gregh

My Scoob is 60k/3 years old by December this year, so am considering the diesel and track day car route.

The short list is an Elise/VX-220 or Caterfield. Obviously the Caterfield has an advantage on performance/excitment, however I don't want to trailer my track day car to trackdays, I want to drive it there, potentially do a whole track day and drive it back.

Due to the fact I'm in the UK this could mean a couple of hours on motorways in various weather, which is where the Elise/VX220 has the advantage.

So do Caterfield owners drive there,do the day and drive back, or mostly trailer the car there?

cheers,

greg

[Edited by gregh - 7/18/2002 3:46:21 PM]

chris p1

Hi Greg
I drive my Westfield to all my track days about 8 so far this year,its not a problem as most Caterfield type cars have wet weather gear which is ok you still get a bit wet but your a racing driver so no big deal The only problem comes when you have a prang like i did at Brands then your are stuck big time or blow up like i did at Rockinham as the AA/RAC won't come and get you from a race track,i'm lucky and have a friend with a flat bed Don't go for a Elise type car as for half the money you can go twice as quick with a sorted Caterfield.
Chris.

GaryC

Hi Greg, sorry I didn't answer your earlier question. No I haven't taken mine on track yet, but got one booked for september, and poss do one in August.

I'm going to tow mine. Couple of reasons. Like you, all tracks are at least an hour (and all but 2 are over two hours) away. My Westie is a bike-engined variant with no screen or roof, which make it the awesome for raw thrills but less so as a mile muncher. You can do and hour or two drive, but after 2 hours on a motorway, the last thing I would want is a day of driving round a circuit, and most definitely the last thing you would want after driving all day at a circuit is to drive for 2 hours on a motorway!

Also, worst case, if any thing happens (mechanical or accident) it would be easy to trailer it back!

Plus, the 330d is just begging to be a tow car


That being said, I know plenty of people who do drive to tracks in BECs, and a whole troop drove to Le Mans and back last month

GEJL

As said above, you can do it, but if it rains, it won't be much fun. I used to drive my Caterham to track days, both with full weather protection and (in later race trim) with just a race aeroscreen. The latter is pretty hard work, and I used to trailer it when I could (especially for races, but that was more due to damage worries).

But I sold the Caterham shortly after I got an Elise, when I did a back to back track day with both of them, and the Elise was just as good on track as the Caterham. BIG BUT BEFORE I GET FLAMED: This was only a 100bhp live-axle Caterham. A 200bhp DeDion will be infinitely quicker than a standard Elise!

But if you're talking secondhand, for £16k-odd you could get pretty similar spec Caterhams and Elises. Like a 190bhp version of either - OK the Caterham would be ultimately quicker, but at the expense of a bit of practiality. If your budget is £10k or less then a Caterham is the only practical choice - though you could get more bang for your buck with a Westie or other 'copy'

And get a full cage and side impact protection bars and a harness!

catflap

I just picked up a megablade for 10k, nice car, much much quicker than my scoob was in every way (cept wet)

Not tracked it yet, but i much prefer it to my scoob