Okay, so most people don’t seem to get into the race cars I’ve been posting. That’s okay; I get that owning a race car is a bit of a luxury and doesn’t make sense for 99.9% of the population; they’re compromised vehicles that are expensive to maintain and generally spend a tremendous amount of time doing exactly nothing. Think of it then as a 401K, then; but instead of a crazy year end bonus to some CEO you’ll never meet, you get to once in a while take it out to the track. What better way to achieve this than with an affordable track/race car?
Many times when instructing students at the track, I’m asked what they should do to the car; often times the answer is that it’s better to look at a track car if you’re serious about going to the track. Two of the best and most affordable options are the Porsche 944 and BMW M3; sporting offerings in their original configuration from two sporting manufacturers, they offered near perfect balance, good aftermarket parts availability, plenty of competition if you want to go racing at the next level and – best of all – you can do it all on a budget. Let’s start with the M3: