A couple of things to bear in mind. It costs the same to put a cage / seats / suspension / brakes etc in a $2k gc8 or a $50k GD. I.e. The only advantage cost wise of buying an older car is the initial up front price.

I do like jesters idea of the motec bearing in mind your study. I am quite happy with my autronic but I have absolutely no inclination of playing with timing / boost etc.

In relation to licenses you can not b reg a car unless you have a level 3 license. To get this you need to do an observed license test. There are only 2 people in the state to do this so it becomes a pain in the ass.

It comes down to what you want to do and how serious you want to get.

If you want to limit yourself to ahg / duttons etc then you can build anything. Cut holes in it everywhere, make panels out of carbon, plastic windows etc. Remembering that you are limiting your target market somewhat when you go to sell it.

If you want to get half serious and do a targa west type event then you really want the car to have been homologated by the manufacturer. i.e. I looked at getting a 22B to build up for targa type events but because it was never homologated the minimum weight I would have had to run was the brouchure weight + 47kg (spare tyre / fuel / first aid kit). i.e 1250 + 47kg. However my car (V5 STi type ra) was properly homologated by subaru and minimum weight is around 1130 + 47 kg.

Theory says that if you want to do targa type events they will not let you enter in things like an mx5 with a rotary unless invited. Look at Chris Caruso in the black jag. Awesome car, good steerer but seriously comprimised by events he can enter.

In terms of money it never ends. I got 500 kilometres out of a set of DBA 5000 rotors and Ferodo Pads. Just running costs (Clutch / Brakes / Tyres / Fuel) costs me around $6 per competitive kilometre. That does not allow for any wear and tear to the engine etc. I bought a Peltor intercom the other day and two practise headsets and that was around $1k. It just keeps adding up.

Assuming nothing breaks doing dutton in the east will set you back around $10k. No ifs no but that is what you are up for. Targa Tassie is over $30k.

The other option would be to buy a go kart. Varying entry levels and will teach you more about setup and driving skills than anything. Also if you are prepared to travel within WA you can race just about every weekend for 10 months of the year. Mind you to get into a new top shelf 125 rotax chassis and motor with trailer / spares / clothes / tent / trolley / rib protector / helmet etc you will not get any change out of $15k. After every meet you end up stripping the kart down to nothing to clean it and prepare it for the next meeting. A kart is also a lot easier to store than another car.

Before you start worrying about what sort of car to buy you need to think about the following:

a) what is the end goal? Do I want to do no limit / ahg / dutton or do I want to go further and do targa tassie etc.
b) Have I got anywhere to store it. Leaving a rally car on the front lawn is not a cool idea.
c) Can I transport it? i.e can I borrow dads landcruiser for a weekend to race in the meelup hill climb and do I have a trailer. Driving a b reg & caged car on the road is fun for about 3 minutes. It is seriously noisy / uncomfortable and the police dont take particularly kindly to it. Even when you are in the right.
d) Do I want to go out and have fun running midfield or do I want to be up the front? There are a couple of really nice guys that went halves in a v3 sti. Never been involved in motorsport, seemingly more interested in beating each other than running at the front and having a great time. They are very aware that they are not going to win an event outright but are having a blast on a moderate budget.
e) Have I got anywhere to work on it. If you pull your mums car out of the garage and pull the gearbox out and have to wait a week for some parts how happy is she going to be that her car is parked outside? I am lucky and have a hoist etc so not an issue but if I had to work out of the garage at home mum would have kicked me out ages ago.
f) If I crash it can I afford to fix it? WRX's are great in this regard. Go and get another shell and swap all the bits over. Easy peasy.
g) Have I got the money to run it. You dont want to jepordise your safety cause the brakes / tyres should really be replaced but I cant afford it just yet etc.

What I am trying to get at is if you are happy running midfield then I dont think a wrx is the car. Great fun but you can get out there and amongst it for a lot cheaper in other cars.

Anyways there is heaps to think about there and you are more than welcome to come and have a look at my car or PM me about specific costs.

Cheers

Brendon

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