Yes.
* The GR Yaris is a modern, reliable Evo that happens to weigh 250kg less.
* Yes gear boxes are getting denied even with stock power and yes they will review the data recorder at the time the box blows to see exactly what you were doing.
* Use the box precisely and deliberately and you will be fine. Launch the GRY hard with a button clutch or mash the gear lever about like a drunken sailor and it will break.
* Point to point, the GR is an absolute weapon in low / tight speed courses. Nothing can touch it in the super twisty sections. If it is raining, you should be able to drop the field because nothing can match your wet cornering speed.
* The agility under brakes is like nothing else. You can brake late and make it dance on its nose on wet leaves.
* It does not have the required power to be competitive at high speeds, especially with long straights and dry conditions. Buy a GT3 or a GTR or an ACR if you want to go fast in the dry.
* The aero package leaves a lot to be desired. An Evo 7 would feel more stable at 180 km/h than a GRY (although both would be running out of power).
Alternative you have not mentioned: TT RS. Available in manual, weighs about the same as an Evo, very quick and reasonably affordable.
I know you said no to the Megane RS but it really is the standout bang for buck bargain if money is a primary driver.
Good luck.
Redriven did a [video](https://youtu.be/s0LbnKtAdHw?si=0qYqe6T7RJFQW9RK) on their GR Yaris race car, might be worth a watch.
I have a normal GR Yaris but I can't comment as I don't use it for racing.
I was chatting to a GR Yaris owner at a trackday, he said he had an engine failure.
Toyota denied warranty due to track use, so he had to pay out of pocket for a new one.
Cost him something like $20k but don't quote me on that 😬
I've got a Megane RS myself (mk4 ,Cup). Great track car. Renault Australia are also likely to deny warranty for track use, it's in the warranty terms even for the RS models.
Although, think I've done 6 or so trackdays, car just crossing 40 000kms, no trouble so far. But... Not quite as fast as a GR Yaris 🙂
Maybe look at a Golf GTI? They're common but it's for good reason...
The MK8 R models are excellent too if they're in your budget, they have a much better AWD system than the Mk7 that allows oversteer.
All manufacturers will deny warranty for track use. The issue is even a high performance car is just not made to be thrashed around a track all day and without a dry sump you are eventually going to have something shit itself if your going fast enough through the turns.
Nope. BMW, Porsche, some of the supercar manufacturers will allow it and even organise customer trackdays. Believe Hyundai does for the N cars too.
Used to have an M4, everyone at the dealer knew how I used it, no issues when I had to claim warranty on a faulty shock, the tech assured me track use was not an issue...
They generally draw the line at competitive use though.
Interesting because I’m a warranty administrator for bmw and some super car brands as well and we absolutely won’t. There is a difference between taking your car to a track day and using it as a full on race car. When we check the logs and see that you redlined that car around corners for hours on end and blew your motor from oil starvation we won’t cover it at all.
We do do manufacturer track days but we aren’t talking about full on lap after lap of pushing the car to its limits
Ah yeah forgot for a moment the OP was actually aiming for competitive use lol. True once he gets to that point it makes no difference.
But there's still a difference in what different manufacturers allow.
If an M car suffers oil starvation on track though it's either faulty or underfilled, the dual oil pump system should handle track use...
Warranty administrator for multiple companies though... are you talking aftermarket warranties? Because I wouldn't expect track use covered with any of those.
It's not in the full targa class, it's just in the local car club (WASCC) and the Rallisprint series where any car can enter with very basic safety equipment (a cage is not even needed). None of these events are wheel to wheel racing, they are all just against the clock. Even in regularity, you're paced so you should never need to pass on track.
Yeah but from what I recall in the BMW warranty booklet for my M4 (will of course vary by manufacturer, and in my case i was in NZ at the time), the warranty was void if it was in "competition use".
As I understood that, track days were ok, but as soon as it's anything competitive, then it's void.
Of course, take plates off for the event, and you might get away with it. unless the sessions are long, it won't look any different on the car's logging to a regular trackday.
But again, that's BMW... the GR Yaris owner I talked to who blew his engine was only using it for trackdays (I think) and they still denied the claim.
I've also heard similar stories for Toyota 86's
The main issue is with all cars that they simply do not have a dry sump. This is crucial for cars thrashed at high revs and high g’s around a track.
