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Hello all, I have finally pulled the trigger on something I’ve always wanted to do, a fully stripped track car built by me. I’m an electrician by day so I kinda know what’s going on but, I’m no mechanic! If your interested in pictures you can skip my boring intro! If you have some time and bored you can read it, it’s quite interesting hahaha!! So I used to have a GTi, some moons ago: But never had it long enough to do anything I wanted, thanks to 2 kids! So 2 years and a house later I got permission to build a track car. It’s going to be slow but, built by me and how I want it. So looking for a cheap base, doesn’t matter about engine as future plans for engine swap, wanted something that drove so I could get it home and that’s about it ?. Found one in MK 1.5hrs from home so me and the family took a trip to have a look and it turned into an ikea trip (as they do). The car is in an ok state for its age, but it’s been chaved at some point. Slammed on its ass on coilovers, the state of them is questionable! Being sold so cheap because it kept overheating, but driving over 50 it kept cool, luckily motorway driving was fine apart from the broken exhaust. Broken at the front flexi basically meant no exhaust at my feet! No heat through the vents either meant a cold, loud, dark and hopeful drive home! It kept cool until some roadworks where I had to pull off and find another road home! Oh and the steering wheel has been changed so if I did have a crash no airbag for me, luckily the family where in the Bora safe! Got home 30 mins after them as I couldn’t take going over 70 as it got too loud ? tried to pull into the parking space next to my house and beached it... dragged it off and abandoned it outside, I live in a quiet state so a 1.0 Slammed Arosa with no exhaust it a bit out of the norm!! Managed to get it into the car port/drive just as the road and paths haven’t been finished leaving the kerbs high!! So bits I know are wrong: - Overheating, it’s the temp sensor not kicking in the fans/cooling system properly. - Difficult to get into gear, new clutch cable haven’t been adjusted properly. - No air filter, realised when I got home (Knew something was missing!!) - Whatever damage being that low has caused! Its going to be some work but, it’s going to be fun to get stuck into something! But for £150 and an MOT till October what Can I complain about ? Thanks for reading, comments are welcome! Sam

I'm not saying make a minter, I'm saying buy it, make it work and fix it as you go.

You can change all the glass to 2mm lexan (i think it's called?) pop rivetted to the outside bodywork, except the windscreen which helps strengthen the bodyshell as it's bonded. String works well as a door handle... hinges and locks not needed as you only need one opening door. Weld shut. One front seat. No heating or fan. No convenience lights. Front grille. Metal behind bumpers. Rear wiper motor. Air bags. Horn switch, wiper switch and stalk. Steering adjuster. Door seals- just use a few corks strategically placed. Battery located in a position to give the car best weight distrubtion (put a weight in the seat, and weigh each wheel down force).....

Excellent! Step one is to reduce weight. Everything out. Literally cut out panels unless they are really really neccessary. Swap glass for plastic. Scrape off sound deadening, remove any comfort options, any waterproofing stuff, any wet weather stuff except front wipers. You are aiming for 400kg plus engine & box. Personally i never mess with rear suspension on a front wheel drive car. Dump the interior, all of it. All the plastic must go. Lightweight seat needed. Small lightweight fuel tank. One tip is to get a donor track car with all the gear that has been totalled, which makes things like seats, belts, extinguishers etc cheaper. Aim for a class, so you can find people with the same category of car that you could race... lots of rules and really handy to talk to someone else in the same class (maybe a different car) which will give you a clear aim of what goal to reach. Have fun, it's great...