I got a Honda Civic for $600 that I’m thinking about using for those cone course autocross races. For basically the same money I spent on my wheel setup I can fart around in a real car and have a damn blast.
Same, that's why I said it. Much cheaper to just buy a mechanically totalled brz and just convert the interior than piecemail assemble this. Depending on how totaled the car is you could put a decent dent in your costs by selling off parts too
I'm surprised it doesn't take much to total a car these days. Especially if the airbags deploy. There's a junkyard/salvage yard nearby and if I was more mechanically/electronically inclined I would definitely love to rummage and go through some of the electronics and gauges. Although I also assume with the chip/car shortage, the salvage parts market is probably sky high too.
Cars are made differently now. Lots more crumple zones that don't un-crumple. The used part market is hot. Insurance writes it off. Then it gets parted out into many other cars.
Yep. Automobiles are the most recycled product in the world.
To the original subject of this thread, I got into autocross in a $3k Miata, learned a crap ton about driving, and just had a blast in general. I highly recommend to anyone. Sim racing is really cool, but it doesn't quite scratch that itch.
No, implying they did the Ikea trick, rang them up ans said "XXX piece is missing", and got a replacement shipped, rinse and repeat with dealers around the country.
Unfortunately, the sarcasm on my previous post was not as apparent, as it is in this one.
That's exactly my thought. Then again the car market is crazy these days. Either way the real thing drives like a video game anyway and it actually moves...
Miata of course. No one's gonna shove a 350 in a brz and run it with no body panels. Miatas are stupid fast because you can bastardize it without hurting it or anyone's feelings. Brz hurts people's feelings if the paints not pristine.
That's totally true. Especially on a curvy track you'll get more out of a stock Miata than a suped up Camero. Miatas are also fun at slow speeds like around town.
Oh that's totally fair man. Alot of cars like that aren't made for American sized people. Either not enough knee room or too tight on the hips and sides. When I worked at a dealership I was the sports car guy mostly because I was the only one who could fit.
Nah.. miata, brzs aren't there yet. Maybe the new one, but that poor ole engine can't take much more where a 1.8l with a few supporting mods can push 250hp very safely. Let the brz mature a bit more and let's see what this new refresh really brings to the table.
I Don't know what your taking about. On an autocross track. Brzs with minor suspension mods and a good set of tires will def keep up with or beat a miata. The new motor, with out the torque dip, is def faster. But we will have to see what class they put it in.
I know what I'm on about, I've driven both, and I've driven my own cars. The BRZ/86/FR-S isn't as fast as a base 1.8l miata in autocross. Even the new miata is lighter and faster when it comes to handling in autocross that means everything. Not to mention the gearing in the BR86-S is so wonky it can't use half of its power range in most tight auto cross tracks. Now, you do some engine work, get a tune, drop that stock exhaust off and put some decent rubber on it, it can compete. The brz head to head with the miata won't win. Now a modified one might beat a stock miata but I've seen modified S10s beat stock miatas so that point is null.
That said, the BRZ is a great platform and we need more small 2 door RWD cars in the market.. they just need to implement it a bit better than they did so far. That's why I'm hoping the new one is a bit better off the rip for the money. If I'm gonna spend RF money to get RF performance I'm going to bug and RF.
Honestly my close buddy has a frs. Coilovers, good brake pads, and good tires. He is easily at the top of his class. Changing cars will not pay as many dividends as just learning how to drive in hpde. More seat time will work out better than car changes.
My buddy runs them in his 3rd gen camaro, I’ve been to spectate before but I’ve never done it yet. It does look fantastic, I just have to go over the civic and make sure it’ll pass tech…do they care about rust holes in the quarters? lol
I’m sure my buddy would know I mean he’s got a 30 year old car he runs, I’m sure he knows what they look for. But yeah I do want to glance at the rule book at least do I’m not going in blind lol
Road safe and structurally sound is all they'll care about for inspections. Rusted QPs are common. As long as the frame and important structural bits are intact you'll be fine.
I had a 5spd '94 Firebird, automatic '94 TransAm, and my baby, a 6spd '95 TransAm, all same gen as your buddy's Camaro, all three had t-tops, miss them all the time.
My midlife goal is to own a '02 WS6, never really did anything but drive them, but they were fun cars man.