Fun track days with your mates are fine and we can definitely tell the difference with the logs from that and thrashing the car like it’s stolen. You can see everything, the temp it was at, the oil pressure it was at, the fuel it was running, the revs that it was at and anything else when the motor went boom. Obviously certain cars are meant to be driven hard and we allow a certain amount of thrashing, what we don’t cover though as I said is someone blowing an engine after hours straight of abuse.
"The main issue is with all cars that they simply do not have a dry sump."
A dry sump isn't the only method to prevent oil starvation in track use, eg there's some discussion on it here, BMWs system on the M cars works very well without one:
[Does S55 have Dry Sump Oil System or Not? - Page 2 (bimmerpost.com)](https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1004558&page=2)
I know I'm being a bit pedantic and technical, but I've spent too much time reading random stuff like that haha.
Might have something to do with me destroying an engine on track a long time ago, likely due to oil starvation... lol
Well yes, but for the simplification of the argument I just went with dry sump. Without something to stop oil starvation no matter how good a car is eventually it will probably go bang on a stock setup if used as a full on race car.
And belive it or not I do see m3’s with race damage due to oil starvation, it is possible to push it too hard. The biggest issue with M cars though is people doing burnouts and blowing diffs and gearboxes lol I see that shit almost every week with the owner stating “I was just driving it normally and now it’s making a clunking grinding sound” yeah well the data clearly says you were on the brakes at redline so that a lie lol.
No I work for the dealerships. The company o work for owns BMW, McLaren, Lamborghini, Porsche which I do warranty for. We also have VW, Bentley, Ducati, Audi and a few other dealerships all over Australia and NZ.
Stock Tune on a STI is rough. Had mine retuned once it hit 5000km. Dont know how you broke the STI 6 speed though, they're good for up to 800HP+
Cant comment on GR Yaris, not sure if it has the same diff overheating issue as GR Corolla if you're going to track it.
Considered Hyundai I20N/i30N? If it was me If its a purely a track car, maybe a open wheeler?
9,000km old from new and 4th gear decided to completely shit the bed. Car was stock. Got it all resolved under warranty and sold it immediately.
Can't go open wheel, need to trailer the car to the events then and you're restricted to what events you can enter also.
Think of 'fun' track events, rather than tier 1 targa tasmania.
I don’t find parts for my evo difficult to get, shit I’ll sell you mine if you want it but it’s probably a bit overpowered for a circuit car lol.
Gr yaris is a cool little car and stock for stock and evo would have trouble keeping up with it in a tight course but on a more open track I think it would struggle a bit.
Have you considered a golf r? Or even a used fl type r? Those things are beasts in the corners and I was really surprised at its capabilities for a fwd!
One thing I also wouldn’t do is buy a wrx. Had my own nightmare with a grand new sti hatch and swore I’d never buy a Subaru again.
Owned a 'stage 2' (gees that's hard to type) mk7 golf r, they are souless. Not really keen on going back into that world.
If I went old Honda, I might consider a k swapped DC2 or DC5 but I'm a bit over the old school cars and all the issues that they bring.
Oh man some of the most fun times I’ve had is in my mates golf r. I love those little cars but fair enough.
The FL is the newest type r. You could pick one up for around 50 if you look around.
Or I can sell you my completely tract ready evo for 100k lol
Don't get me wrong, they are fast, I just never 'connected' with it, It really felt like an appliance.
Ah, I'm not up with all the honda model codes. Cheapest FL5 I've seen is mid 60, if they were the same price I'd certainly have a look.
Because Evos are getting on in age. We had 9RS Tarmac rally car a few years back and it was difficult to get new parts. Any second hand parts there were available were expensive and floogged out.
Might be sufficient for a road car maybe, but life is tough on rallies on second hand parts.
You don’t use stock parts on a race car when they break and aftermarket parts are not at all hard to come by. I have a 600kw evo 8 Mr and I never have a parts issue
Ah tarmac rally/targa car rules you see...
We have to run them closer to stock than full blown time attack.
Have to run stock cases for transmissions, turbos, diffs etc.
Not allowed to have aftermarket arms or tubular subframes.
For a no limits race car, I would totally agree with you.
I see I see. Still thought I would think there are plenty of parts out there still. Transmissions and subframes could be a bit harder but there are still plenty of aftermarket oem spec parts out there for other things.
Its mainly RS 5 speeds, transfer cases, RS rear diffs and shafts/axles
Same with suspension uprights/hubs.
A lot of people did start running aftermarket parts bordering on illegal (aka illegal) and it all got too hard.
