Decision Time........

[kam]

After my recent trip to the Ring in my Trophy I felt the car was lacking outright power which is no surprise as I used to track and ring an E39 M5. I bought the car with the intention of using it as a daily hack but a have really grown fond of it especially it's capability on track.

I now need to decide whether to keep the Trophy as a daily drive or maybe invest some money and make it a focused track toy.

What are your thoughts on the latter?

Would I be better of buying a dedicated track toy and keeping the Trophy in mint condition due to it's potential future classic status?

They key thing is I need more power so will either look at a turbo/supercharger on the T or just give up and buy an E30/E36 M3 track car.

 

[Jonc]

I'd keep the Trophy as it is and used as a daily hack. To get more power, a turbo kit can cost up to and beyond £5k. Then you'll be needing to upgrade everything else to harness the increased power, eg diff, bigger brakes, etc.

With that sort of money, you could get an old M3 (e36) 321bhp and stripped out, should be plenty fast. Or an 325 E30 or Nissan 200sx etc, at really cheap price, then spend the rest stripping and uprating parts to turn it into a pure track weapon. Plus they're RWD! 8)

 

[kam]

I'd keep the Trophy as it is and used as a daily hack. To get more power, a turbo kit can cost up to and beyond £5k. Then you'll be needing to upgrade everything else to harness the increased power, eg diff, bigger brakes, etc.

With that sort of money, you could get an old M3 (e36) 321bhp and stripped out, should be plenty fast. Or an 325 E30 or Nissan 200sx etc, at really cheap price, then spend the rest stripping and uprating parts to turn it into a pure track weapon. Plus they're RWD! 8)

Pretty much what I was thinking. I went out in my friends track prepped E36 M3 around the ring and it was epic. We were bating GT3's, E46 M3's, etc.

You need about 10k to make an E36 a real track weapon but you can do it in stages which makes it feasible.

 

[nickboazracing]

You sound like a BMW man so i'd say E36 m3 - along the lines of the one EVO mag built for the ring a couple of years ago. =D>

Personally I'd go for a radical or westfield xtr etc, but really you'd have to invest in a trailer (and possibly tow car).

I think to get more power out of the clio would spoil what the car is about.

 

[kam]

You sound like a BMW man so i'd say E36 m3 - along the lines of the one EVO mag built for the ring a couple of years ago. =D>

Personally I'd go for a radical or westfield xtr etc, but really you'd have to invest in a trailer (and possibly tow car).

I think to get more power out of the clio would spoil what the car is about.

I did look into the pure trackcar market but as you mentioned I'd need to buy a trailer and tow car. I've got a couple of friends with the KTM X-Bow and love them to bits but at 50k way out of my league at the moment. The only other one would be the Atom but your still looking at 30k.

I don't really know what else apart from BMW's that could offer good performance, relaiblity and rwd for that sort of cash. There are no Merc's, Audi's unless I'm missing something obvious.

I want to limit my budget to around 10-15k for a track toy otherwise I might aswell sell all the cars and just buy a GT3.

 

[hoolio]

Getting the power you want will be very expensive and the KTEC/Angelworks(ythink it was that combination) one hacked the bay around a fair ammount which would destroy the resale value of it as a Trophy, is has also not been without it's problems.
Me I'm waiting for the Angelworks inlet with bated breath, apparently a "real" 200bhp without too much intrusive engine work which if true would give me an extra 30/35 horses (unless mine is one of the "rare" ones that put out claimed figures) which will be a fairly decent power to weight ratio which if/when it happens will be enough for me.

 

[Jonc]

I don't really know what else apart from BMW's that could offer good performance, relaiblity and rwd for that sort of cash. There are no Merc's, Audi's unless I'm missing something obvious.

