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End of a daily driver :)

Rollback50k

Yeshhhhhhhhh
Location
NY
So I don't know how many people are still on this forum and how many of you I actually know but I figured I'd post anyway.

I bought my car back in 2009 with 45k miles on it and made it my daily driver. It's been through hell and back with me (from having no codes to making a laundry list of them down to just one or two). My wife is a stay home mom with a lease on a 2014 Honda Accord. With that being said and my car having trouble with passing inspection, it will most likely be coming off the road in the very near future (within weeks).

We've discussed my options with it and it would make sense to just keep it and tinker with it over time for track or off road use only :rolleyes: I will be driving her car for the next 2 years and then figuring out a second daily for me when the time comes.

Ive tried reading a bit around (mostly Meats threads which helped me a bit more than I thought lol) i could still use some help because I suck at researching lol so I'm hoping you guys could help me out.

To begin with, I don't know what class I could enter my car into (it's a 2 door Gti) and don't know what part of my interior is required.

Is there a certain amount of interior parts that will put me into a different class once removed?

I have no problem cutting rear seatbelt brackets off or hollowing out my door panels. As it is my interior plastics are a bit scratched so they're most likely getting tossed out anyway, I also don't plan on ever reinstalling my rear seats. I'd be happy or more then fine if the entire interior including carpet, door panels and even dash board was removed but I don't want to remove anything that will put my car into a class too advanced than I can handle if that makes sense.

Any help from personal experience would be great. I live in Ny and expect to buy or trailer my car to events in the future but I want to plan events somewhere in the north eastern side.

My current mods are as follows and I definitely expect to add plenty go and stop fast parts over time. I don't expect all my current mods and parts to be as great as some that might be suggested so don't feel bad suggesting different parts than I have.

Suspension;
-BC coils
-Hotchkiss 3 way adjustable rear swaybar
-Whiteline front lca bushings
-passenger side frame notched
(Only reason front sway was removed is because I had slamseries struts when I was on bags and did not have the endlink brackets)

Engine;
-Revo stage 2 tune (B7,F9,T4)
-K&N typhoon intake
-Apr 3inch TBE (gutted catalytic converter)
-BFI stage 3 white motor mount
-BFI stage 2 green transmission insert
-Autotech pendulum insert
-Neuspeed lightweight crank pulley
-AWE diverter valve

Brakes;
-Akebono front pads that look brand new

Transmission;
-4season billet 19lbs flywheel
-4season stage 1 clutch
-Forge short shifter front-to-back
-Forge short shifter side-to-side

Thanks in advance!

This is what the car looked like a few weeks ago
 
Last edited:

miamirice

Ready to race!
Location
Miami
Are you talking Autocross or wheel-to-wheel? NASA or SCCA? Then attend that event and walk the paddock and talk to people before even touching your car. You may decide your car is not the right car for what you plan to do. When you have an idea of what group/class you want to get into you then go from there.

I recommend you determine:

1. Budget
2. Budget
3. Budget

This will quickly answer your question. I don't Autocross, But for racing, you take the budget, subtract out the required safety requirements for you AND the car then you spend it as wisely as possible usually starting with tires/susp./brakes.

So need more info but I highly recommend you start with the slowest/most stock class. That alone will prob be more expensive than you expected.
 

SuperSkyline89

Das Schiesse
Location
Earth
Car(s)
2008 CW GTI
I don't have much experience since I only just finished my second season of having a track car but what I always tell people is just take your car as it sits and see how it goes. You're not going to be competitive when you first start so just see how you like it and how well your car does. As you do more events you'll get a better idea of what you're willing to spend and unless you have a giant pile of money sitting around you'll need time to slowly develop and upgrade your car anyway.
 

bostonaudi

Go Kart Champion
Location
Charleston, SC
Car(s)
1995 BMW M3
You'll likely need to ditch a fair number of those mods for any sanctioned competition depending on what class you decide to run in, and as you add more mods to that car and bump it up it will become less competitive. For open track days at HPDE the good news is anything goes!

From long experience with both rwd and fwd, get a rear wheel drive car for this. Sell this car to someone looking for a fun modded street car. There are many good and affordable rwd cars to choose from. In between an 87 Porsche 944 Turbo and my current E36 M3, I tracked a Mk5 GTI at over 50 HPDE's, it was fun, but no comparison. If you must track a fwd car, a BMW Mini Cooper has way more potential. Even with a boat load of mods on your Mk5, my nearly stock E36 M3 with 240 hp will take you out, its just a better platform to start with, and a few simple mods take it to awesome.

Edit to include there are mods that can make a MK5 fairly fast, but illegal in any race rules I've seen - this includes correcting the front roll center geometry. The factory front roll center is conservative, and basically sucks. You lower the car and it wants to scrub more. Then you add more camber, then it won't brake or accelerate so well, its an endless circle.

Then as said, budget.
 

ComikosMuh

New member
Location
Casselberry, FL
End of a daily dr

Well Im just looking for a little show and go nice black paint job. Win a couple street races and rarely see the track. I want it to be fast but not to the point where it cant be daily driven.
 

bostonaudi

Go Kart Champion
Location
Charleston, SC
Car(s)
1995 BMW M3
Street races lead to trouble, take it to the track, way more fun too!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Rollback50k

Yeshhhhhhhhh
Location
NY
Didn’t read all of the above posts but just signed back into the forum. The gti has been long gone, this thread could probably get closed/deleted or locked lol

Thanks to those of you who shared signs of wanting to help guide me throughout the original intent of this post though.
 

g60_corrado_91

Go Kart Champion
Location
IL
Car(s)
2006 GTI 6MT Pkg 1
Didn’t read all of the above posts but just signed back into the forum. The gti has been long gone, this thread could probably get closed/deleted or locked lol

Thanks to those of you who shared signs of wanting to help guide me throughout the original intent of this post though.

Dang haha. What are you in now?
 
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