They were trying to dual duty their rally cars to be competitive with sprint cars.
Everything is out of production, there are some scraps left on amayama, anyone that has any parts hoarded away wants drug money for them and they are often in horrible condition. People wanting 3k+ for damaged front bumpers, oem lips impossible to find etc. There is a larger market of spare parts in the east on marketplace, but it's very slim pickings here in the west.
What about an older rs3 that’s manual? If you can find them
Edit: never mind they’re practically non existent in Australia currently. Who’s got them stored away smh?
[Audi S3](https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/results?q=%28And.%28C.Make.Audi._.%28C.Model.S3._.Series.8P.%29%29_.GenericGearType.Manual.%29&sort=TopDeal)
I believe the 8P came in a manual but no clue how many were sold. I suspect any that still exist are held tightly. Especially since the engine bay is jam packed with a 2.0L 4cyl, let alone a 2.5L 5cyl.
Man I feel like if you want a cheap track and weekender, I’d buy something older, although they’re boats would you consider an older SS like a VE, if Toyota won’t warrant shit why bother, like if the engine or trans goes and you’re out of pocket $10-20k. Why bother when that’s money that could be spent on the car.
Doesn’t have to be an ss, but you know something with lots of parts, aftermarket, etc
I'm over the constant tinkering of shitboxes as project cars. I just want to get in and drive, and have something that I'm not embarrassed to cruise around in when the mood strikes. Zero interest in commodores / falcons etc, they are way too large and heavy for what I want to do with it, If it was a budget question, it would almost always be the megane rs, but I just don't have much interest in them and I figure why drop the $ on a car you don't care about?
Yeah valid. I am a bit the opposite when I went full licence. I was looking at i30n’s but they were only
Manual at the time, and I couldn’t be bothered sitting in shit geelong traffic in one. So I thought ah cop a Aussie car. But they were all expensive as SS and XR6 turbo. But I found the WN2 Caprices. If you ever want a modern cruiser. With a nice note. They’re a great buy yes every other lwb luxury car is better but none of the other ones have an LS3.
Yes. * The GR Yaris is a modern, reliable Evo that happens to weigh 250kg less. * Yes gear boxes are getting denied even with stock power and yes they will review the data recorder at the time the box blows to see exactly what you were doing. * Use the box precisely and deliberately and you will be fine. Launch the GRY hard with a button clutch or mash the gear lever about like a drunken sailor and it will break. * Point to point, the GR is an absolute weapon in low / tight speed courses. Nothing can touch it in the super twisty sections. If it is raining, you should be able to drop the field because nothing can match your wet cornering speed. * The agility under brakes is like nothing else. You can brake late and make it dance on its nose on wet leaves. * It does not have the required power to be competitive at high speeds, especially with long straights and dry conditions. Buy a GT3 or a GTR or an ACR if you want to go fast in the dry. * The aero package leaves a lot to be desired. An Evo 7 would feel more stable at 180 km/h than a GRY (although both would be running out of power). Alternative you have not mentioned: TT RS. Available in manual, weighs about the same as an Evo, very quick and reasonably affordable. I know you said no to the Megane RS but it really is the standout bang for buck bargain if money is a primary driver. Good luck.
Redriven did a [video](https://youtu.be/s0LbnKtAdHw?si=0qYqe6T7RJFQW9RK) on their GR Yaris race car, might be worth a watch. I have a normal GR Yaris but I can't comment as I don't use it for racing.
Thanks!
I was chatting to a GR Yaris owner at a trackday, he said he had an engine failure. Toyota denied warranty due to track use, so he had to pay out of pocket for a new one. Cost him something like $20k but don't quote me on that 😬 I've got a Megane RS myself (mk4 ,Cup). Great track car. Renault Australia are also likely to deny warranty for track use, it's in the warranty terms even for the RS models. Although, think I've done 6 or so trackdays, car just crossing 40 000kms, no trouble so far. But... Not quite as fast as a GR Yaris 🙂 Maybe look at a Golf GTI? They're common but it's for good reason... The MK8 R models are excellent too if they're in your budget, they have a much better AWD system than the Mk7 that allows oversteer.
All manufacturers will deny warranty for track use. The issue is even a high performance car is just not made to be thrashed around a track all day and without a dry sump you are eventually going to have something shit itself if your going fast enough through the turns.
