Arrive and drive or not?

I have a quandary.

I currently own a 2006 MX-5 sport. It is, save some brand names, a copy of the GRM STR project. 235/45/17 Starspecs on 17x9's, Racing Beat sways, Eibach coilovers so on and so forth.

My problem is this. It is nothing more than a shiny ornament in my garage except for race days. I have two kids, so using it as a daily is not an ideal scenario.

An autocross every second week and a couple of track days during the summer. I'm in Alberta, Canada, so our season is basically 3 months of the year.

Previous to this, I've always had cars that require some improvement or some attention during and off season. Basically crap boxes. But it was fun, and gave me something to do on the weekend that I really enjoyed.

The constant search for used R compounds, patching the rust holes, replacing wheel bearings.....

The MX-5? Change oil at beginning of season, go race, park for winter, repeat.

So I'm torn about selling it. It is quite fast locally, and dead reliable. But I want so many other cars. The down side is that I don't want to exchange my 15k dollar MX-5 for a 5k car, invest 5 k in mods and have a car that is slower and still only worth 5k.

On the flip side of that, I most certainly do not want to fold up my MX-5 at a track event either. I'll be requiring a new spouse and residence if that happens.

So I guess it come to this: New and fast and dull or older, possibly slower and interesting.

What do you think?

You can't afford to wad it up on a track, but you want to do track days. Sell it.

Find something that someone had already poured money into. Fix the small things that will invariably be wrong with it, and then enjoy it with the knowledge that breaking it or wrecking it isn't the end of the world.

Find another Miata, but older and less expensive. Chances are you'll find one already suited for track and autocross and substantially cheaper.

Keep it, use it, flog it, and dont forget to buy the track day insurance from Lockton Affinity or the other track day insurance brokers.

MG Bryan wrote: You can't afford to wad it up on a track, but you want to do track days. Sell it.

I dont think thats the issue, it sounds more to me like selling it would be a big loss of money. I would say keep it and just use it.

Travis_K wrote:

MG Bryan wrote: You can't afford to wad it up on a track, but you want to do track days. Sell it.

I dont think thats the issue, it sounds more to me like selling it would be a big loss of money. I would say keep it and just use it.

colaboy wrote: I most certainly do not want to fold up my MX-5 at a track event either. I'll be requiring a new spouse and residence if that happens.

Seems to me that he can't afford to wreck it.

Well how much is a new spouse these days?

Buy an E36 M3 + mods or (insert other world class RWD 4 dr sedan with touring car podiums on 5 continents that mortals can afford).

It will be 12k - 18k with an excellent example + DIY mods.
It will be stupid fast.
It will haul a wife, 2 kids and a trunk full of groceries.
It will haul a buddy, a cooler, 4 race tires, tools and overnite bags to the track.
It will be dead reliable with proper care and feeding.
It will still be a shiny toy.

A 911 C2 also works with a little higher buy in (but no depreciation to account for), no room for track tires, less groceries - but my 9 & 12yr olds still fits in the back pretty well so it counts as a 4 passenger car for weekend family fun.

Sell it to me? I'd love a copy of the GRM STR car!

colaboy wrote: . On the flip side of that, I most certainly do not want to fold up my MX-5 at a track event either. I'll be requiring a new spouse and residence if that happens. What do you think?

I think that the first rule of racing is that if you can't emotionally or financially afford to leave the car in the track dumpster, you should not be on the track with the car.

Besides the obvious downside to living in the doghouse in your geographical area, caring too much about the car is going to slow you down.

Time to go Lemons or crapcan racing.

Thanks for the input.

I can, strictly speaking, afford to ball it up. Now when I say that, I mean we could continue to eat and such. Emotionally, I'm not so sure..... I do love the car. Plus being beat to death with a bent coilover by my wife does not sound all that appealing.

Funny it got mentioned, I sold my 91 Miata when I got this one. A stupid fun car that suffered mightily at my hand for 5 years.

I think the theme of risking "too much" at the track holds true. I'm not concerned about autocross, we have a great venue free of posts and curbs and what not. The track I use is decent, but I find myself searching for that elusive tenth of a second every lap.

This despite having a frank discussion with myself on the offset that I'm here for fun, not to win the world championship. I've dipped a wheel off a couple times pushing too hard.

The answer seems clear, so why can't I pull the trigger and sell it?

My quandary. Damn you for being so quick/attractive!

Track day insurance solves the wadding it up part.

I'm hearing you say you need a project because you already have a great race car.

What classic cars does your wife like?

I don't completely agree that "if you can't afford to destroy it, don't take it on the track". There's a difference between taking calculated risks and being stupid - and car prep is part of that, so you don't have a failure that bumps you off. Track days are a pretty controlled environment, you're not worried about Joe Racer bumping you off so he can gain a position. Anyhow, back to the problem at hand...

Looks to me like the real problem is that you don't drive it except on competition days because of the kids. There's nothing stopping you from making that car a good daily driver year-round - except for the number of seats. So it sounds to me as if the solution is more seats. Something like an M3 or a Mazda3/Protege5/WRX/etc. You can drive it daily with offspring on board so you can enjoy the car, and you can still take it on the autox course or the track.

I'm weird about cars, so what do I know? I could afford a "nice" car. But I have a '91 E Stock MR2 and I'm building the odd-ball FSP '84 Celica. Now, the MR2 has next to nothing in it. Got it for 3K, Tokico struts all around, ST front bar. I got a great deal on some used race wheels. I did have to put an engine in it, but the upside is it's dead on crazy nuts reliable.

The Celica I have some money in. Now that's weird, 'cause it looks like such a beater. But it's got pretty good stuff under it. For the money I've spent on it so far, I could probably have a pretty decent, if older, M3. But somehow it's just not the same.

So, for me, the "value" of having a weird project is worth it. People look at it and smile. It's a happy little car. Weird, but happy. And I love driving it. So I say, if it's boring, it has to go. If you don't stay up at night figuring out how to make it work, it's not a "toy". Sounds like you already have a "real" car. Your toy should be a toy, not a sporting appliance.

But I'm weird about cars.

If you're not using it, and are afraid of the wife's reaction if something were to happen, sell it. I've had cars in the past that were worth $15k or more that sat in the garage most of the time, and I wind up selling them because it made no sense to me to have an expensive car that just sits in the garage. If I was rich, different story, but since I'm not...

You said yourself that you go for fun, not to win a world championship. Nothing says you can't feel competitve with a less expensive car. No matter what kind of car you have, you can always try to shave a tenth off your last run. And if you can go out with a clear mind not worried about what happens if you wad it up, won't you have more fun?