Before you do a quick scan of this list and fire off an outraged email because the Porsche 911 GT3 or Corvette ZR1 didn't make the cut, keep in mind this selection is purely based on sport compact-oriented automobiles. But I'm guessing you knew that already. So, within those confines, what are the 10 best track cars currently available?
Truth be told, 10 different people would probably come up with 10 different lists, so please don't be offended that we didn't include your beloved SRT-4 or B13 Sentra SE-R. It's nothing personal. We've developed our selection criteria based on years of experience building and thrashing on track cars of all shapes and sizes at events like HPDE, lapping days, time attack and road racing, so we thought we'd share some of our thoughts on what machines you might want to consider when you go shopping for your next track car. We've tried to cover the full gamut, from baller status and brand spankin' new to old school, cheap and cheerful. Here are our criteria:
Price The cheaper your starting point, the more money you'll have left over for track-oriented modifications, safety gear, driving lessons and track-day consumables like tires, brake pads and fuel.
Stock Performance If you want to go fast around a racetrack, it's never a bad idea to start with a car with a high performance level right out of the box. Higher stock performance level often translates to higher overall performance potential, too (though not all cars respond well to modification).
Mod Friendliness Everything from how technically difficult it is to modify the car (for example, is the ECU uncrackable or ready for a re-flash?), how strong its aftermarket support is and how deep and accessible its tuning knowledge base is.
Ease Of Atl Driving In both stock and modified forms, some cars are remarkably easy to drive at-the-limit (ATL) because they're well balanced and inspire confidence, while others feel like they're trying to kill you the second you toss them into a corner. We like cars that are rewarding to drive hard.
BFTB Bang-for-the-buck (BFTB) is really meant to capture how much track-day fun a car can provide for the money it costs to own and prep it. Consider this a smiles/track mile ratio, factoring in that less money spent does tend to leave a smile on most people's faces as long as the car is reliable, fun to drive and reasonably quick.
Cobb Tuning's lightly modified R35 GT-R finished third overall in our '08 Modified Tuner S
10
R35 Nissan GT-R
Price 1/10 ($50,000-$100,000+)
Stock Performance 10/10
Mod Friendliness 5/10
Ease of ATL Driving 10/10
BFTB 3/10
BFTB 29/50
If you've got a big enough wallet, you'd be hard pressed to find a better track-day car than a R35 Nissan GT-R. You've read the reviews and seen the videos. The new GT-R is quite simply the greatest all-around performance car to ever come out of Japan. With its dual-clutch flappy paddle gearbox, highly sophisticated electronic driver aids and endless torque and horsepower, it's ridiculously easy to drive at speeds most other cars on the planet can't even approach. But because of its high entry price, high cost of modifications and high cost of maintenance and repair (a replacement transmission will run you $25K and its 3,800-lb curb weight means you'll chew through tires and brakes in a hurry), we only ranked it 10th on our list. If money were no object, we'd flip the script and rank it first.
FXMD's awesome NSX is one of the fastest time attack machines in the world, but replicatin
09
Acura NSX
Price 3/10 ($20,000-$50,000+)
Stock Performance 7/10
Mod Friendliness 7/10
Ease of ATL Driving 9/10
BFTB 4/10
Total 30/50
Bin its heyday, the Acura NSX was widely considered the best handling car ever built and was labeled a daily driveable supercar by the automotive press. But its bonded aluminum chassis is rather delicate, as are its aluminum body panels. So any unscheduled off-track excursions can get expensive in a hurry. Add to that the cost of modifying a NSX and as much as we love the fighter jet seating position and "plugged in" feeling you get when driving this mid-engine classic, we can't rank it any higher than ninth.
Mid-Engine
Honorable Mention
It's no secret we love the Lotus Elise around here. Sure, it's pricey (though you can find some early S2s for around $30K) and tough to fit into, but once you strap into one of these little pocket rockets you'll have a tough time wiping the smile off your face.
By David Pratte
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