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Audi TT Track Car


Sidewaysfun

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My mate and I are currently looking at buying a cheap track toy together to get back into track driving.  I am starting to accept that the 911 will never be an easy car to track what with noise limits etc trying to stop fun these days (I will still attempt days at the likes of Donny that have less restrictions).  

Current chain of thought is to get a mk1 TT 225 coupe (the one with the BAM engine) and go from there.  4wd so will allow for fun even during poor weather track days and relatively easy to tune on the cheap.  We don’t want FWD as we both run RWD cars so would like to still improve on car control whilst having fun. 

Have any of you owned a TT before?  Any hints/tips on what to look out for?  

Cheers, Paul

 

 

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Not easy to "cure" the fundamental problem with a TT - Haldex front biased 4wd.

I would look more closely at a Rwd option.  Once you do suspension, exhaust, engine tuning, seats, brakes etc on a TT you might as well buy a Boxster ex-Race car as that is then in budget.  Or buy an M3 trackday car already built.  Way better options IMHO.

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My 2 cents.

All the inherent weaknesses of the TT can be engineered out including the undetsteer and sluggish Haldex response. The one thing that you will be up against is weight. I literally stripped everything off mine to the point where the last of the big stuff was stripping the loom and even then I couldn’t get it below 1200kg. To get the thing below that required a lot of work and most likely a trailer to get it to the track.

These things are made of heavy stuff. Star matter I suspect. 

The engine is strong and easily tuneable to 300bhp with decent torque, beyond that you’ll need rods as they will bend eventually. With rods, big turbo and maybe going mafless you can get to 400bhp +.

Tuning parts are readily available; like 911 stuff, but without the Porsche tax. Developing is like a back to front IB.... easy to get off the rear of the car, hard to remove it from the front.

Setup correctly In the wet you will eat most other similar cars. Boxsters and M3’s were not a problem. I found it quite amusing. But the weight....argh. 

If you pull the trigger just focus on the weight first. My next job would have been the glass - for example the rear hatch and screen weighs a tonne. 

The one thing I will say is you’re unlikely to see another on track so it does attract some discussion. Good fun, but be prepared to put some work in to get the best out of it. 

If you go ahead just PM me if you need any help.

if you want to see what can be achieved then check out Max in the US. We conversed a lot at the time. His car is bonkers....

https://m.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1737671396508156.1073741877.1571240886484542&type=3

https://www.instagram.com/omega_tt_199/?hl=en

He’s developed some parts too...

http://www.ftdmotorsports.com/?page_id=2

VT

 

 

 

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Thanks for the info guys. I think what I forgot to mention is what we class as cheap!  Subjective word I guess, we'd be looking at a car for under £2k. 

I would love RWD again, but only found mx5 and ugly mr2 appealing for the price. I would happily have another mx5 again, but they are a bit gutless and cost a bomb to get any sort of power out of them (not that they need it I suppose) 

VT, great feedback. I've heard about being able to mod the haldex to permanently engage which would be a cheap starting mod.  I'll have a read through your topic over a Cuppa tomorrow :)

Cheers guys! 

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If that's the budget, why not get one of those Citroen C1 things and go endurance racing?

I don't see how £2k gets you a TT that is fun on track.  £2k is getting you a car that is entirely un-track-ready.  And that won't be fun.

Maybe you get something track ready for close to £2k off racecardirect?  You need to buy someone else's project and get all the track mods for free.

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8 hours ago, Richard Bernau said:

If that's the budget, why not get one of those Citroen C1 things and go endurance racing?

I don't see how £2k gets you a TT that is fun on track.  £2k is getting you a car that is entirely un-track-ready.  And that won't be fun.

Maybe you get something track ready for close to £2k off racecardirect?  You need to buy someone else's project and get all the track mods for free.

+1 on this. I started out at £3k and spent from up from there. Mine was to have as a project after buying the 997 and to prove a point, but I could have bought an E36 M3 for less in the end.

VT

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59 minutes ago, Von Twinzig said:

+1 on this. I started out at £3k and spent from up from there. Mine was to have as a project after buying the 997 and to prove a point, but I could have bought an E36 M3 for less in the end.

VT

Agree on the BMW. You won’t find much or anything on  racecarsdirect at that money, but have a look on Facebook groups

Race cars,track cars and performance parts uk  and you should find something suitable. Forget C1s, ok in a one marque race series but too slow for trackdays unless you want to scare yourself rigid.

 

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1 hour ago, Busybee said:

No idea you could buy cars like that at that price. Winter hack if nothing else!

totally! and there's me been looking at various old 4x4's to buy for a winter hack, all at silly money for either the car or to tax (or both!) :rolleyes:  Think the missus might finally explode if I turn up in a Mitsi or Scooby though :lol:

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1 hour ago, Busybee said:

No idea you could buy cars like that at that price. Winter hack if nothing else!

Yes, track car, probably stripped out..ideal to learn track/ race craft and if you go off it’s not a nightmare. Ready availability of spares and tuning parts..what’s not to like. ? 

