no such thing as a cheap 944.. ask me how I know.

speaking of which, wanna buy a cheap 944?

 

Crx, fbody and mustang are also options from a cheap buy in and vast part and knowledge base.

 

last time I saw you post something on the "what do you do for a living" type threads, you were pushing around 250K+ a year just from your job, not to mention your rental houses and whatnot. You then went on to note that your wife made more than you do. Damn your retired Navy vets. Not putting you on blast or anything. Just saying, you're a true started from the bottom sort of guy to look up to.

But to the OP, it does say something that a guy that is obviously "DoingOK" started his son out racing a Miata, despite the fact that he has, or had, a perfectly good Subaru WRX.

 

OP- A Miata is the last car I ever thought I'd buy. It is actually the funnest car to drive that I own and handles fantastic after some modifications (FortuneAuto coilovers and Racing Beat swaybars). I was looking for something a few thousand dollars cheaper, but I just couldn't turn down a 2006 Miata with 1,663 original miles. We just hit 7,000 miles on it last week.

The STi is my son's daily driver. While the STi is actually quite fun on the track, the AWD system allows shitty driver's to pull themselves out of bad lines at the track. I want my son to learn proper car control without AWD nannies saving his ass. I also have about 75% less money invested in the Miata over the Subaru. Less painful (financially) if he hits a wall. October will be his third event in the Miata @VIR and I'm still keeping him on all-season Michelin Pilot Sports. He's spun it a couple of times so I know he is finding the limits of traction. I will probably let him track the STi after two seasons in the Miata.

His daily garage queen:

 

Rich, hit up my cousin, Chris, next time you're at VIR. He works for TMI auto tech, (Ariel Atom company) with your type of upstanding those guys will probably let you test drive anything you want to.

 

I'm not gonna lie, I'd consider buying an atom. Fairly simplistic and a Honda motor so you know if won't break, you can keep it in a shed, probably get away with using motorcycle parking, they're fast as fuck. So much fun, outrageous fun.

 

The turbo atom's are a blast to drive.

 

Actually they aren't street legal. Well, they are, but the company that builds them doesn't give you all the stuff you need to get tags. From what my cousin says, it's a major pain in the ass to get one on the road.

 

Locally as in Virginia Beach? Interestingly enough, same thing happened to me (down to the dollar amount) and that's why I had to move up north.

For perspective (and I don't care about disclosing dollar amounts for so long ago), when I got out of the Navy back in 09 the best offer I got locally was $65k; I extended my search and landed a gig here in central MD for $105k. I'm sure $40k is less of a percentage of your overall income than it would have been for me... so obviously I couldn't say no.

For me I think it's at least partly related to the field I work in (federal cyber is a fairly accurate description) and the concentration of professionals who make their way here to the DC/NOVA/MD area and it's actually very difficult to find highly skilled people so the market is very competitive at the top of the scale. Not sure why else the pay rates would be so dramatically lower. Cost of living is only really a factor in the densely populated areas of NoVa and of course DC... put it this way I don't think I'd be living substantially differently than I do now if I made the same money but lived in Virginia Beach. Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, however you can get TONS of house for next to nothing... not so much in Virginia Beach but the pay doesn't necessarily reflect that.

Back on topic, I'm running into restrictions on convertibles for track events. How the hell do the Miata guys get around them? I just asked- the BMW CCA event I just signed up for at Summit Point for mid-October is fine with whatever make of car that passes tech inspection... EXCEPT for convertibles and SUVs.

So now I'm leaning towards the 240 again... it's a platform I know very well, and I still have yet to call the guy for the one I found earlier that might end up being a stellar deal...

 

Double diagonal roll bar and factory hard top. Hard Dog makes a pretty good bar. So does Boss Frog. You can add about $1500 to the cost of the car to buy that stuff.

Can't go wrong with a 240 either. Z32 parts are generally a direct bolt on upgrade, and they're dirt cheap.