rwd. It makes them good round corners iv seen them stick to the back bumper of much more expensive cars round corners all be it second there on a straight there behind again.
Also you can’t get them high on bhp sure it’s 300 best you could ever hope for and that’s if you spend about 5000 on a supercharger!
imprezas are easier as you can get good second hand parts and tuning parts any where I bought a full running classic for 800 quid just for spares for mine and iv already had the box lol
be very wary of any car with rotten rear arches as they tend to also have potential issues in the inner arches /upper turret area by that point...........
We thought about a Scoob as a track car after having two Integra DC5's one of which was superb, just needed more straight line speed, we now have a Megane 250 Cup, running 320BHP, half cage, sticky tires and seats/harnesses - will walk any scooby unless its running 450+, and will run all day without any problems and then get us home again, its a superb car on track, bits are cheap, and its even pretty good on fuel
have you seen the 1.8t conversion for the RX8? Iirc you buy the 240bhp version it also comes with an LSD as standard, it does require cutting of the bulk head to fit though, but if you was to fit a cage afterwards then that’s not so bad.
i also searched Westfields for tall people and the consensus is even the wide bodies need loads of adapting and then your still wedged in, and I didn’t see no one at 6’6” being mentioned and those extra inches count
my mate has a clio 182 for track and was all over me at donno, admittedly my TT was not track ready and still fairly bog standard apart from brakes and inlet, I did think about a Megane but when reading up I wasn’t feeling the love, this was for the older shape car though the 225, a lad was there with a megane all singing all dancing cup car and drove round track at unbelievable speeds so was really shocked to read so much negativity.
well I’m thoroughly disappointed with the praise in here at the mo, I was hoping for loads then I could blame you guys on my bad decision making.
Im stuck, it needs to be biggish hence why I’m not overly chuffed with the TT, I’d ideally want forced induction because racecar, and the inner child in me burns bright and flames and banging still ticks the boxes, I don’t know if I’ll get a kick out of a FWD car as much, I know a TT is 2wd at times but it handles like a mongrol 4wd.
i even considered the Subaru Justy that had the swift Gti Engine on eBay recently as that’d be fun weighing under a ton, I’ve always wanted that flat 4 burble in my life too, but am I asking for heartache pounding the life out of one all day on track, only good thing is I’m handy with the spanners so can fix the fallen off bits.
Clio sports versions will hammer a lot on the track mate they are cheap they go round corners really well and as a toy are grey fun I wouldn’t own one as it’s front wheel drives and I wouldn’t want that with a track car.
Yiu cant really pu a different engine in a rx8 as it just ruins handerling like a Impreza the engine and car is built to have a low center of gravity. Also they aren’t bhp there’s a 192 and a 231 it’s ps not bhp and there both a lot lower then that in bhp !
Stick with w Impreza mate power fun factor and racing pedigree for the value and your not beating it
Yea it’s a 231 i was referring to, the lower powered version has an open diff.
FWD is my worry, I’m not chasing times, I just want to go out and have a hoon, when I took the TT out and it stepped out on track, fighting it back into line was probably the most fun I’ve had with my clothes on lol! I came back with a smile ear to ear and buzzing. It probably looked properly crap but in my head I was the ultimate driving machine haha! Bit like that fishing on drugs video on YouTube
I have an old b5 s4 too and that’s great round the twisties when pushing on so I do enjoy proper 4wd handling, even thought the b5 is very nose heavy with that massive cast engine over the front wheels, I’ve never driven a RWD car with an lsd much, apart from when some lad let me have a go in his e39 m5 for helping him out but that was for 5 minutes so hardly got the feel of it.
i think the end result is going to be buying a cheap blob eye or a classic with a solid chassis, stripping it making it track ready and having some fun, albeit expensive fun by the sounds of it
Clio sports versions will hammer a lot on the track mate they are cheap they go round corners really well and as a toy are grey fun I wouldn’t own one as it’s front wheel drives and I wouldn’t want that with a track car.
Yiu cant really pu a different engine in a rx8 as it just ruins handerling like a Impreza the engine and car is built to have a low center of gravity. Also they aren’t bhp there’s a 192 and a 231 it’s ps not bhp and there both a lot lower then that in bhp !
Stick with w Impreza mate power fun factor and racing pedigree for the value and your not beating it
I did reply to your message yesterday but it was supposed to be approved, I assume due to the YouTube link?
anyway, I’ll keep my ears to the ground for a car and report back if I finally scratch that Subaru itch
Worse case you break it you fix it to a higher standered - that’s half the fun off it!
Definatky buy a Impreza not for any other reason then there just ace.
Mine has done nothing but play up for the last week and iv worked on it for a solid 7 days.
Its got to the point where iv wanted to squash it with the hiab a couple of times. But tonight when it was finally sorted and I took it for a run all of that was forgotten! In truth a properly set up car wether it be a clip a Megane or what ever will do a Impreza round a track (dependant on driver obvousley)
but if you spent money on the Impreza and set it up and tuned it as much as they have there’s then it’s a different case.