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22 hours ago, GrahamTompkins said:

Dunno if this is of any interest..could be fun for the money 🤷🏻‍♂️

1ECD527C-7B47-4748-B939-07F7D9206ED0.png

Ahem, I wouldn’t even waste the phone call.  I can guarantee you that will be a nightmare to set up, will be a total pain in the arrrr5e to run and will quite quickly be leaving circuit on a trailer, rather than under its own steam.

Fun on track with a roof? Honda Civic EP3.  Cheap to buy, easy to develop, bulletproof mechanicals and very rapid.  You can learn a lot in one.

Fun on track without a roof?  Early Westfield, Mk Indy, Fury, etc.  Either bike or car engined and live or independent rear.  You would probably need to trailer it though.

I don’t think a C1 will do what you want.

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Quick afterthought; if you can get one of the higher power JDM MX5’s that has a diff in the back, which are about 150 BHP if I recall, decent brake fluid, a proper seat and harness together with a set of Uniroyal Rainsport 3’s would tick all your boxes.  I was instructing in one at Blyton a couple of months back and got to have a play.  The only reason I came in was it ran low on fuel.  Indecent amount of car for the money.

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2 minutes ago, oliverjamesthomas said:

Quick afterthought; if you can get one of the higher power JDM MX5’s that has a diff in the back, which are about 150 BHP if I recall, decent brake fluid, a proper seat and harness together with a set of Uniroyal Rainsport 3’s would tick all your boxes.  I was instructing in one at Blyton a couple of months back and got to have a play.  The only reason I came in was it ran low on fuel.  Indecent amount of car for the money.

Was just about to say the same thing, MX5 cheap to buy, , consumables aren’t mega expensive and they are easy to mod.

Had one for a while which was great fun on road and track, thinking about getting another one to use on track again

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36 minutes ago, oliverjamesthomas said:

Quick afterthought; if you can get one of the higher power JDM MX5’s that has a diff in the back, which are about 150 BHP if I recall, decent brake fluid, a proper seat and harness together with a set of Uniroyal Rainsport 3’s would tick all your boxes.  I was instructing in one at Blyton a couple of months back and got to have a play.  The only reason I came in was it ran low on fuel.  Indecent amount of car for the money.

I think the thing is budget ...around the £2k mark 🤔 Agree with the Honda. My son races a EK9 Civic Type R and they are great, fast and very tuneable .Could get an EP3 cheap but to make it decent on track it’d pop the budget. The Subaru is already a track car I think..could be wrong. MX5 s are great fun as well..driven one on track last month but that was a £10k job owned by a friend of my son. If they can get a budget of say 5k , then you have a world of options.

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You dont see a lot of scoobys at trackdays - that should tell you everything you need to know. They are great cars but more suited to fast road than a track hack.

I realise its not RWD but what about a clio?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Renault-Sport-Clio-182-Renaultsport-2-0-16v-172-FF-cup-track-car-clubsport/202789461957?hash=item2f37319fc5:g:DGYAAOSwcLpdkOxe

 

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Bottom line is you cannot buy a fun and reliable track car in your budget.

At your budget, you are effectively looking at the "24 hours of Lemons" type deal (google it).  I think you are into the territory of buying the cheapest rwd POS with decent power possible and then strip everything out of it and add back the minimum to make it track worthy.  There is nothing wrong with that, but be honest about it, then go have fun.  You will break down.  You will spend a lot more on it than expected.  You will probably have a great time with your mate.  It will be worth nothing when you are finished.

20 years ago people used to do track days like this.   Example: I remember meeting 4 guys at an event somewhere who started with a Sierra XR4x4 that they turned into a track car on a shoe string budget then blogged about the whole process.  Sounded like a laugh.  It may have been my first UK track day.

10 hours ago, jevvy said:

You dont see a lot of scoobys at trackdays - that should tell you everything you need to know. They are great cars but more suited to fast road than a track hack.

I realise its not RWD but what about a clio?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Renault-Sport-Clio-182-Renaultsport-2-0-16v-172-FF-cup-track-car-clubsport/202789461957?hash=item2f37319fc5:g:DGYAAOSwcLpdkOxe

 

This is about the closest proposal yet to something workable 👍

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On 9/27/2019 at 7:55 PM, Von Twinzig said:

...... I could have bought an E36 M3 for less in the end.

VT

Mate has an E36 which he uses on track & does reasonably well in his group, not sure which one but it was either a 328i or he swapped the engine in. Think you can get a 328i sport (LSD) coupe for reasonable money & maintenance costs, he is not far from you as he is near Bicester so happy to put you in touch if you fancy a chat.

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Got bored having an afternoon coffee and did a little ebay hunt -

- £5k gets a track day SMG E46 M3
- £1200 gets an E46 manual 330i
- £3k might almost get you a drift/trackday 3 series of some description

Its fun spending other people's money.  The E46 330i idea with brake pads, cheap coilovers, seats, tyres and a massive diet might be fun for circa £3k all in and rwd, 240hp.  Or an earlier E36.

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