Don't forget the Japanese market. Most of their cars have huge tuning potential and very popular as track car projects , eg, Nissan Skylines, Toyota Supra, Mazda RX7, Nissan Silvia/200sx, Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Evos etc, and all can be had for silly money

 

[Ajr]

Buy an R26, much more power and potential, more stable at the ring and fine for daily use too!

 

[nickboazracing]

Don't forget the Japanese market. Most of their cars have huge tuning potential and very popular as track car projects , eg, Nissan Skylines, Toyota Supra, Mazda RX7, Nissan Silvia/200sx, Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Evos etc, and all can be had for silly money

Speaking from experience jap cars are horrificaly expensive to tune. I had a 200sx and while it was a rocket in a straight line it wass a pig in the corners. I sold it on before parting with thousands of pounds to get the suspension sorted. I'm sure it would have been so much better had i spent the money, but I got to a point where the cash going into the car was not justifiable, so called it a day.

I love jap cars thou, and a skyline GTR (not gts crap) would be an awesome track car, but personally i reckon an M3 would be cheaper to run as a track car; and (debatebly) more of an involved car for track use. I always think Jap cars seem to be built and modified around power which in some cases is great but not necessarily for a track car. That said, there are some real bargains to be had, like 400bhp GTR's for under 10k...

Just my thoughts!

 

[mark989]

i am waiting on the angelwork new inlet manifold if it ever arrives! and you get to keep the standard ecu and everything is reversible apperently. Wish they would hurry up with it!

 

[tractor]

Just another couple of ideas- although japanese. (You seem to like your crout motors!!)

I don't really know what else apart from BMW's that could offer good performance, relaiblity and rwd for that sort of cash.

1) My choice - Honda S2000. Infinetly tunable although expensive. Amazing engine - rev heaven. Can be picked up for 7-8k. Oh and unquestionable reliability.

2) Nissan 350Z - heavy but im sure they can be lightened by stripping out. Torquey v6. Brembos. similar money to s2000 but imports even cheaper.

As I said just ideas. Wish i had some cash to burn for a track weapon! 8)

Keep us posted!

Dave

 

[kam]

S2000 is a no go as it's a soft top.

350z is out of my budget once you start adding trackday bits.

At the moment I'm thinking E36 M3 which can be picked up for 5-6k. Sell the interior, exhaust, brakes and anything else I'll be upgrading. Then add AP 6 pots, full cage, two bucket seats, full harness, lightweight wheels, suspension, racing exhaust and suitable engine mods to get the car up to 350ish BHP. All the above can be done easily in my 10-15k budget.

Hoping to start the project in the next month or so but could be something I start now with the aim to have it ready for next year. I want to do a lot of the work myself to minimise labour costs but also get a real feeling achievement knowing that my hardwork built the car.

 

[StevieH]

Why not go to FCS and sample all the new conversions that are available from Ktec/GDI/RStuning and see what floats your boat.

I'm currently running the Ktec low boost conversion on my Trophy and although it's only putting out 206bhp (on RStuning's rolling road) it's a much more capable car. Whilst the figures don't look impressive 1*2 clios normally make about 155BHP at RStuning so it's a genuine 50bhp increase over standard and It's retained all the characteristics of the Trophy just with added ooomph.

 

[George K]

On the hills, in the production classes, the cars to have in terms of results are;

Imprezza - needs sensible mods, but as most parts can be UK sourced not anywhere near as expensive as going the Jap route - on a wet day they are up with the single seaters! Need driver controllable centre diff.

Elise/Exige - but can run away with lots of cash.

S2000 - quickest modern car in 1,800 to 2,600 class - but needs a proper roll over bar and good geometry set-up.

Mk1 Golf - can be as light as 750 kg and 190 ish bhp - stunningly quick with a good driver, and v cheap. Need a good shell and a steel bottom end, so as to rev to 8,000 plus on throttle bodies. As pre 1992 no Cat needed or emission problems.

As an aside the DC5, now with sorted suspension (custom AST) is now significantly quicker than the Trophy was.