Aftermakrt parts espeacilly used are everywheee and aren’t dear.
Me and a friend bought a modified Turbo 2000 3 years ago for £1300 to turn into a track car (really wish I'd started a project thread)
We've spent about £10k on making it trackable, running 380bhp. Every single suspension component and bush has been upgraded to be fully adjustable and lots of engine mods (no internals though)
Haven't spent a penny on cosmetics and still need to cage it and get a baffled sump too
We could have done it for less, if we'd not gone through 2 turbo set ups and gone a bit mad with suspension.
Its a real laugh on track. Especially at Bedford last month in the torrential rain! I’m often quicker than caterhams in the dry (apart from very racey ones on slicks) It surprises a lot of people. I've always liked subarus being a rally fan but it would't have been my natural pick for a track car if one didnt fall into our lap. But I'm not unhappy with it.
As other have eluded, scoob’s aren’t the cheapest to run, but when you find tyres and brakes that last it gets much better. Fuel consumption will always be high though.
Here’s some thoughts learnings from our journey:
As with many cars used on track, the challenge to the cars longevity and getting the most out of your track time is heat management (and refuelling quickly lol)
We found the stock brakes crap, went for k-sport 330mm front kit with PFC z rated pads - awesome set up.
Don't bother with Brembo 4pot swaps, the callipers are still made of iron so weigh a tonne and cant dissipate the heat at all. Get some brake cooling ducts fitted too.
An external oil cooler is a must, as is an thick core aluminium rad and gauges to keep an eye on fluid temps.
Wrapping the headers and up-pipe in titanium wrap helps with under bonnet temps & intake temps. As do phenolic intake spacers.
A 3” full decat exhaust can be too loud for some tracks. We got a warning at Bedford and had to lift off anywhere near their microphones.
If you fit track tyres your probably also going to need a swirl pot, or you’ll need to always have over ½ a tank of fuel at all times.
Stick to 17" wheels for cheaper tyres. 18's rub anyway.
Try and get as much weight off the front as possible. We’ve put an alloy bonnet on, ditched AC, ditched the washer bottle, headlight sprayers, fog lights, fitted a race battery. You def’ notice the difference in handling.
A lot of tracks sell fuel, but only 97RON. So consider this when your getting it mapped. We have to take 6x 20lt jerry cans of 99RON with us to trackdays (plus a full tank)
Consumables :
EBC yellow pads stopped the car really well. For HALF a trackday then they were gone. PFC pads have done 3 trackdays and will probably do 3 more. EBC blue pads on the rear are also lasting very well and bite well.
Nankang NS2R’s in the 180-street compound are very grippy and last really well. AD08R’s were stickier but didn’t last nearly as well. R888rs were like glue but only lasted 1.5 days.
We both enjoy our car, it a good laugh but I do wonder is a hot hatch might be as much fun and cheaper. Some clios, civics and fiesta ST’s are definitely quicker than we are. But I bet they dont get to take their track cars out to play in the snow over winter like we have.
Well it appears I've ready some duff info along the way. Thanks for educating me!
Are rear 2 pot brembo's aluminium also?
Yeah, the rears are too. The original "SUBARU" sumitomo 4 pots are not alloy.
Originally Posted by Hustlersalvage
Ops already been called a cheap skate for suggesting a baffled sump ...
Yeah, i see that to onow. Op suggested a baffle plate. Thats not really the same thing IMO, if referring to simply a windage tray then yeah thats a cheapskate option. The RCM baffled sump is not a windage tray or a cheap option. Compared to a full dry sump setup, yes its cheaper.
I also run the 330mm k-sports up front, and OEM WRX 2 pots on the rear (but on a new age). Blue stuff pads all around, and I have never had brake fade issues - imo a great upgrade for the money.
I also use to run the godspeed 335mm 4 pot conversion kit up front. Stopping power was great, but imo you do really notice the extra unsprung weight. Not knocking that kit, as it was a great upgrade over standard for not a lot of money, but rather pointing out that unsprung weight REALLY matters from a handling point of view. I don't know how the new age Brembo setup compares in terms of weight, as I've never had any, but it is something to perhaps keep in mind.
Another note on weight.. the standard WRX wheels are pretty light compared to some aftermarket wheels, at about 7.5kg. I measured them bare and posted on here many years ago, if someone wants the exact weight.
I’m guessing your referring to the kit that comes supplied with a new pre baffled sump? I wasn’t sure hence why I asked questions, Steve’s reply was far from helpful tbh.
henrik how do you find the extra weight of the newage? I like the idea of a newage as parts will be easy to source and from what I’m reading the blobeye got the stronger 5 speed box?
i have to be honest, a set of pads per day is hard to stomach lol! I ran yellows on the TT in standard form at donnington and they are fine still, and the weight is about the same as a newage, admittedly I’m still fresh meat on track and need more practice so maybe lighter on the brakes than more seasoned people, has anyone tried EBC orange?
i will end up using sticky tyres eventually, I got a set of tarmac rally tyres for the TT but they haven’t made it on the rims yet, shame as they are 18” so if sticking to 17” wheels will be useless anyway ha!
