Yes, that's certainly the case.
Adjustable suspension will certainly help with things, enabling you to add comfort for the road and stiffness for the track. I have Bilstein shocks and springs on my car and on the stiffer settings it's "somewhat uncomfortable" on the road but very good on track. On the softer settings, road driving is excellent, including yobbing it around the bumpy B/C/D roads.
Brakes-wise I switch between track pads for the summer and Honda pads for the winter when I'm not tracking the car. At £160 a pair of track pads vs £40 for Honda pads, this makes financial sense.
The biggest difference between a road and a dedicated track car will be tyres. Running road legal track tyres like Toyo R888s or Yokohama A048s will make a big difference on track but will not work so well on wet roads in the cold of winter. You could even buy some spare wheels and run slicks for which you'll need to have a roll cage fitted, which makes day to day use/getting in and out a pain.
As Brembo says, a well sorted MX-5 is probably the best bet, I've certainly considered one in the past. A few minutes into this video, you can see an well sorted MX-5 being driven very well. You'll note I'm backing off on the straights so I could watch and learn. There's no point passing him there and then holding him up for the rest of the lap.
YouTube - Honda S2000 Donington 15th December 2007 Part 4
Off to Anglesey on the 18th with Pistonheads/Bookatrack - anyone fancy it?
Anglesey vids - such a spectacular track
YouTube - ‪Anglesey 18th June 2011 Part 1‬‏
YouTube - ‪Anglesey 18th June 2011 Part II‬‏
Anglesey vids - such a spectacular track
YouTube - ‪Anglesey 18th June 2011 Part 1‬‏
YouTube - ‪Anglesey 18th June 2011 Part II‬‏
Going to the Anglesey track this weekend as a good friend of mine has a VX220 and it's the owner's club meet. Did it last year for the first time, so he's a good mate to let me drive his P&J on the track a second time, so I hope to return the favour one day with either my RS2000 or if I sell it a nice 4.5/5 litre TVR. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I'll be watching those videos later to remind me of the track. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Have a great time, just don't use any of my lines!!!
Thanks...they didn't look that bad to me though (apart from the near off at the top of the hill/end of one video data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 ). As it's not my car I'll be taking it slower than the owner as I don't want to get overconfident after last year being total newbies. Since last year I've done a bit of karting and a Mercedes Benz world track session, but I'm under no illusions of my lowly track abilities. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 If anyone on here is going, come over and say hello: We're in the (probably) only Dolphin Blue (kind of grey/blue metallic) VX220 NA.
It wasn't really a near off data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 - that's the main braking zone and there's a nice little run off area for when you get things a bit wrong.
There's a slight wiggle through "Church" which is the fast right hander after the banked hairpin - that was a lot more frightening than a little bit of outbraking! data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Well, what can I say...I did exactly the same run off onto the rumble strip myself on my last lap. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 The weather was glorious, got sunburnt a little and had great fun. Really tempted to see if I can get my RS2000 up there for some laps before I sell it. I still couldn't summon the confidence to go round church at more than about 65mph, though my friend who owns the car took it at 75-80 I believe. When you hear that some of the racing Caterhams can hit 110mph on that corner it puts it into perspective. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Still the main point is to have fun (which I did) and not have to worry about flashing blue lights because you're going over 70. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Good stuff, having fun is entirely the point!
Spa next for me, Sticky R888 tyres going on this weekend, praying it doesn't rain.