Best Beginner Racecars for CHEAP | WheelHouse

- I love racing more than myself. And while self-love is important, and mine is probably lacking, going fast is more important. Do you want to compete with a reduced budget? Can be done. Here are my picks for the

best

cheap

cars you can buy for five grand or less, to get you started in five different types of racing. (soft music) A big shout out to today's sponsor, GUNK. That's right, they are a company called GUNK. GUNK Wipes are a new, waterless way to clean grease, grime and grime from any surface. These huge wipes are the largest on the market and are also double-sided.

It has a fluffy side and a soft side. (sniffs) And they smell like oranges. (sniffs) Tough on dirt, but not on your hands. GUNK wipes have better scrubbing performance than others, no scratches, no rinsing and no residue. (sniffs) Oh, another big thing I love about GUNK wipes is that they don't have isopropyl alcohol, so the moisture won't evaporate while it's in your toolbox. GUNK Degreasing Wipes are now available at Walmart, Auto Zone, Advance Auto Parts, and Amazon. I think it's a great product. Check out GUNK at the link below. Get GUNK. (sniff) Honestly, there are a ton of amazing options for these forms of motorsports, and what I mention here are just a few good places to start.

If you think you have better ideas, I want to hear them. Leave your suggestions in the comments below. (claps) Let's get started. Endurance racing. (car engines revving) Drag racing! (revving car engines) First up is one of the simplest and most accessible forms of grassroots motorsports: drag racing. Sports mean a lot to me. I raced in Junior Dragsters as a kid, drove a Sportsman car with my dad, in college, and was part of a Funny Car team. I love it. (burps loudly) You can't go wrong with a Fox Body or a Ford Mustang SN95, or a fourth-generation F-body Camaro.

We found this Camaro for $4,200. It already has a nitro configuration. The easiest way to go fast in a 'Stang or Camaro is to get the V8. All of these cars have a solid rear axle, which is what you need for drag racing. Helps the rear tires maintain better traction when the suspension squats under hard acceleration. There are pages and pages, books, tomes and tablets of institutional knowledge and support for modifying Mustangs and Camaros online. Affordable replacement parts for these cars are widely available and are fairly easy to work with yourself. If you are more into the sporty compact scene, the Dodge Neon SRT-4 and the first or second generation Mitsubishi Eclipse are good options.

We talked about these two cars in our episode "The Fastest Cars You Can Buy for Cheap," and they're naturals on the race track. (car engine revolutions) Number two, autocross. (funky music) Autocross is a great way to get into racing on the

cheap

. I love it. You can take whatever you want to your local autocross. I take my Mustang, but it's a little slow. If you want a real car control challenge, look to the Toyota MR2 of any generation. They're mid-engined two-seaters, which is pretty ideal for balance and overall handling, but it also means the rear end will move very quickly around you if you try to avoid those cones too quickly.

That will speed up your reaction times in a jiffy. Here is a second generation turbo for 5K that we found. Other great rear-drive options for under five grand are the first- and second-generation Miatas; of course, I love NA and NB. The first and second generation RX-7s, I'm not sure I could find one of those for five grand. And the Porsche 944, get one of those while they're still cheap, because for some reason, they're going up, even if they're kind of ugly. There are also plenty of front-wheel drive autocross cars. The Golf GTI Mk1 and three can work very well.

GTIs also have an added entertainment factor for spectators, because they can lift the rear wheel in very hard corners, it's very funny to watch (the dog barks), it's like a little dog urinating on a fire hydrant. I love it. The older, double-wishbone Civis, CRX, and Acura Integras are great, too. The fully independent suspension maintains tire contact areas with the pavement, so you get better traction. The original Dodge Neon is also a super popular choice, and it doesn't even have to be turbocharged, especially if you can find R/T models, those things dominated SCCA ProSolo autocross back in the day, and are still great today. (upbeat music) Number three, club racing.

