Suitability of Supra as a race car?

Hi all,

I'm idly thinking about doing some track days and perhaps even entering a race series for a season or so. Its purely just for fun, I doubt I have skill enough (or money enough!) to seriously compete.

OK so I like Supras. And I'm wondering whether to use a Supra as the race car. They are cheap enough now from Japan, and there are spares aplenty, although ain't so cheap as I imagine say, VW Golf parts.

So the first question really is, is the Supra a good candidate, as its a pretty heavy car? Would it be competitive in any group?

Second question would be, the specification of the car. I would go for a 6 speed hardtop TT. Remove all the seats, get 2 buckets up front and roll cage. Some form of lowered and adjustable suspension, decent tyres, stock wheels, fuel cut out etc, basically what is required to get certification. Keep standard engine and ECU. Derestricted exhaust. Can I keep original petrol tank? Anything missing?

Thirdly, what race series would this car be eligable for? Its probably different here in Scandinavia, but maybe someone on the forum has experience from UK series and could provide some pointers. Would also be good car to take to Nurburgring once a year for a long weekend

I saw one time some guy had a track day Supra in some magazine, must have been a couple of years ago now, but does anyone know who is campaigning a Supra now (if anyone)?

Hi Paul, its been a while since you were last on here! Good to see you again.

Its a very suitable race car, the only reason more people don't do it is down to cost.

A Supra is even in the British GT Championships, competing with the Astons/Ferrari's etc (its first race is this weekend).

The spec you've got pretty much on the button. When we worked with Maxspeed there is a certain criteria to meet - weight vs. power. It was around 460-480hp depending on the weight of the car.

If you wanted to do British GT it would cost a lot of money, no doubt. I'm not sure what series you could enter into though. AJI (Aron) is pretty familiar with circuit racing and Supras, no doubt he'll be along soon enough.

The Supra is very at home on the 'Ring

Gaz.

While the Supra is capable enough it's not exactly cheap, if you crave fun on a budget I'd look at http://www.mr2challenge.com

Your first battle is to get your race licence.

If going for the MR2 challenge I'd get a MK2 rather than the MK1s everyone else seems to pilot, they have proven themselves quicker time and time again, peanuts to buy now as well.

Personally I think there are many better cars that you can race for the same money, or indeed a great deal less than a Supra, that was at the very least set-up for occasional track use, would cost.

For example, a friend of a friend has just bought himslef a full clubman spec Radical (CBR900 engine IIRC). It's competed in one race already, but is perfect for serious track-days and with a couple of grand of support equipment and spares could definitely be race ready. It cost him £16K. You just couldn't do anything like it in a Supra for anything like that money.

Food for thought, Tony, thanks. Perhaps Caterham or some such like. Have to do more research.

Edit: know any good websites to find race prepared cars?

Bugger, just checked how far it is to drive to Nurgurgring (from viamichelin.com):

Distance: 2231km including 1492km on motorways

Time: 31h57 including 14h59 on motorways

Gonna have to be a veeery long weekend to do that, unless I fly to Frankfurt and grab a hire car

Paul, havent you seen the Nurburgring club vids? The Supra makes an ideal car for cruising there in comfort, racing around reliably and quickly, and then coming home again... dont think you could say the same for the Radical/Caterham

That's right Bobbeh, that's one reason why I was still leaning towards a "proper" car. But a fully prepared Supra, would need to be trailered anyhow. Still, maybe I should just pick up a cheap 2nd hand J-spec and play around with that on the track, then drive home in airconditioned comfort

Food for thought, Tony, thanks. Perhaps Caterham or some such like. Have to do more research.

Edit: know any good websites to find race prepared cars?

www.racecarsdirect.net

http://www.closeratio.com

First pick your series, then buy a ready prepped, race proven car, IMO, it's always cheaper unless you LOVE fiddling and spending hours in the workshop.

That is some very good advise Chris. Cant agree more.

Unless you want to build the car, deal with hassles, find all the parts, get all the work done, etc. Pickwhat you want to do, then buy the car to suit.

IE. Rally, then go buy a rally prepped car. Rally is the one I would like to try my hand at...

Will more than likely cost twice as much to do it yourself.

That's right Bobbeh, that's one reason why I was still leaning towards a "proper" car. But a fully prepared Supra, would need to be trailered anyhow. Still, maybe I should just pick up a cheap 2nd hand J-spec and play around with that on the track, then drive home in airconditioned comfort

Well if you want a full out race spec Supra or any other car for that matter, I wouldnt recommend driving it to the Ring! Especially from Finland So in that respect, I would lean toward something cheaper and more track orientated than a Supra.