Would You Daily Drive a Race Car?

We admit, using a race car as a daily driver sounds really cool, but actually making your commute to and from work in something whose only creature comforts are vents in the windows and a seat for the driver can get old pretty quickly. However, if the car in question is a classic race car, doe…

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I'm gonna have to for the next few weeks! I'll report back. 

Already done done. Built 260z. Ridiculous cold idle with manual choke. Old Ferrari 308 seats. 800lb springs. Six puck. No ac, not even a blower. Only safety device was a four point. Manual everything.  A diff packed so tight it may as well have been locked, and straight cut gears. 25yr old me loved it. Not sure I would now. 

Dodge Viper ACR with a Tilton clutch and 1400lb spring rates with full hard poly bushings. I loved it. My back hated it. 8K miles that way. 

But I am insane and decided to use my Model A ater that. 

I dailied my Camaro for a while but two things made me loose interest in that.  One is that I'm really not really responsible enough to drive a 640hp car on public roads.  The other is that it turns out I like AC, a good stereo, bluetooth connectivity, power windows and not having to climb over roll cage door bars as part of my daily commute.

Apparently, I'm at an awkward age.  Not old enough to be trusted with a race car on the street and yet too old to enjoy it.

This comes to mind. 
 

We started racing in LeMons. I kept the car street legal because I didn't have a trailer and for the first couple races the track was about 70-80 miles from home. But crawling in and out of it is a PITA. Seatbelts take time, need ear plugs for the noise, no heat or A/C, only a cool shirt cooler. The attention on the street is good and bad. Kids love it. Other people probably think, look at this nut job, thinks he has a race car... The po-po only stopped me once, because no front plate. One of the more fun things was passing other racers towing their car to or from the track. We did have the honor(?) of being the first LeMons winning car to be driven to the track. We also had to have AAA tow it home because race car. One time the tow truck driver said, I've towed Corvettes, Mustangs, Porsches, BMWs, Miatas from this track, but never a Taurus. That's LeMons for ya.

I drove an MGB every day when I was in college. Does that count? 

My racecar is more comfortable and gets better fuel economy than my daily. Then again, my racecar isn't what most of you would classify as a racecar except for the fact it's gutted and caged. The lack of HVAC can also be a problem...

I dailyed it for a month while my BMW was down for paint. My teammate dailyed it on and off as a law firm courier one summer. I've taken a few long roadtrips in it from NC to NJ and from FL to SC.

Does an underprepped ES Miata count as a racecar? Because that's also the daily at the moment. 

My 17 year old just bought a an Ex- TSD/Rallycross Saab 900 to daily drive 

I had to drive my SM prepped AE86 as a daily for awhile. Was it fun? Sure but only because I could take back roads to work. Now that I have to drive in normal traffic there is no way I'd do it.

My truck hasn't had AC in.... 8 years?  Little more practical than a racecar, but sure I'll give it a go.

In reply to Daylan C (Forum Supporter) :

No.   That's literally just a Miata. 

In short: no

There is pretty much no a situation in which I would commute in the race car over any other vehicle I own. Since it is a stage rally car it is street legal and registered, But I've still never driven to work in it. It is after all a full-blown actual race car. Not a Miata with a bolt in 4-point cage that some people may call a race car.

Besides, My actual daily driver is both substantially faster and get substantially better fuel economy than the race car. And it's actually comfortable and pleasant to be in.

I kept my Spec E30 street legal so I could 'test' it on occasion. It was fully caged and fully stickered. People would stare. Getting in and out of the thing was never graceful. My wife did drive it to work one day when her car was in the shop. She thought it was a fun thing to do...once.

The novelty quickly wore off. I didn't even tag the M3 HPDE car that replaced it.

I drove my IT MR2 for a few weeks years ago as a daily.  Climbing in over a cage, no interior and loud is not a pleasant way to commute.  At 57yo, that's a hard no today.  

In some places wearing anything other than the DOT seatbelt is considered as interfering with the regular seat belt. I'm not sure you'd want to go with no helmet, just the DOT seatbelt, in a car with a roll cage...

Perhaps I'm using too narrow of a definition, but IMHO "race car" means a full cage, and a full cage means you don't drive it without a helmet.  So by that definition, no, I wouldn't.

I drove mine on the street as a DD for a few years. No long commute. Pull up next to a school bus and the windows of the bus would be filled with phones. People always trying to catch up to the car kept me watching my rear view mirrors more than I normally would in say my truck.

I eventually took all the stickers & numbers off when using on the street to try to draw less attention after seeing someone in my rear view mirror get T boned making a left turn to follow me.  I knew the car was trying to catch up with me for maybe 1/2 mile before the traffic light.  I turned left on green through a gap in oncoming 2 lane traffic.  I'd guess the driver trying to catch up to me didn't pay attention to the oncoming (obviously speeding) car while looking at my car. In my mirror I saw the speeder with brakes locked,  skidding at probably 30-40 MPH still when it smashed hard into the passenger side door of my follower knocking the car across a couple lanes.

Climbing in and out of a car with full cage and 6 point harnesses takes a little longer but not being able to turn my head around to back up was the most notable thing. I did modify the head halos of the seats because they were originally designed as NASCAR seats and I couldn't see past the halos well enough to see traffic to the right at intersections.

Best question I got was at the post office. "Do you race your Ferrari?"  ........ I just couldn't resist "Yes, I do!"

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I did it for several years before full roll cages were required. No top, no heat, sweep the snow out and drive to work. I won't do it in a car with a cage, but I would still run that Healey if I still had it. Photo from Feb. 1976

I don't even daily my moderately lowered Miata. Rain, cold, heat, dirt roads, need for cargo space, long highway miles, or feeling lazy about crawling out of the damned thing push me into the other car.

So no, I wouldn't have any desire to crawl in and out of a caged car every day. On top of that, cages = helmets.

For a few years I daily-drove my open class stage rally mazda 323 gtx.

Jeebus. Just reading that sentence has me srsly questioning my IQ, sanity, life choices and common sense.

Covid has me thinking of all kinds of bad daily drivers now that I'm not daily driving... 

NOT A TA said:

 

 

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Based on this photo, you are used to using the wrong tool for the job, so no surprise you dailyed your race car...