Thinking of turning my zs 180 into at track car

[gup160]

Im wanting to turn my zs into a track car for the summer down at knockhill, as the m8 has jst bought a 106 gti track car. but im not too sure on wat to do when iv stripped it out, its totally standerd apart from scorpian backbox, an mushroom air filter, iv got a budget of about 1k over the next month or so, amy info on wat i should do wud be much appriciated,

[andys1981]

speak to smokey mate hes from creiff,and hes got a track car that we recently had at knockhill,would be great to have 2 zeds in there!

[Nobrainer]

I think it depends on whether you want to go as fast as possible or just have fun. A standard zs is more than capable on track so if you just want to have a laugh strip the seats out, slap some stickers on the outside to look good and spend the rest of the money on fixing things as they go wrong, stuff that wears out and track days.

Of course if you want to go faster...air filter in wing, lightweight flywheel, lsd, tyres, spare wheels, lap timer, instruction. Thats as far as I'd go with a zs.

[Smokey]

I agree the £1k may seem like a lot of dough but if you think about it, you would get 3-4 decent mods and still end up with circa 200bhp which compared to the 500bhp behemoths that turn up weekly at the track, you are never going to be 'fast' in a straight line. Corners are where it's at and the standard ZS seems to handle Knockhill well. It depends on what you want from it, I'm not punting loads of money in to it as its a cheap fun thing and as other members are sharing the experience, I get a lot of pleasure out of that.

Your title says 'thinking' of turning it in to a track car. Is it maybe worth signing up for one of my track meets to drive a stripped out 180 with minimal mods and then decide if you want to commit to changing your cars purpose?

Just my 2 cents, everyone has different ideas.

[Lukeus101]

Couldnt agree more with above. I wish i didnt strip out my old ZR, I spent so much money on it but still it never came to be the track car I always wanted.

[gary471]

Brakes, update fluid, pads, discs, go with braided hoses.
I'd go coilovers, although the standard suspension setup is pretty good. Very stable, had mine round croft last July. Most fun I've ever had!

[Maxxed_Ross]

I'm with the other guys... you need to go whole hog or it just won't be the same.

and as already said the standard ZS is fantastic round Knockhill as it is

Best bet would be to do mods that are easily reversed, like taking the back seats out, removing the spare wheel (if you have one) then take it out for a blast.

If you like that and you're sure you want more then you can start the hard-core stripping like rear electric windows, carpets, sound deadening, interior trim... so on and so on

Then with a £1k budget I would get myself a decent second hand bucket seat (you only really need one to start with) and a decent 4 point harness. Then you can look into power and brake mods - and roll cage if you have any cash left.

It's also worth trying to get your own helmet... the ones you hire from Knockhill are a bit... er... tired

[stamford]

Some good points raised. Try it first before attacking the car! When stripped out it can become tiresome on a longish drive and the seats are not exactly comfy either, unless you spend big.

Personally I would look at fast road mods foremost, good induction with optimal CAF, decat, cat back exhaust, MIL kit, tip top brakes, clutch system if not upgraded already. See what is left over and is all down to how far you want to take it and if you like it that way.

For the record a roll cage is going to cost anything from £800 upwards and unless you are tracking it several times a year then it's a large expense for car worth very little. Also remember adding weight will negate all the effort put in to make it quicker.

[Maxxed_Ross]

but it will improve handling from keeping the chassis nice and tight - and lets not forget increase your chances of survival if it all goes wrong. Persoanlly I wouldn't track a car regularly without one

[Smokey]

A cage would be too much spent for my car in my mind. Could buy another 180 for that!