944 as a track car - right choice?

[bennyboy]

What a fantastic looking car! I wonder if it is road legal - looks it?! That would have 3k of my money today if I was after a track 944!

 

[A.Wang]

I saw the title of this thread and immediately thought "I bloody hope so"!

James G. is correct in saying that I am in the process of having my S2 converted into a road-legal track car. The emphasis here is "road-legal", as I intend to drive it to and from track days, and still use it on the road.

I have done some homework on picking a car I'd want to convert, and settled for the 944 S2 - my reasons being that the S2 engine is awesome, I'm a child of the 80s and have always wanted a 944, and with some weight reduction and mechanical upgrades it should be a fun, fast weekend toy! Finding a cheap-ish one with none of the infamous rusty cills is the hardest part though! I got lucky... []

The smaller cars are great fun, but are nowhere near as accommodating as something like a 944 (or any other small-ish 80s/90s coupe). Aside from keeping the weather out, I can't quite get over the mental barrier of not having a roof over my head (I really don't get on with convertibles, but that's another story) and a full welded-in roll cage around me. So while I agree that the best kind of track car should be under 1 tonne, decent options that suit my particular requirements of roof and roll cage would make it very expensive, and a non-starter for a second car/track toy as I don't have a high 5-figure sum burning a hole in my back pocket![]

 

[944 man]

That series one woud definitely get my vote; and my money too, if I wasnt already up to my neck with this one...

 

[Hilux]

Whilst cars under a ton are great fun, they are also lacking in protection relative to others and also generally lack top speed.

With the greatest respect you havent seen/been in seriously quick cars then. I had a Ginetta G27 - 800ish kgs geared for 150mph (speedo was somewhat optimistic so all I knew was the rev counter) and I could list scores more. Try reading Retro car or attend their day at Santa Pod. Ever seen a 180bhp fully track prepped Hyabusa engined Austin Healey Midget [8D] or cossie turbo`d escorts Mk1 and 2 or 930 engined beetles?

As for protection I cant see how a 1 tonne relatively modern car is any safer than my 20 year old 944?

My current project is a Mk1 Golf and with some 225bhp from an Audi Turbo lump at 840 ish kg`s fully loaded it wont be slow []

dont go down the route of trying to convert a road car... unless you have long arms deep pockets.

Oh yes, how true.

Do your research and ALWAYS buy a car thats been converted improved or uprated to what you are looking for. Even if it requires fiddling believe me the original builder will have taken a hit of between 30 - 50%. Also do you want to trailer it or drive it. The frustration of only being able to sort it on track means a lot of trips and expense so as to gain the benefit you want.

If you want a good car to attend track days as against a track car then there are millions out there and a 944 is not the only choice. Try a Renault Clio cup/sport on a twisty circuit and see what I mean. Catering vans and Westfields are brilliant (I`ve owned built tracked one) but need massive power on longer tracks due to poor aerodynamics but I`d go for a CEC and not a BEC.

There are many cars with varying performance and typically there are quick cars with poor drivers and mundane cars with good drivers.

I`ve been up against track based/powerful/exotic cars and the driver is always the key believe me so go for an S2 but dont try a turbo as the boost is addictive. I found the 944 suspension poor compared to modern day stuff so upgraded but any Porsche with original suspension will need upgrading totally for the `famous` 50:50 handling to be true to the car. A 924 is ideal but power gains will be expensive and I dont rate 968`s over a turbo at all.

 

[Neil Haughey]

All good stuff. I would only ever convert a car if it was one you already owned, like my S2 for example. I am in the same boat as Peter was a few years back in that if I sold the car I would take a massive hit since I spent several years getting the car mechanically spot on. The main problem with doing a track/race project conversion is the following dilema;
route 1: Pay someone else to do all the preparation. Very expensive of course.
route 2: Do it yourself, massively time consuming, and I really do mean massively. I have only just started the process on my S2 after about 2 months of scouring the internet, thinking, and pouring over the FIA/MSA regulation and PCGB regulations followed by more scouring of the internet, study every picture of every 944 prepared before for answers etc. I am still undecided on a couple of things but for me this is a very interesting project. Anyone who isn't an engineer or a DIY freak shouldn't even think for more then 2 seconds about going down this route.

If neither 1 or 2 are palatable, and I imagine for most ppl this is the case then the next route is to buy a car already done.

If I didn't already own a 944 and a 968 then I would strongly advise to buy one of the 968 race cars for sale on Pistonheads in the tintop race cars section. There must have been 1/2 a dozen on there the other night, any one of those cars could make an awesome trackday car.

 

[ArBee]

What can I say guys but thanks for the input.

I recognise all the arguments and counter arguments and I expeced them but you have all helped in the process.
I thought about buying a racing car just for the track or someones track car but I also wanted to get involved with a build project.

Thanks for the advice one and all and if I do go with the 944 I will let you know.

RB

 

[A.Wang]

Just another thought on why someone might want to convert a road car into a track toy...in my case, I bought a "ready-made" track car (Toyota Supra Mk3) to learn circuit driving, only to discover problem after problem with how the conversion was done. A bit of Internet research later and I found out that most of the initial "work" was done on the cheap by a 19 year-old guy with a particular taste for going sideways and no qualifications in mechanical engineering!

It ended up costing me several times the purchase price to have all the suspension, brakes, and other oily bits changed to make it handle and drive properly on track...most of which I wouldn't get back when I sell the car.

Unless you know and trust the full history and the guy who did all the initial conversion work, e.g. someone from this forum or PCGB, and know exactly what parts were put on the car, you'd never have that peace of mind...which is what prompted me to get an S2 and get all the bits I wanted/needed for it in consultation with the hugely knowledgeable boys at EMC!

Just the two pennies worth from a sleepless guy...[]

 

[edh]

There's a difference between buying a "track" car and a racing car (or should be) - the first, as you say, could be a complete lash up and it's quite a risk. The second will have some sort of race history - will have been prepared properly to meet a set of regs and not even the best drivers win many races with cars that handle poorly. I bought my car from a chap who had just won the BARC sprint champs in it - not a race car, but a well set up road going sprint car. It hasn't stopped me having to spend money on fixing stuff as it breaks - but it had been well sorted & maintained before I bought it.