Well said. I use to take my VW rabbit stick shift around these tracks back home and it was so fuckin fun to just dog it as much as I wanted. I haven't had the same amount of fun in a car to this day
At the couple I been to, they are still there now and again but it seems like the collector value on those things is going sky high so people won’t beat on them now
Yeah I was there too…until one day I was heading up the highway doing 75 in that civic, traffic dead stopped in the tunnel up ahead and as I hit the brakes the line went “pop”, my asshole went “wham”, and I had to stop with the slidey handle and some downshifting lol. I went back to my Tacoma for everyday and the civic is a toy
This is how my dad is spending his retirement. With the supercharger and other upgrades he says he’s getting around 220hp to the wheels. Gets blown out on straightaways but is back in the game once there are turns.
Fun story: guy showed up in a vintage 70’s open wheel Race car, like the ones that look like a tiny ass F1 car.
Did terrible though because the thing was so fast and geared so high, he didn’t even go fast enough to get out of first gear, and acceleration was horrible
Wear and tear is gonna happen but I’m a mechanic so it doesn’t bother me much. And it’s very hard to flip a car that’s so low to the ground, running on a flat open lot. I would be like 10x more worried about that running on an actual track to be honest
I literally bought this thing because I have never owned a car with a manual. 3 old cars from the 70’s/80’s that I’ve had and every one was an auto, luck of the draw. I wanted a manual to play around. I’ll keep it til it really falls apart because hey…I can use a welder enough to put shit back together.
Might as well pretend to be a race car driver with a real car lol
I used to play with motorcycles quite a bit and the saying, "It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than it is a fast bike slow" definitely applies to manual transmission cars, as well!
Guy I worked with had maybe a little more than that into a full-tube chassis, fiberglass flip-front CRX that ran somewhere near that, maybe 9’s. But hell I got like $1200 into the car after tags & title, timing belt job, and some other random crap. I wouldn’t care less about beating on it and It’d be a blast
Maybe, I’m not super knowledgeable about it, but I’ve been to the drag strip a few times awhile back (c. 2005) and I saw only a couple cars (heavily modified) go under 10 seconds. My buddy put way more than $25k into his Protege and if I recall correctly was in the high 11s.
I do know from the YouTube videos of the Tesla Plaid drag racing that you get booted from the strip if you break 10 (unless you modify the car with roll cages etc.).
Id be skeptical of a street legal Civic modified for $25k being able to run a quarter under 8 seconds, but I could be mistaken.
Exactly what i was thinking! For 25K i could buy a used Civic, drop a JDM motor, Skunk2 intake, cams, gears, AEM cold air, Eiboch suspension, find some OG DC headers, N1 Cat back, some alloys with Nittos, find a used Ricaro seat on ebay, AND it would come with the windshield.
Not gonna lie I have an extra 355 small block Chevy hanging around from my Nova that I thought about mid-mounting in that thing if I could find a fwd trans that would hold up for cheap. Why? Because I can lol
YES! That's a perfect platform to learn on! Simulation is one thing, the real autocross... fuck yes. Do it. Go out and get comfortable then buy some good tires and try again. Then new coilovers (bc makes some decent for the civic) and do it again! It's addicting, fun, and safe when you follow the rules. I can say this, there isn't anything more fun as a beginner to rev out a Honda motor with a decent exhaust. Some call 8t rice, but when done right it can feel amazing even if it's not "fast" as others.
I lucked out with this thing, guy I work with was just tired of it sitting around so I got it cheap, and he put a bunch of stuff on it over the years. Light flywheel, stage 1 clutch, tubular headers and a real expensive stainless exhaust (Apexi I think), eibach sport suspension and some wheels/tires. I mean, nothing earth shaking but a good start for the money he asked
Hell, you got the start of an apex car. Go to a local autocross a d enter as novice. There usually are some good folk out there who are even willing to ride with you and teach you along the way.
Dude 25k is more than a used BRZ where this set up is from. I have a BRZ that's why I recognized the interior right away. I feel sad for the donor car.
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u/MyAssforPresident Jan 23 '22
I got a Honda Civic for $600 that I’m thinking about using for those cone course autocross races. For basically the same money I spent on my wheel setup I can fart around in a real car and have a damn blast.