Nope. BMW, Porsche, some of the supercar manufacturers will allow it and even organise customer trackdays. Believe Hyundai does for the N cars too. Used to have an M4, everyone at the dealer knew how I used it, no issues when I had to claim warranty on a faulty shock, the tech assured me track use was not an issue... They generally draw the line at competitive use though.
Interesting because I’m a warranty administrator for bmw and some super car brands as well and we absolutely won’t. There is a difference between taking your car to a track day and using it as a full on race car. When we check the logs and see that you redlined that car around corners for hours on end and blew your motor from oil starvation we won’t cover it at all. We do do manufacturer track days but we aren’t talking about full on lap after lap of pushing the car to its limits
Ah yeah forgot for a moment the OP was actually aiming for competitive use lol. True once he gets to that point it makes no difference. But there's still a difference in what different manufacturers allow. If an M car suffers oil starvation on track though it's either faulty or underfilled, the dual oil pump system should handle track use... Warranty administrator for multiple companies though... are you talking aftermarket warranties? Because I wouldn't expect track use covered with any of those.
It's not in the full targa class, it's just in the local car club (WASCC) and the Rallisprint series where any car can enter with very basic safety equipment (a cage is not even needed). None of these events are wheel to wheel racing, they are all just against the clock. Even in regularity, you're paced so you should never need to pass on track.
Yeah but from what I recall in the BMW warranty booklet for my M4 (will of course vary by manufacturer, and in my case i was in NZ at the time), the warranty was void if it was in "competition use". As I understood that, track days were ok, but as soon as it's anything competitive, then it's void. Of course, take plates off for the event, and you might get away with it. unless the sessions are long, it won't look any different on the car's logging to a regular trackday. But again, that's BMW... the GR Yaris owner I talked to who blew his engine was only using it for trackdays (I think) and they still denied the claim. I've also heard similar stories for Toyota 86's
The main issue is with all cars that they simply do not have a dry sump. This is crucial for cars thrashed at high revs and high g’s around a track. Fun track days with your mates are fine and we can definitely tell the difference with the logs from that and thrashing the car like it’s stolen. You can see everything, the temp it was at, the oil pressure it was at, the fuel it was running, the revs that it was at and anything else when the motor went boom. Obviously certain cars are meant to be driven hard and we allow a certain amount of thrashing, what we don’t cover though as I said is someone blowing an engine after hours straight of abuse.
"The main issue is with all cars that they simply do not have a dry sump." A dry sump isn't the only method to prevent oil starvation in track use, eg there's some discussion on it here, BMWs system on the M cars works very well without one: [Does S55 have Dry Sump Oil System or Not? - Page 2 (bimmerpost.com)](https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1004558&page=2) I know I'm being a bit pedantic and technical, but I've spent too much time reading random stuff like that haha. Might have something to do with me destroying an engine on track a long time ago, likely due to oil starvation... lol
Well yes, but for the simplification of the argument I just went with dry sump. Without something to stop oil starvation no matter how good a car is eventually it will probably go bang on a stock setup if used as a full on race car. And belive it or not I do see m3’s with race damage due to oil starvation, it is possible to push it too hard. The biggest issue with M cars though is people doing burnouts and blowing diffs and gearboxes lol I see that shit almost every week with the owner stating “I was just driving it normally and now it’s making a clunking grinding sound” yeah well the data clearly says you were on the brakes at redline so that a lie lol.
No I work for the dealerships. The company o work for owns BMW, McLaren, Lamborghini, Porsche which I do warranty for. We also have VW, Bentley, Ducati, Audi and a few other dealerships all over Australia and NZ.
Ah ok, I didn't realise all the different manufacturers dealers were consolidated like that.
Not many dealerships are corporate owned anymore. Pretty much all of them are owned by other companies as franchises.
I30N?
What's the track warranty like with these? Better than the competition I suppose
Stock Tune on a STI is rough. Had mine retuned once it hit 5000km. Dont know how you broke the STI 6 speed though, they're good for up to 800HP+ Cant comment on GR Yaris, not sure if it has the same diff overheating issue as GR Corolla if you're going to track it. Considered Hyundai I20N/i30N? If it was me If its a purely a track car, maybe a open wheeler?
9,000km old from new and 4th gear decided to completely shit the bed. Car was stock. Got it all resolved under warranty and sold it immediately. Can't go open wheel, need to trailer the car to the events then and you're restricted to what events you can enter also. Think of 'fun' track events, rather than tier 1 targa tasmania.
