I have just finished my third season of DE events. At this point, I believe I will continue this hobby, probably doing 5 or 6 each season. Obviously, at that rather casual level of participation, a dedicated track car is not in my plan. As I have gained experience, I am becoming more interested in some basic bolt-on driving/safety modifications, such as seat, harness, roll bar. My current car is an '05 ZCP M3 with no mods except a Kline s/a suspension. I am beginning to have second thoughts about using such a new and (for me) expensive car for this purpose. And, although the car's handling is, in my perception very good for a street car, it is still a heavy street car. So, I am considering options for a dual-purpose car that would need minimum modifications for my casual track use. A couple that immediately come to mind are, a used C5 ZO6, and a well-prepped Miata; very different cars in the power department, but both well-balanced, fun cars. And an earlier 3-series BMW could work well too. Obviously, a car that would require less modification would be appealing, since I really am not interested in a dedicated track car. I guess that is why the used ZO6 seems a strong candidate. Any online forum is going to have its own branded bias, but I would appreciate input including, not limited to BMWs.

You might limit yourself with a Miata if it's just DEs you want to continue with since some BMW chapters will not allow them. Are you going to be happy with a car with say 190 hp after being used to your M3? How about an E30 325i/is?

You might limit yourself with a Miata if it's just DEs you want to continue with since some BMW chapters will not allow them.

Good point, and something I did not know. And yes, the hp thing is something to consider. I'm not interested in pure speed on the straights, but the acceleration out of a turn would be a lot different. I have a little Corvette experience, which obviously demands a bit different driving style than the M3, and a bunch different than a Miata. Thanks.

My experience is very similar to yours, except I may have done a few more events over the past three years. I would suggest that you reconsider the purchase of a dedicated track car, preferably something that already has been prepared to some extent. Reasons: (1) no compromises with respect to safety or performance, and (2) you don't risk damaging a relatively expensive road car at the track (and if the track car goes down, you still have a driver). A decent e30 M3 track car can be purchased for around 15k.

If you really want to stick with a dual purpose car, I'd say you already have a pretty good one. Are you going to be comfortable commuting with a track-prepared ZO6? I think using a 6-pt harness and race seat for ordinary street driving would get old pretty fast.

Well, you know my solution to that one.

Buy a slow E46.

I was in the same boat and went to a 95 M3 that I will eventually race in BMWCCA. With some of the IP folks doing ~2:11 at VIR, an E36 M3 is plenty fast.

Can you afford to keep what you have and buy another car?

There are many advantages to having a dedicated track car that you can do what you want to. Without regard to how noisy or comfortable it is. Reducing weight is cheap HP. You can sell a lot of the parts you remove to help defray costs. And, it won't kill you if you bend it a little.

I have a friend who put together a spec Miata for less then $7K. His car runs close to the times that I do with a heavily modded E36M3. I'm not sure I'd like driving an SM, but it's an example.

I don't know much about E30s. E36s are plentiful and there are tons of used performance pieces available.

Jay

I have just finished my third season of DE events. At this point, I believe I will continue this hobby, probably doing 5 or 6 each season. Obviously, at that rather casual level of participation, a dedicated track car is not in my plan. As I have gained experience, I am becoming more interested in some basic bolt-on driving/safety modifications, such as seat, harness, roll bar. My current car is an '05 ZCP M3 with no mods except a Kline s/a suspension. I am beginning to have second thoughts about using such a new and (for me) expensive car for this purpose. And, although the car's handling is, in my perception very good for a street car, it is still a heavy street car. So, I am considering options for a dual-purpose car that would need minimum modifications for my casual track use. A couple that immediately come to mind are, a used C5 ZO6, and a well-prepped Miata; very different cars in the power department, but both well-balanced, fun cars. And an earlier 3-series BMW could work well too. Obviously, a car that would require less modification would be appealing, since I really am not interested in a dedicated track car. I guess that is why the used ZO6 seems a strong candidate. Any online forum is going to have its own branded bias, but I would appreciate input including, not limited to BMWs.

You can find a running salvage title e36 32x for under 3k pretty easily. 2500 in parts and some DIY garage work and you've got a track ready, very safe, quite expendable track toy that can be driven to/from the track.

You can bondo up a 2500 dollar 325, put a 4 point bar in it, strip and sell the interior (there is a decent market for it), a race shell, a harness and HANS...the car will weigh ~2600lbs, cost you 5k, and hitting a wall wont a) kill you or b) kill your wallet.

Having a dedicated track car is a pretty good idea if you plant to spend a lot of time on the track each season.

