LESS IS MORE

Anyone can take any car, be it a Golf or Camaro or a Ferrari and lighten it, put a roll cage and 6-point harness in it, and call it a track day car....or, you can get one of these purpose built track cars that are being made now under the "less is more" mentality. These track ready versions of everyday sports cars like the M3 or C63 have all the useful, non race stuff taken out, and are sold for what can be up to twice as much. So today, a long with a couple examples of this tom foolery, I'm also going to talk about some of the more hardcore, specially built track day race cars that don't have radios or power heated leather seats, because they were never meant to. While a lot of these are hard to find in America, they are out there, and they are fun.

We all know Lotus already makes some pretty light, grippy, quick cars, but a few years ago they made one of the lightest, grippiest of them all. The Lotus 2-Eleven was a chopped, lightened Exige S with the same supercharged 2ZZ-GE motor, but all the road car equipment is taken out, even being sold base as a track-legal only model, although an extra $1900 or so will make it road legal as well. The only differences are that the race version is a little longer and a little lighter. Below is the track version followed by the road version.

The Ariel Atom is one of the more popular track day cars although, judging by production numbers, its surprising that even I've seen one of the US spec models driving around. Here in America, production started with the Atom 2 that was powered by the same engine that the Saturn Ion Red Line and Chevy Cobalt SS had. The first US company stopped making them in January and without hesitation, another company picked up the rights and they are now being produced at a facility at the Virginia International Raceway. There was also an all electric version of the Atom made by a US company called Wrightspeed and it was called the X1. Below is the 500 V8 version of the Atom which I'm not totally sure we ever got in the states.

As far as track day cars go, they're usually narrow and short and lack the body panel structure of a normal, everyday car, making it seem even more impractical then it already is to drive one on the street even if you have a road legal version. With the KTM X-Bow however, you get a wider stance and a more aggressive look that says that it can be driven on the road without feeling like a fool. In fact, the street legal versions even come with the same kind of adjustable suspension you get on a Lamborghini Aventador so it can be easily driven over speed bumps. This car has become a favorite of track day fans, not to tune mechanically, but cosmetically. There are companies that make body kits that make the car look even wider and like a normal car and there were even companies that would make roofs for them, which have become obsolete because the 2014 GT model comes with a roof optional and doors standard. Oh, and windows. But now I'm going to contradict myself a bit, because while the KTM is the track day car I would choose, it seems kind of stupid to get one with doors and windows and a windscreen and an optional roof, becuase you could just get a Mazda MX5 and get a trunk and a radio as well. Purpose built, track day cars should stay purpose built, track day cars. Below is the original model and the newest 2014, road spec model. Not bad for the Austrian bike company's first car.

 Now lets get to these lightened versions of already good enough cars. We've got the BMW M3 GTS and the Jaguar XKR-S, and I know there's more but I'm just going to focus on these two because they're my favourite. The BMW M3 GTS is not only lightened, having the back seats, radio, big leather recliners and anything else practical taken out, but also gets an extra 30 HP thanks to the 4.4L V8 based of the normal M3's 4.0L V8. But does the extra HP make up for the lack of equipment and the price tag thats about 3 times as much as a normal M3? No, I don't believe so. This is the more ridiculous of this spectrum. Now, on the other hand, the Jaguar XKR-S doesn't shed tons of unnecessary weight, but with 542 HP and a 186 MPH top speed thanks to new...well...everything (brakes, suspension, active sports exhaust) and still come with what they call carbon fibre effect leather upholstery thats heated and powered, and a radio, its definitely worth the extra $35K. It even comes as a convertible for an extra $6K.

And, finally, I don't think I've encouraged this enough, but please comment on these posts. Tell me what you think. Tell me if I got something wrong because I know I'm not perfect and I don't know everything. I made this to get my opinions out there because I was tired of just telling everyone else what I thought and being ignored or called stupid. But I would love some feedback. As long as its not about my grammar mistakes, tell me what you think.