Hello all, I've been thinking about getting into racing (my first mistake). My initial thought was to buy a ek Civic hatch and use it as a learner car in autocrosses and HPDE, working my way up to club racing in the very distant future (I'm 17). I'd throw some good rubber on it and maybe strip out the interior and get a used racing bucket or two, but thats it. Would that be a good setup to learn how to drive with? Any help would be appreciated.

 

I would definately recommend it for a few reasons.
1) a used ek will be dirt cheap, and with no interior, pretty light.
2) I ALWAYS recommend learning on a slower car. the reason for this is your mistakes are more apparent. for example...if you take a turn bad in a slow car, you pay for every bit of it on the strait. you know damn well you messed up because you have no exit speed and your strait speed will suck. in a quicker car, you are able to get a bit more strait speed, even with the slower exit, so sometimes your mistake will be less apparent

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chawski &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would definately recommend it for a few reasons.
1) a used ek will be dirt cheap, and with no interior, pretty light.
2) I ALWAYS recommend learning on a slower car. the reason for this is your mistakes are more apparent. for example...if you take a turn bad in a slow car, you pay for every bit of it on the strait. you know damn well you messed up because you have no exit speed and your strait speed will suck. in a quicker car, you are able to get a bit more strait speed, even with the slower exit, so sometimes your mistake will be less apparent</TD></TR></TABLE>
it's also a good idea since a FWD,low powered car makes it much easier to concentrate on learning the basics.i see plenty of people doing their first track days in a Corvette/Viper/911/EVO/etc,and it can't be a good learning environment in a car that you've got to work so hard just to keep in line.
Chris

 

^ha but those guys are my favorite ones on the track! i swear there is no greater feeling than seeing the look on the face of a cocky porshe driver getting outlapped by a 4dr civic

 

I would say an eg or an ek would be great platforms.

You are on the right track with the seat.
Focus on suspension, brakes and a good race seat.

 

I'd like to add a good racing steering wheel and adaptor to it really sticks out.
It it was my choice, I'd just buy some cheap EG, 1 bucket seat (2 would be great for an instructor) a safety harness and a steering wheel.

You can then spend all your money from the ground up.... "up" being last and being the engine :D