Best way to go crazy fast on the cheap? Lightweight sports car.

[Tim K]

It?s not like I have a wad of cash I?m trying to spend or anything, but I often wonder about the most cost effective way to come up with a truly fast car for track days and ?spirited? public road driving.

I have sort of a thing for ultra light weight cars like the Lotus 7 (kit cars, not originals) or the Ariel Atom. In theory they should be less expensive to drive and maintain while still being stupid fast due to the low weight.

It?s pure fantasy for me to consider owning something so impractical, but I?ve spent a fair amount of time running track days on a race prepped Yamaha R1. My knees are no longer up to a rice rocket, but a cheap track car would be a ton of fun

[arbol]

Go carts? They look like a lot of fun. Otherwise, most every car I see seems underpowered. At least when compared to a liter bike.

Oh, and I guess today that the electrics are in play? A Tesla, with front and back wheel motors, is pretty fast.

-John

[bellavite1]

Do it!
Do it now!
There may be a law against it tomorrow!

[BushMasterBoy]

ZR1 Corvette. Stupid fast. Made in USA.

[kidicarus13]

https://slingshot.polaris.com/en-us/slingshots/

[Erni]

Well do you want to go fast or feel like you?re going fast?

[BPTactical]

I was going to say a Kart.
A 125cc shifter kart is insanely quick and a 250 will have you crapping your pants with a big smile on your face.
Just remember to downshift before a corner
Or:

[encorehunter]

Pull the motor out of the R1 and put it in a go cart. I was trying to figure out a way to put a Hayabusa motor in a lightweight car. Twin turbos, it puts out around 600hp.

[ray1970]

I like the cart (kart?) suggestions.

There was an event at one of the big NASCAR tracks where they were racing shifter carts. The lap times for the carts were right on par with the cup cars. Going off of my poor memory, while the carts were slower on the straights they actually carried more speed through the corners. Crazy stuff.

[.40isthenew.45]

Miata is the answer to all things..... ok just kidding but for $ to fun ratio they are hard to beat. Be careful though, the rabbit hole is deep. I had to go to the wayback machine to find the documentation on my trip down that particular hole...
https://web.archive.org/web/20230608...trategies.com/