I’ve racked my brain for ages over what car to buy, people have suggested like above, the meganne, clio, civic, I’ve already got a TT, an e36, but I can’t shake the urge for the Impreza.
performance parts are plentiful, cages are cheap and easy to obtain, the noise, handling will be fun, but it’s heavy on juice and tyres and brakes.
most the other options are good on tyres and brakes but in my own opinion won’t be as fun as a Impreza.
Classics rot mate but any other car that’s 20 years plus old is going to Have rot some where. In my opinion mate I’d find one that needed a bit of welding (it won’t be hard) chip it on price because off it then weld It up myself so I know it’s done to my standered. Iv has loads of pals bring “pretty” looking cars to my yard and you can’t stick a magnet to it for filler!
Buy a dog for dog money strip it down and build it right your be swapping brakes suspension and bushes. Your be messing with engine. For me it would have to not knock or boil any thing else isnt dear to fix. Then when it’s done and moneys replenished buy a bare engine and a stand and rebuild it for when yours blows lol
at moment I’m after a v1 and I don’t care how rotten it is or how loud it knocks. Just to rebuild it from ground up cheaper better even talking to a breaker that’s got a half stripped one that I might buy
Last edited by Hustlersalvage; 30 August 2019 at 09:04 PM.
I have a 98 plate s4 that’s not rotten, but that is also a labour of love and it does have some rusty bits I’m not going to lie haha!
I’ve currently got a 2.7tt engine on my stand and it’s been that way for months as I haven’t had the time, hence why I’m cautious of taking another car on that needs a load of work, I would like to be able to put time into it gradually if possible.
henrik how do you find the extra weight of the newage? I like the idea of a newage as parts will be easy to source and from what I’m reading the blobeye got the stronger 5 speed box?
To be honest, I don't actually know I have never driven a classic on track, but my friends old STI classic definitely "felt" lighter on the road (but i wasn't driving in anger).
I have a couple of friends over in Sweden who do a lot of track driving, however, and one has gone from a classic my99(i think) euro spec turbo, to the STI 555 edition, to a Spec C with lots of mods, and he is now back in bug eye with JDM STI running gear (and different suspension etc). At least according to him, he prefers the new-ages on track because the shell is stiffer, however none of his cars have been caged.
I just have to put this out there as well, with regards to gearboxes and engines:
My UK WRX (2003) is fully stripped out and caged, and even on the road you can immediately feel that it drives differently with the cage (weld in, and tied to the shell in many places), so if you did the same to a classic, it might be a real hoot, because like you say it should be at least 150kg lighter.
The most power I ever ran in my car was 390-odd bhp (td05-20g with 'funny' fuel), and I never had any issues with engine OR gearbox, including track work. I later had it mapped solely on v-power because I couldn't be bothered with E85 mixes (because it's so hard to get here in the UK). The car was mapped to 350hp at about 20k miles, and it currently sitting at 46k miles (it has barely moved since 2012 - about 500 miles in total due to kids etc).
Anyway, as part of an ill-fated upgrade program, I bought a bug-eye wagon with a forged engine, dropped the WRX engine into it, and ran it at 317hp (using an old td05 with the worst super unleaded fuel I could find (so that it wouldn't be a pain to find something that was as good anywhere in the UK)). Never used any fluids, and I sold it eventually to some chap in Wales who ran it without problems for some time and then sold it on.
As part of the 'upgrade program', which is hopefully coming to an end soon, I also swapped out the box for a used PPG 5 speed box (straight cut gears, mmm). I did this purely because I came across a box for not a lot of money back in 2012-2013'ish. It had a broken reverse lockout "prong/thing", and I cannibalized my old 5 speed box for the needed part.
For me, the standard parts were completely reliable, but I never abused them (apart from track work, obviously), so maybe that was why... The standard 5 speed box was hardly ever launched from stand still, for example. The point being that they can be reliable, if you're being sensible
I'm itching to get the Subaru back on the road/track properly, but I'm not sure where I'll go with it next... The MOT is getting worse year on year, and driving it on the road is mostly a horrid affair with the cage / no interior / airbag issues etc, so I'm really hoping to find myself a kit car that I can fit into over the next couple of years.
Having said that, if I were to start another impreza project, it would probably be a rotted out classic, just as Hustlersalvage suggests. I just don't see it being difficult to weld up for a track car, that doesn't need to win any beauty contests. I'm lucky enough to have a (single car) garage to work in, but on the other hand I have no time to do anything at the moment
21 August 2019, 08:10 AM
Track car
