All, I am going to step up from street/track cars and purchase a dedicated track car. I am looking at F430 challenge vs 997 or 991 Cup cars. Has anyone owned both? I am experienced in tracking; 12+ years in multiple street cars with race seats harnesses and other track options.

What do you think would work best as strictly a track toy, not wheel to wheel? Thanks for the input.

 

Since I've driven both I'll chime in.

They are very, very different beasts to drive. The F430 is a better in most areas of drive-ability on track being very predictable in every manner, but I would gather the costs to be higher than a Cup car. The Cup (I drove the 997, not a 991) car is great out of the box, but know your driving limit as when it bites, it bites hard.

If you're just doing HPDEs, drive both and go with what you enjoy the most.

 

Thank you for the reply, I appreciate your experience. I have heard the same thing on the cup cars, they scare me a bit.

What are your thoughts on reliability at the track? I don’t mind the maintenance costs, but I fear the break downs at the track as I will be supporting myself. How did the 430CH hold up?

 

Reliability stems from poor prep. Who preps your car and how much they pay attention to the details will make or break your track day experience. Both of those cars are track proven machines.

 

I have run a 2005 gt3 cup since 2010. They are not cheap or for the faint hearted.But they are a blast to drive at track events and race.Driving a race car is like any other sport.It takes practice and lots of it to get good.
Prep as the other gentleman stated is key.A race cars parts gets replaced after hours of use as opposed when it breaks.I figure my cup is about 1k and hour to run at track events and 3k and hour on race weekends with all things considered.
here is what a fast lap looks like around Limerock