I have a couple questions for you racing experts. I am looking to get into some racing, not sure which type and truthfully I am pretty ignorant on the subject. But I have been just looking around to see what would be a good car. I read the other thread about starting out with a Miata and that sounds good but I was trying to gauge whether a car was worth what was being asked for it.
So here is an example of a car I was looking at.
95 M3 w/90k miles
Upgrades:

Drivetrain: VA Lightweight flywheel and recent clutch. UUC tranny reinforcement mounts.
Braces: Front BMW strut brace and lower x brace.
Brakes: Euro floating rotors, Pagid orange pads, stainless lines.
Intake: Dinan(Intake, big bore throttle body, chip)
Exhaust: Rogue engineering stainless exhaust
Suspension: Ground control(coilovers,Koni single adjustable shocks, solid comtrol arm mounts, rear shock mounts, adjustable camber plates), UUC swaybarian swaybars.
Interior: TC Kline weld in cage, 2 Sparco evo2 seats, 2 5pt harnesses.
Wheels: 4 Fikse forged wheels 17x8 some half worn Michelin pilot cup tires.

The car dynoed at around 230 last year.

The guys is asking 17,500 for it and it looks in pretty good shape. What do you guys think?

I think you need to be careful about what you buy. The problem with buying "track" cars and going racing with them is that one small modification can put you into a tough class. For instance, the solid control arm mounts (assuming they are sperical bearings) on the car above would move you straight to Modified ("unlimited) class in BMW CCA club racing.

Look into the cars for sale on the BMW CCA page if you want to stay with BMW's. Otherwise, check the back of Grassroots and Sportscar for a good listing of race cars for sale for all sorts of SCCA, BMW CCA, and NASA classes. Even then, you need to know the rules to make sure a car you buy is really a legal car.

Does the car come with a log book?

You might get a good idea of what race cars are being sold for nowadays by going to:

www.bmwccaclubracing.com
www.sccaforums.com
www.improvedtouring.com

Go to the respective web-sites' Classifieds section.

HTH,

Nobu

edit: What Bryan said. :)

Sounds like a reasonable asking price. On paper a selling price of $15k sounds about right, so the asking price is not out of line.

However, I don't know if this is the right car for you. You need to figure out what you want to do in terms of racing. Your best bet is probably a spec series like spec miata or some kind of open wheel formula car.

Have you been to driving schools? If not, that is the place to start and you don't need to buy a special car to participate. From the tenor of your post it sounds like you may have done little to no driving on a race track. Driving schools offer many of the thrills of racing and are a necessary precursor to racing.

I can tell you that with 7 track days under my belt I am nowhere near where I would need to be to progress to actual racing.

i dont think an m3 is a good track car from a financial standpoint. unless you have a lot of money to burn you're better off with a cheaper japanese or open-wheel go cart style car. i would like to get into competitive track racing someday but everything is just so expensive.

I have a line on an affordable E30 325is race car w/ current SCCA logbook and annual. Would be a great entry level car, fits w/ SCCA, BMWCCA, and NASA. Looking to get $5500. Feel free to drop me a line at jpw378@aol.com if you have an interest.

95 M3 w/90k miles
Upgrades:

Drivetrain: VA Lightweight flywheel and recent clutch. UUC tranny reinforcement mounts.
Braces: Front BMW strut brace and lower x brace.
Brakes: Euro floating rotors, Pagid orange pads, stainless lines.
Intake: Dinan(Intake, big bore throttle body, chip)
Exhaust: Rogue engineering stainless exhaust
Suspension: Ground control(coilovers,Koni single adjustable shocks, solid comtrol arm mounts, rear shock mounts, adjustable camber plates), UUC swaybarian swaybars.
Interior: TC Kline weld in cage, 2 Sparco evo2 seats, 2 5pt harnesses.
Wheels: 4 Fikse forged wheels 17x8 some half worn Michelin pilot cup tires.

The car dynoed at around 230 last year.

The guys is asking 17,500 for it and it looks in pretty good shape. What do you guys think?

That car as it stands would fit into BMWCCA IP or NASA GTS3...you'd get absolutely killed in either as the car isn't optimized for racing. $17,500...sounds a little pricey for the car as it would take another $5000+ to make it competitive in it's possible classes. If stuck on that car I wouldn't offer a dime over $14,000.

I agree with the other sentiments posted so far...go racing with a Honda (you'd be surprised how fast they are, maybe 3 seconds slower a lap than an M3 on many courses) or a well prepared E30/E36 325.

I have a line on an affordable E30 325is race car w/ current SCCA logbook and annual. Would be a great entry level car, fits w/ SCCA, BMWCCA, and NASA. Looking to get $5500. Feel free to drop me a line at jpw378@aol.com if you have an interest.If I had the time to work on it and race it, and a place to store it, and lived close enough to a track, I'd be on an E30 in a second. Great first track car, cheap and fun.

You should do a DE (actually, do as many as possible), just to get a feel for the track. Once you do, you'll see that you can have a ton of fun in a car that is not the fastest one out there. Sure, M3s will pass you by, partly because you will be slowed by the weight of all that money left in your wallet. :D But the cornering is where the fun is, and it's all about conserving momentum, not raw power.

CarreraX has a nice car for sale, great price too!

If I had the time to work on it and race it, and a place to store it, and lived close enough to a track, I'd be on an E30 in a second. Great first track car, cheap and fun.

You should do a DE (actually, do as many as possible), just to get a feel for the track. Once you do, you'll see that you can have a ton of fun in a car that is not the fastest one out there. Sure, M3s will pass you by, partly because you will be slowed by the weight of all that money left in your wallet. :D But the cornering is where the fun is, and it's all about conserving momentum, not raw power.

Thanks guys I really appreciate all the info. I am set up for a driving school in May. The track is only 30 minutes from the house so I plan on getting out there with my car and then deciding what I want to do after a couple regular days. Thanks again, lots to learn and you guys have given me great insight. :redspot

I have a line on an affordable E30 325is race car w/ current SCCA logbook and annual. Would be a great entry level car, fits w/ SCCA, BMWCCA, and NASA. Looking to get $5500. Feel free to drop me a line at jpw378@aol.com if you have an interest.
Hey Jas, I tried to email you and it didn't work and I can't seem to PM yet so I guess I will just do it this way and hope you get it. I would love to see some pics and some info on that E30 if you have them. Thanks

Chiro,
My fault, I just noticed my email address was wrong in the above post. It's jpw3578@aol.com. I forgot the 5 last time! I tried to PM you as well but , like you said it's not setup. Drop me a note and I'lll get some more info out to ya.