There's 3 ways you can do it.

Personal import
B-reg
ADM donor chassis

[QUOTE=the kiwi]Can I get some things clarified?

If spotty dog was to bring in a s202 it would only be a b-reg type scenario. It would not be road registrable?

If so, is WRXRW's s201 also not registered for general driving duties? but rather extended 'maintenance drives' and for events?

[/QUOTE]

Interesting point. Can you get personal plates on B reg cars?

Can't see why not. There has been speculation that the dpi in association with cams was to have specific 'B reg' classification # plates, however thats yet to come into fruition.

you can definitely have personal plates on b-reg car

Greg who auto-crosses a S6 RX7 has [THE REX] on his.. and car is definitely b-rego

so what signifies it is B-Reg?
I know historic reg ($50 a year club rego with same restrictions) u need to rivet a metal label above each number plate.

Nothing needs to be on plate.

Steve Jones runs [FABCAR] on his b-reg R35 GTR.

Some very interesting discussion here but I cant help but think the more options that are shown to spotydog the more procrastinating he will have to do!!

The original aim of the exercise is to run a reasonably cheap car and to hopefully improve his driving skills.

With that in mind I would suggest buying the best road car available for the budget, service it, put some decent tyres on it and make sure the brakes are up to scratch then.....seat time, seat time, seat time!!

Once you have got to the point that you can not improve your lap times through driver improvement THEN its time to look at sinking some money in to the car.....we are all competative and get tempted by "bigger, faster, better, shinier" but the reality is that it takes a lot of experience (and money) to be at the front of the field and no amount of twelfty pot brakes and bajillion horse pressures can help if your no good behind the wheel.

I started looking at it myself but then realised...crap...I have precious little experience of driving quickly so start with a stock car, get the seat time and build the skills to be able to push a car to its limits instead of being confused by the dizzying array of adjustments that can be made and only being able to push to 70% of its ability which is what would happen if I bought a proper race car.

All in my opinion of course :D

[QUOTE=spotydog]
Thanks for everyones input so far - the fact that the S202 cant run some events competetively due to weight is a factor that makes the decision harder. But the S202 would never be competetive in my hands because I doubt I would drop the coin on it, but rather drop the coin on a newer car IF I was wanting to be competetive in such an event in years to come.

So the choice narrows to built Classic or Stock S202 - Dotar may decide this for me yet.[/QUOTE]

Dont forget that you can buy a S202 and then if you decide to get serious you can upgrade the same shell to 07 spec. i.e. change the headlights / bonnet, put in a later model dccd box and incorporate a few other things that will make the car more competitive. I am not up with the GD so much but from memory the later ones had different / better vvt for more power torque? Toby Heyring has just done this with his 05 rally car. It is now an 07. I have a feeling that originally it was an 02 but he crashed it and updated to the then current 05 and has since crashed again so updated to the 07.

The other thing that no one has mentioned is that you need somewhere to store the thing, somewhere to work on it and preferably something to tow it with. It sounds great to drive a car down to busselton for the speed event series but the novelty wears off really quickly. It also means you can prep the car at home and then not have to worry about changing tyres etc when you get there. The Mrs is not going to be too happy is you start doing oil changes / change tyres on the driveway in nedlands!

Brendon

IMHO go and buy the last Evo 9 rs from heaphy at ralliart for $40k. Exhaust, tune tyres. Brand new car (read super reliable) that you know the history of that will run low 13's down the 1/4 mile all day. Already in Australia so no import dramas. Heaphy / Ralliart will give you great parts backup (at a price) compared to subaru motorsport and you know the car is super super competitive.

Then you have someone that will provide the car licensed etc rather than all the bullshit and lies that I had to sort through.

When you go to sell it you will still get really good money for it. Some rally guy will buy it and smash it up on the dirt.

My 2c

[QUOTE=the kiwi]If so, is WRXRW's s201 also not registered for general driving duties? but rather extended 'maintenance drives' and for events?
[/QUOTE]

australian a-class rego and its 100% original/authentic s201. since i got it, its done about 18.000kms on west australian public roads.

[QUOTE=deviant]The original aim of the exercise is to run a reasonably cheap car and to hopefully improve his driving skills.

With that in mind I would suggest buying the best road car available for the budget, service it, put some decent tyres on it and make sure the brakes are up to scratch then.....seat time, seat time, seat time!![/QUOTE]

which is something that has been raised in discussions about taking his current 08sti, improving the dynamics to cope with the track and then go out and get the experience needed to then possibly justify that dedicated race-car.

if you could get an s202 for about <20 landed it wouldn't be a bad thing and much like the 08sti you wouldn't have to do much to improve to maximise the experience. if then, he decides to take the next step he has the perfect base car to do it without having to destroy the 08sti.

[QUOTE=urabus]Toby Heyring has just done this with his 05 rally car. It is now an 07. I have a feeling that originally it was an 02 but he crashed it and updated to the then current 05 and has since crashed again so updated to the 07.[/QUOTE]

that car was originally built for brad markcovich and wore auto-one sponsorship in 03/04 making it the same vintage. at that stage it had all trappings of current rally techonolgy and which in essence became the sister car to sam brands first car which then became..... its all too hard to keep up with the chop & changing but the moral of the story goes, if you build a car well from the start, no reason you can't enjoy it for years afterwards and as brendon has rightly pointed out, update and upgrade as technology advancess. the red car has recently updated to 5-way dms 50mm replacing the dms 60mm's it had since it was built.

[QUOTE=urabus]IMHO go and buy the last Evo 9 rs from heaphy at ralliart for $40k.[/QUOTE]

you seriously need to wash your mouth out after saying that. if not your mouth, at least your fingers for typing it!