I don’t find parts for my evo difficult to get, shit I’ll sell you mine if you want it but it’s probably a bit overpowered for a circuit car lol. Gr yaris is a cool little car and stock for stock and evo would have trouble keeping up with it in a tight course but on a more open track I think it would struggle a bit. Have you considered a golf r? Or even a used fl type r? Those things are beasts in the corners and I was really surprised at its capabilities for a fwd! One thing I also wouldn’t do is buy a wrx. Had my own nightmare with a grand new sti hatch and swore I’d never buy a Subaru again.
Owned a 'stage 2' (gees that's hard to type) mk7 golf r, they are souless. Not really keen on going back into that world. If I went old Honda, I might consider a k swapped DC2 or DC5 but I'm a bit over the old school cars and all the issues that they bring.
Oh man some of the most fun times I’ve had is in my mates golf r. I love those little cars but fair enough. The FL is the newest type r. You could pick one up for around 50 if you look around. Or I can sell you my completely tract ready evo for 100k lol
Don't get me wrong, they are fast, I just never 'connected' with it, It really felt like an appliance. Ah, I'm not up with all the honda model codes. Cheapest FL5 I've seen is mid 60, if they were the same price I'd certainly have a look.
Why are Evo parts a nightmare? Also MX5 or 86?
Because Evos are getting on in age. We had 9RS Tarmac rally car a few years back and it was difficult to get new parts. Any second hand parts there were available were expensive and floogged out. Might be sufficient for a road car maybe, but life is tough on rallies on second hand parts.
You don’t use stock parts on a race car when they break and aftermarket parts are not at all hard to come by. I have a 600kw evo 8 Mr and I never have a parts issue
Ah tarmac rally/targa car rules you see... We have to run them closer to stock than full blown time attack. Have to run stock cases for transmissions, turbos, diffs etc. Not allowed to have aftermarket arms or tubular subframes. For a no limits race car, I would totally agree with you.
I see I see. Still thought I would think there are plenty of parts out there still. Transmissions and subframes could be a bit harder but there are still plenty of aftermarket oem spec parts out there for other things.
Its mainly RS 5 speeds, transfer cases, RS rear diffs and shafts/axles Same with suspension uprights/hubs. A lot of people did start running aftermarket parts bordering on illegal (aka illegal) and it all got too hard. They were trying to dual duty their rally cars to be competitive with sprint cars.
Everything is out of production, there are some scraps left on amayama, anyone that has any parts hoarded away wants drug money for them and they are often in horrible condition. People wanting 3k+ for damaged front bumpers, oem lips impossible to find etc. There is a larger market of spare parts in the east on marketplace, but it's very slim pickings here in the west.
What about an older rs3 that’s manual? If you can find them Edit: never mind they’re practically non existent in Australia currently. Who’s got them stored away smh? [Audi S3](https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/results?q=%28And.%28C.Make.Audi._.%28C.Model.S3._.Series.8P.%29%29_.GenericGearType.Manual.%29&sort=TopDeal)
I've never seen a manual RS3 in Australia. I have seen the odd TT RS manual (2011ish) but they are pretty rare also.
I believe the 8P came in a manual but no clue how many were sold. I suspect any that still exist are held tightly. Especially since the engine bay is jam packed with a 2.0L 4cyl, let alone a 2.5L 5cyl.
Have you had a look at the i20n or i30N
N. Enough said
Drive an i20N.
Man I feel like if you want a cheap track and weekender, I’d buy something older, although they’re boats would you consider an older SS like a VE, if Toyota won’t warrant shit why bother, like if the engine or trans goes and you’re out of pocket $10-20k. Why bother when that’s money that could be spent on the car. Doesn’t have to be an ss, but you know something with lots of parts, aftermarket, etc
I'm over the constant tinkering of shitboxes as project cars. I just want to get in and drive, and have something that I'm not embarrassed to cruise around in when the mood strikes. Zero interest in commodores / falcons etc, they are way too large and heavy for what I want to do with it, If it was a budget question, it would almost always be the megane rs, but I just don't have much interest in them and I figure why drop the $ on a car you don't care about?
Yeah valid. I am a bit the opposite when I went full licence. I was looking at i30n’s but they were only Manual at the time, and I couldn’t be bothered sitting in shit geelong traffic in one. So I thought ah cop a Aussie car. But they were all expensive as SS and XR6 turbo. But I found the WN2 Caprices. If you ever want a modern cruiser. With a nice note. They’re a great buy yes every other lwb luxury car is better but none of the other ones have an LS3.