Or you could buy my Spitfire!!!!!!
Photo courtesy Historic Sportscar Racing
Need an expensive prototype or GT car to go vintage or historic racing? Think again. Here are four low-cost options that can quickly get you on grid.
Photo by Darin McNeal.
Yes, you can go historic racing with a Miata. Austin Farr competes with a Spec Miata in HSR. “You can get them prebuilt from as low as $10,000 to as a high as $30,000,” he says. “Tires cost $850 a set, and we only needed one set. Fuel was pump gas, and it cost $120 for the weekend.”
Cars are plentiful. Parts are even more abundant. Knowledgeable experts are just a phone call or email away. There’s no question why many in motorsport say Miata is always “the answer.”
“Easy to learn, hard to master,” Austin adds. “It’s a bit easier to find the limit of grip than other, more expensive cars. The biggest difference in finding speed with a Miata is between those who can drive it at 99.5% and those who can drive it at 99.9%. “
One bonus of running a Spec Miata? You’re equally as welcome in HSR as you are at SCCA, NASA or other groups, increasing the opportunities to go racing.
Photo courtesy Historic Sportscar Racing.
Can a model with roots back to the ’50s still be a race car value buy? Gary Johnson, a longtime MG/Austin-Healey racer and owner of East Tennessee Race Prep, thinks so. He cites a turnkey Spridget race car recently put up for sale for $25,000–and it included three sets of wheels, a gearbox and two spare engines.
Gary says that parts and support remain abundant for the MG Midget/Austin-Healey Sprite. The car is also easy to work on, with a carburetor and a distributor instead of advanced electronics and computers. Also, as the Midget name implies, it’s small, not requiring a huge trailer or storage space.
As far as consumables, Gary says 8 gallons of fuel gets you through a weekend and tires last for four or more weekends. Plus, brakes can survive multiple seasons.
Of our low-cost options, the MG Midget/Austin-Healey Sprite is also the only one that provides an open-cockpit experience–Spec Miatas must run a hardtop. “Driving a good one is like driving a go-kart,” Gary says. “They’re light. You can toss them and catch them. They’re fun.”
Photo by Darin McNeal.
“I call it my German Miata,” Ramsey Potts says of his Porsche 944. He started by buying a 944 for $7500 out of the Porsche Club of America classifieds. Then, Ramey says, he spent an additional $15,000 on an engine rebuild that focused more on reliability than performance.
He also bolted on better brakes and suspension. Ramsey estimates you’ll spend roughly $50,000 for a race-ready 944 that needs nothing, but $25,000 will get you on track today. He reminds us that he took his time building his 944 and initially raced it as a work in progress.
Is a 944 more expensive than a Miata? Certainly. But a 944 is an inexpensive way into the Porsche brand. And by virtue of that Porsche shield on the nose, you get an in with the PCA, one of the largest organizations supporting a marque. Parts and aftermarket resources are readily available. And as far as driving, Ramsey says, “It’s crazy easy to drive. It’s such a balanced car.”
Photo by Darin McNeal.
Wait, don’t NASCAR stock cars cost six figures at least? Not the old ones–especially those from NASCAR’s heyday in the mid-1990s to early 2000s. You’ll see examples sell for $10,000 to $20,000 in various configurations.
While many were built to turn left only, road course versions do exist and are the preferred choice in historic racing. You can make an oval-track car work, but it’s more than a suspension change. For cars built around 1996 to 2007, oval-track cars often skewed their bodies and chassis toward turning left, which requires more effort to overcome those tendencies.
Note that these vehicles also burn more fuel and tires than our other recommendations, and tires cost a bit more, running roughly $375 apiece. Race-used rubber from current NASCAR Xfinity Series teams go for half that. Old NASCAR fabricators can rebuild bodies, and the same goes for other unique parts.
Unlike the other cars mentioned, NASCAR stock cars are far from a momentum race car. They deliver 700-plus horsepower and weigh a minimum of 3300 pounds, making them unlike anything else in historic racing.
“It’s a blast,” says Carlus Gann, a big proponent of historic stock car racing. “You gotta work it. It’s a four-speed transmission. It doesn’t have traction control. I like a car you gotta drive.”
Or you could buy my Spitfire!!!!!!
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