I instructed in an 03 Carrera, 02 Z06, and 89 E30 325is this weekend and they were all very fun to be in. I'd personally prefer a less expensive track car and build it up to suit your needs. An E30 can be a great budget vehicle for the track and a used vette is great bang for the buck on the track as well.

Your E46 M3 is going to be pretty expensive when it comes to all the modifications and consumables you needs you get faster and faster.

Thanks to all for good advice. I know that a dedicated track car is the best way to go on this thing. And I could swing a low-bucks track car financially. But there are two compelling issues right now that sway me against it (why I changed the title of this to drop "track" car). First is the logistics of storage and maintenance. With my wife's car and the M3 in the garage, I already have a third in the driveway as my daily beater. Second, although I am fascinated with the mechanics of cars, and I am reasonably competent for routine work, I just don't want to spend all my time turning wrenches, even if I had the space. I went through that years ago, but I just can't dedicate that kind of time to it right now. I don't mind at all the routine brake and fluids service, etc. But beyond that, I had rather just hop in and go to the track a few times each season, without ripping out seats and installing bars and such in a brand new car. And my best option might be exactly what I now have, just remaining conscious of a need for a reasonable safety margin. But it's the unavoidable incident that's always lurking out there, and I continue to hear mixed reports on auto insurance coverage of such DE mishaps. As I look at cars 3 to 4 years old, reasonably track competent without heavy mods, it seems I keep coming back to a used ZO6, but I'm sure there are other good choices.

In my experience, a dedicated track car actually takes less maintenance than a dual-purpose car. You can keep the track pads and tires on. You can keep the suspension set up for the track. If you have a problem on the track, you don't have to have it fixed by Monday to be able to make it to work. Plus you can actually set up the car for the track. If you don't want to do the initial build-up work yourself, just buy an already set up car. This means you will have more fun on the track, in a potentially safer car. Plus, the wearable items on an E30 (my dedicated track car) are much less expensive than on a newer car. Also, you would not have to worry about the insurance on the track - which would be a much bigger issue on your M3 or a Z06. Here in Portland, I have seen several more high HP cars in the wall (including 2 Z06's, 1 Viper, and a few M3's) than lower HP cars. A dual purpose car is an exercise in compromise. What about making the M3 the daily driver, and your "beater" the track car? I can tell you that there is no greater satisfaction than passing a Corvette (admittedly under driven), with a well setup E30 325i. I have about $7K in mine, but bought a decent car to start with, then added a rollbar, seats, coilover suspension, etc. etc.

Yep, your points are all well taken. It is an option I am considering. I'm at a point right now, for some reason, that I am primarily interested in trying to get all I can from a car I drive regularly, or at least frequently, on the street. That might change with experience. And you are absolutely right in observing more high hp incidents. I think we are lucky that even more damage and injuries have not occured. And even a higher hp M3 is much more forgiving than the Corvette, which I know from experience. Never put either one in the wall, or even off track, but I did have a couple of relatively intense moments with the Vette. But on the other hand, if you pay attention and practice, there is a lot of satisfaction in properly directing all that torque through the turns.

Another Oregonian heard from...... cool.

Jay

In my experience, a dedicated track car actually takes less maintenance than a dual-purpose car. You can keep the track pads and tires on. You can keep the suspension set up for the track. If you have a problem on the track, you don't have to have it fixed by Monday to be able to make it to work. Plus you can actually set up the car for the track. If you don't want to do the initial build-up work yourself, just buy an already set up car. This means you will have more fun on the track, in a potentially safer car. Plus, the wearable items on an E30 (my dedicated track car) are much less expensive than on a newer car. Also, you would not have to worry about the insurance on the track - which would be a much bigger issue on your M3 or a Z06. Here in Portland, I have seen several more high HP cars in the wall (including 2 Z06's, 1 Viper, and a few M3's) than lower HP cars. A dual purpose car is an exercise in compromise. What about making the M3 the daily driver, and your "beater" the track car? I can tell you that there is no greater satisfaction than passing a Corvette (admittedly under driven), with a well setup E30 325i. I have about $7K in mine, but bought a decent car to start with, then added a rollbar, seats, coilover suspension, etc. etc.

Just my two cents but I was in the same boat two years ago. My friend found a half completed Spec Miata in Michigan that we bought and finished. I have had an absolute blast finishing it and wrenching on it since but, the best part is racing with 10-25 almost identical cars. I am not near the front of the pack yet but I have learned an awful lot. It has been very easy on the wallet as parts are cheap, and with regular maintenence it has not needed much since the original build. The club we race with allows the car to run in the Spec Miata category and also ITA so we can either split a race day or one of us can run both. I did have my first big accident this season and being towed back to the paddock underlined the point that a dual-purpose car can leave you stranded. One guy that races with us drives his car to the events and his friends bring his tools and tires with their stuff. Just remember, the padded roll bar that you bounce your helmet off of with no problem can really smart when you bounce your head off of it without the helmet.

