Track car recommendations

[874age]

As above
I'm doing some man maths on a track day only car

I've been following stav tech and zurawski motorsports Toyota mr2 (mk3) 1.8t swap online and it looks like it would make an ideal track car.

300bhp with similar torque, sub 900kg with roll cage,bucket sears,light weight hard top.

Car would work out just under €10k mapped and ready to drive on track .



Has anyone else been following there work?any advice on the setup (good or bad)


Or is there something better suited for €10k budget

[Bootdog]

There was an MR2 mk2 on a trackday with me some years back, fully stripped and caged, arrived on a trailer, the full works.

I assume it was an NA as my VX220 NA could keep up on the straights, but it was holding me up on the bends. I was impressed overall by it, although I was able to hop in mine at the end and drive home.

I remember thinking that a small bump in the VX220 could easily write it off (tub or fibreglass clam damage), and that an MR2 would be a safer bet, without giving up much/any fun.

Are you planning to do a few trackdays before the engine swap? I ran mine as an NA for years before supercharging it. That way gave me a great run of trackdays to get familiar with the car and gradually upgrade, and by the time the SC was done, the chassis brakes tyres etc were well fit for the extra power. There's also great satisfaction that comes from nailing your lines and driving on the limits to keep up with something else much 'faster'.

There is someone on here who has/had a mk3 with a load of chassis work done (bracing / subframe stuff) and his car sounded like a lot of fun.

[874age]

There was an MR2 mk2 on a trackday with me some years back, fully stripped and caged, arrived on a trailer, the full works.

I assume it was an NA as my VX220 NA could keep up on the straights, but it was holding me up on the bends. I was impressed overall by it, although I was able to hop in mine at the end and drive home.

I remember thinking that a small bump in the VX220 could easily write it off (tub or fibreglass clam damage), and that an MR2 would be a safer bet, without giving up much/any fun.

Are you planning to do a few trackdays before the engine swap? I ran mine as an NA for years before supercharging it. That way gave me a great run of trackdays to get familiar with the car and gradually upgrade, and by the time the SC was done, the chassis brakes tyres etc were well fit for the extra power. There's also great satisfaction that comes from nailing your lines and driving on the limits to keep up with something else much 'faster'.

There is someone on here who has/had a mk3 with a load of chassis work done (bracing / subframe stuff) and his car sounded like a lot of fun.

I'm planning on buying one with the conversion done,along with coilovers, roll cage,bucket seats track pads etc.

if it works out,it should be relatively cheap to maintain, fix in comparison to similar cars with power to weight ratio. If its reliable and cheap to maintain/ fix it should give me more money and time for seat time.


Stav has one running just over 500bhp,with uprated rods,huge injectors and turbo.
I'll probably never go for that sort of power but it's nice to have the option there if needed.

[Tristan]

There's a guy in Offaly, near me, semi specialising in these as a sideline. Starlets and Mr2s . He's had many, many good , quick cars over the years, like Skylines etc, but he reckons the MR2 is the best handling car he's ever had. He buys a sells them fairly often, often doing a 2zz upgrade. Iirc, he's doing a K20 turbo in his own project one.

They are so incredibly light, it's easy to see how they can handle and stop so well.

[Titan]

There's a guy in Offaly, near me, semi specialising in these as a sideline. Starlets and Mr2s . He's had many, many good , quick cars over the years, like Skylines etc, but he reckons the MR2 is the best handling car he's ever had. He buys a sells them fairly often, often doing a 2zz upgrade. Iirc, he's doing a K20 turbo in his own project one.

They are so incredibly light, it's easy to see how they can handle and stop so well.

Does he do the conversions for track cars only or road cars as well?

[Ptank]

Dannydc2 on YouTube had a k20 swapped one at some stage. Looked like a right hoot

[Tristan]

Does he do the conversions for track cars only or road cars as well?

I'm not sure, both I'd say.

[Taz]

For general reliability and ability to take absolute abuse, you can't go too far wrong with a 90's Honda.
Might not be the most powerful car on track, but the likes of Mondello tends to suit well set up cars, as opposed to big power monsters.
Plus there's an absolute abundance of aftermarket choices, and they're all a bit like lego.

[Golfgor]

Theres a very nice Mr2 Mk1 on donedeal race ready for small money, would be a great reliable fast rack car tbh....

[874age]

Thanks for the replies lads.

Didn't end up going this route,stuck with similar idea though.
Lightweight and cheap to replace/ repair most parts.

[Roarsbaby]

Thanks for the replies lads.

Didn't end up going this route,stuck with similar idea though.
Lightweight and cheap to replace/ repair most parts.

Spill!!

[874age]

Spill!!

mev exocet (basically mazda mx5 only lighter/cooler imo)

Screenshot_20230331_234926_Facebook.jpg

[Notch000]

pleas give us some more info on this, i had considered building on of these as a b road blaster. akin to a much cheaper Cathern 7 type toy. I went down the rabbit hole and realisied it would be unregisterable here give the original Mx5 chassis was gone/changed..

The orange is class, not so much the alloys are they wolfrace ??

load of questions.........
1.6/1.8 VVTI ?? turbo / SC ???
Weight ?

[874age]

I looked at kit cars alot over the years and was always put off by the uncertainty of registering/insuring them.
this is for track use only so none of the above applied.

Yes,they are brand new wolf race katana's.
I'm not a fan of them either but I'm just going to focus on seat time for the foreseeable.

it's a 98 1.8 engine, 130bhp ish
plenty of potential for upgrades once (if)I get use to the stock power.from what I'm told the power will be more than enough for now with the reduced weight.
I believe its high 600 to low 700kg but not 100% yet.

Looking forward to getting it home and even more so to getting it out on track.

hopefully get a few dry track days 😂

[Notch000]

I would assume they weigh a ton. you should look at some cheap OEM Mx5 wheels, some of them are very light like 5-6kg, would help unstrung weight on somehting like this
https://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html
Stock power + ITBs FTW !!!

Car is screaming for some ITBs as well