I race a 944 because it offers a lot of fun per dollar.

I also have a Miata street car. Great car when stock, and lots of factory support for go-fast parts.

Both have extensive racing experience, so the upgrades that work the best are widely known. I think both are among the best for reliable, inexpensive race cars.

Saw one at the track. Oil starvation and severe rear toe out under cornering made this pup dangerous to drive behind.

I think I found a Miata donor car for $1800 in the spec miata site, it might be worth a shot huh?

Donor cars are usually deceased and used for part/organ donation. Do you already have a car/recipient worthy of reviving?

My friend also runs with the Alfa club. He has an older non-spec Miata that he just loves. It corners like it's on rails, but some of that is from lack of power. He can just about mash it in the turns and can't spin. On the track he makes big gains in the turns but get blown away on the straights.

He has just recently took the plunge and invested into a supercharger. Not yet installed, I'm sure it will take some added skill to drive. He will no longer be able to depend on the lack of power to help in the corners, but no doubt will be more competitive overall.

Donor for spec car, in other words it has a bad top and bad paint, but runs good and has just over 80K miles

Everybody already knows this, but it's good to repeat anyway. The way to get around spending too much $ to go racing with ANY car is to buy one that's already pretty much done. Sure, you're never actually "done."

But if you want to start inexpensive and then incrementally improve the car, a beater is the ticket in that case. The Miata is hard to beat. Great platform and lots of product out there. The MR2 is not nearly as popular.

I'm not too familiar with the 1st gen MR2. I did drive a supercharged 1st gen for awhile. Fun car. Kinda rickety though. The 2nd gen is a big improvement as far as Toyota quality. Problem is increased weight and you need a '93-95 to get the improved rear suspension that helps quell the snap oversteer condition that plagues the previous 92-85 cars.

Race whatever you want. Heck, I got a porky Laser RS AWD Turbo that i'd love to set up to race/DE. All it needs is some brakes, wheels/tires, radiator, seats, serious weight loss program, lowering springs, alignment kit, exhaust system (gotta sound racy, you know.......), safety harnesses, trans. rebuild, head job, sway bars, ...................... No big deal. :rolleyes: Like I said. Buy one that's already set up. Sure it's more expensive initially and you don't get the "fun" of DIY with the race prep. But it saves you $ in the long run.

I was thinking the same thing, buy someone else's spec miata already done.

I think I know who you are refering to (Pat). He is very competitive currently but with a supercharger he gets bumped up a class. His new class is much more competitive. The Alfa Club classes time trial cars based on HP/weight and street or race tires.

By the way my brother has a Miata for sale currently. It's a 94 with a rollbar already installed.

What's the matter with a 914-2.0? Still available for less than $5000 and handles and go as well as any of these later cars. Besides you can swap in your 911 engines and run both cars after engine swaps.