I bought a new 2004 RX-8 as a track car. It's a fun track car. A base RX-8 weighs about 2880 lbs and has 238 hp. It only has 159 ft lbs of torque though so you have to rev the engine to get the power out of it. Also carry a lot of speeds through the corners.

A nice thing about the car is the gearing, 2nd gear takes you to about 65 mph so on some tracks with slower corners you can drop down into 2nd gear for some added punch. you can also do over 125 mph in 4th gear so no need to shift up to 5th (6th is overdrive) for long staights. The pedal are also set up well for heelntoe and it's quite fun to blip the throttle to 9,000 rpms when downshifting.

The stock brakes on the car are phenomenal, I've heard some of the racing teams use the stock brake system with just changing fluid and pads.

I was able to get 7 track days, 6 autocross days, and 11K miles out of the stock tires which isn't too bad.

Performance wise, it is not bad. I would say it is as competent as an E36 M3 or 330 ZHP.

The car hasn't sold very well in parts of the USA and in the midwest you can pick up a base model of the car brand new for around 22K. It's a good bang for the buck.

Other fun/fast track cars would be the EVO and STi. I have a friend with a modded EVO who can hit over 140 mph on the straights at Road America. My car only does about 123.

But I've found that part of the fun going to BMW driving schools is driving a BMW. So I'll be looking for a late model E36 M3 in a few years when I'm looking for my next track car.

Mad Matt, just think more fun you'd have in a ratty M3. You wouldn't have to worry about throwing it into the guard rail :-)

Unless your aready experienced, I wouldn't recommend a zo6. It's a seriously fast car, and could stunt your learning curve.

Mad Matt, just think more fun you'd have in a ratty M3. You wouldn't have to worry about throwing it into the guard rail :-)

Unless your aready experienced, I wouldn't recommend a zo6. It's a seriously fast car, and could stunt your learning curve.

I heard you were selling a cream puff M3, never autocrossed, never tracked, never driven in anger...

Unless your aready experienced, I wouldn't recommend a zo6. It's a seriously fast car, and could stunt your learning curve.

You're right. I'm sure no pro, but I've done DE's now for three seasons, and owned and driven quite a few high hp cars since my high school days of the late 60's. Guess I've been lucky (because I'm old) to experience two golden ages of horsepower in American cars; but now they handle well too. I seriously enjoy my M3, and it's probably the perfect street car for me. I did one season of track events with a Z51 C6 Vette that I recently sold, after finding myself in basically this same situation; not willing to do a bunch of safety mods to an expensive new car. The two cars obviously demand different driving styles, but there is something about the exhaust note of a well-tuned small block Chev engine.......guess my age is showing again. Thanks for your comments.

I was in a similar situation with a 99 Mustang Cobra that I modded for track use but still tried to use as a daily driver. Running with the Shelby Club made me real conscious of running at the speeds my Mustang was capable of: getting through corners at 95MPH and STILL being pushed by fellows in 89+ Mustang Coupes that were trailered race cars with stroker 5.0+ liter V8s. I was aware that even with a really well-built Autopower 4 point rollbar I was taking huge risks driving at the speeds I was going. An off at 130 is death unless you're in a fully caged car with a HANS device etc, at least in my opinion. So I sold it, and resolved to build a safe track only car that could survive a crash and run at the speeds through corners I enjoyed. There ARE the problems with what to do with a track only car when it's not at the track, but word of mouth can sometimes find a friend with yard space, even garage space for a nominal fee, and you can always rent a Penske or UHaul truck and trailer to haul the car on track weekends. I was also very concerned about balling up my street car on track, and talked to a number of insurance agents about whether they'd cover HPDE event damage. They said no, even though tracks assert such track events are not competitive events. Conundrum. For the time being I'm still driving a slightly modded E30 325is that's very capable through corners, but won't do the screaming down the straights at 130+ that is such a blast. AND I'm comfortable running in Group 3 instead of full or close to full-race Group 4 cars. So that's what I'd suggest: finding a SpecMiata and turbocharging it; building up an E36 M3 or E30; or building a ratty 89+ Mustang coupe for $15,000+/-. And then have fun, enjoy the generous camaraderie and laughter, and the sweet Zen concentration you achieve as you work for the purity of the best:) lines through turns.