I WANT TO BUY A... £ 10,000 TRACK CAR

Fancy something bia sed towards track driving but don’t have a 911 GT3 budget? The evo team of fer some sug gestions for £ 10,000

James Disdale: Taking to the track can be expensive, so to maximise thrills but minimise bills you need something light. A Caterham is out of reach at this budget, but Westfield has just the thing with its, ahem, homage to the Seven (above). The styling isn’t as crisp as the original’s, but innovations such as its independent rear suspension mean it’s just as good to drive. I’d want to use mine on the road, which rules out the bonkers bike-engined versions, but the torquey and powerful 2-litre Ford Zetec unit should deliver just the right balance of usability and electrifying acceleration. Better still, there should be enough cash left over for spares and several trackday entry fees.

Antony Ingram: At the risk of becoming typecast, my £10k would go on an MX-5. Not all of it, mind – you don’t need to spend that much to get hold of a decent third-generation car (top). £5k gets a very tidy, sensible-miles 2-litre model (six-speed, 158bhp) leaving another £5k to turn it into something to scare trackday-goers in quicker cars. Around £520 on a set of evo tyre test-winning Michelin Pilot Sport 4s, £900 for some Superpro bushes, £1200 or so for BRSCC Supercup-spec Gaz dampers and springs and an alignment, £250 on EBC Yellow Stuff brake pads (all including fitting)… and the remaining £2k or so on fuel, trackday insurance and tuition.

Will Beaumont: Lighter, more focused sports cars might offer a better base as a track tool, but few other cars have such a vast selection of good value aftermarket upgrades as the BMW E46 M3 (above right). With a few thousand pounds you could totally overhaul the suspension, brakes, wheels and tyres so it would be perfectly suited to track driving. It’s sufficiently powerful for you not to need to worry about engine upgrades immediately, too. I’d be tempted to go for the cheapest E46 I could find, no matter how dubious its history. That way you’d have more money to spend on new parts to replace the old, worn-out, broken or badly modified parts of the car.

Adam Towler: While one half of my brain is screaming ‘go rear-wheel drive’, the other half is tempted by a well-used Renault Sport Mégane 250 (above middle) at £8000-9000. With the change, I’d set about creating my own take on a Trophy-r, starting with a set of trackday tyres, and depending on what’s left over, suspension, brake pads and so on. I’d strip some weight out by removing anything that wasn’t necessary, and after a year or two of trackdays I’d cage it, strip it out completely, and enter it into the CSCC’S Turbo Tin Tops Series that debuts in 2018. Hmm, that’s not such a bad idea…