If you want to up the ante and drive a little faster, any of the cars I mentioned for autocross will easily get you to the track for club racing. The independent suspension helps with traction even more on tracks that may have elevation changes, banked turns, high turns, and all that sort of stuff. Horsepower is a little less important, as cars are usually grouped with others that have the same power-to-weight ratio, or you can compete in a spec class where all the cars are pretty much the same anyway. Therefore, it doesn't have to be super powerful, just good.

I'll explain it. Honestly, there are probably more classes for low-powered Civics and Miatas than anything else, because they're so fun to drive and affordable to race. They are not fast in the traditional sense, so they are considered boost cars. Once they get up to speed, their goal is to maintain as much speed as possible through the corners. (metallic car noise) That's where its light and independent suspensions help a lot. 15-inch wheels and tires are ideal for these cars. Let me tell you, they are both much cheaper than the 17 or 18. It's hard to beat Civics and Miatas in the bang for the buck department.

But older BMW 3 Series are also popular, as long as they aren't M3s. Replacement parts and upgrades for these are also not as expensive as they seem. The Spec E30 classes are very popular at the moment and seem to be having a very good time. (engine revolutions) Number four, rally cross, slash rally. If you want to get into rally cross or rallying, you might want to look in another direction. The obvious choice is something with all-wheel drive, that has rally heritage, like a first-generation Subaru Impreza 2.5RS or a Bugeye WRX. Together. Watch out for bad head gaskets with the EJ25 engine in the 2.5RS.

We found one with some body damage for only two thousand dollars. Let's face it, the body doesn't really matter, because you'll probably crash it anyway. The rally sounds scary, but also a lot of fun. Front-wheel drive cars can also be very fast in the dirt. You can stay on the accelerator for longer than you would in a car with real traction. And with their simpler drivetrains, they're a bit cheaper and easier to repair and maintain than an all-wheel drive car. The first generation Ford Focus is a great photo, especially if you can find one of the SVT models, those are amazing.

If the Focus was good enough for Colin McRae, it should be good enough for you too. He was a much better driver than you. The Toyota Celica also has a history in rallying. If you want to go in a more unexpected direction, buy a cheap Volvo 240 or 740. Real traction is especially challenging on loose surfaces, and if you can master it, you'll be able to drive just about anything. Parts are cheap and plentiful, and Volvos are incredibly robust, but surprisingly light. And you may not know it, but Volvo has a legitimate racing heritage. The 740 was even offered with a turbo, and all are excellent candidates for an engine swap, if you want to get a little creative.

K20 changes that (beep). (funky music) Number five, drifting. It is one of the most popular and exciting ways to participate in motorsports today, and one of the most interesting, as the competition is not based solely on speed. Unlike other forms of racing, to drift you will need a car that is rear-wheel drive and has enough power to release the rear tires. It's definitely nice to have something with an LS V8, but it's not really necessary. The Nissan 240SX, the number one drift car, has less than 160 horsepower and, yes, they will drift. Both the S13 and S14 have an exceptionally well-balanced chassis and longer wheelbase making them some of the

best

cars to slide around in.

But truth be told, you might not find an S14 for less than 5K. But the early 350Z is another great option and its price is starting to drop. They have a lot of power and there are definitely more of them than the S13 and S14. Obviously, there's a ton of after-sales support and knowledge on the 240 and 350, and you really can't go wrong with either. I love the 350Z. I'm going to turn a low car into a drift car. The BMW 3 Series E36 also has a well-balanced chassis and is capable of drifting. There are plenty of these for cheap, so what are you waiting for?

Choose your poison and start running. The cars I've chosen aren't necessarily hard and fast rules, they're just good starting points, but if you look close enough you'll see some really wild things at a drift event. That's why it's so cool. (calm music) Drag racing, autocross, club racing, rally, I really want to try rally cross, drifting, of course, I want to try it. I want to do all kinds of races. Let me know in the comments what type you want to do and with what car. I would love to hear it. Again, thank you so much for watching Donut and for watching WheelHouse, it's like it really means a lot to me, man. (imitates karate cuts) (intense music)