10 Of The Best Track Day Cars In 2025

You’re bored of confining your track time to sitting with your Logitech G29 and playing Gran Turismo 7. You want to give the real thing a go at last, but you look outside the window to see the daily hatchback/family SUV/abandoned project car (delete as appropriate) parked in your driveway.

You know you can’t make the most of the track with that, so it’s time to treat yourself to something proper. Life is hard, you’ve earned it. The problem is, you don’t really know what you want.

Well, that’s where we can lend a helping hand. We’ve picked out 10 of the best cars you can buy as a track day toy – some obtainable, some much less so.

992.2 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Honestly, does anyone really need anything more than a Porsche 911 GT3 RS can offer?

Particularly in 992.2 form, it feels about as close to a 911 Cup race car with licence plates as you can ever get – and with the benefit of Android Auto for the drive home after your day at Thruxton.

While a 518bhp output from its MA2.75 flat-six may sound modest compared with some options out there today, it’s more than plentiful and its well-honed chassis makes all that performance accessible enough to trick you into thinking you’re really Nick Tandy.

Bonus points for DRS and eleventy-billion different settings that you can discuss with the 16 other 911 GT3 RS owners at the track.

Any Caterham

Ask anyone with a passing interest in cars to describe a ‘track car’, and we’d expect something close to a Caterham will be explained.

There’s a reason for this – relatively inexpensive for the performance on offer, probably the most driver engagement from anything wearing licence plates and the wide range of choices for all levels.

Be it an entry-level 170 with its turbo-wooshing 660cc Suzuki engine, or the seriously hardcore 620, there’s something for everyone in the Caterham range. All will be utterly wonderful on a track – just hope it’s a dry drive home.

ND Mazda MX-5

If you’re the type of person who frequents Car Throttle, we don’t really need to preach about the Mazda MX-5 to you. But we will anyway.

The little roadster has been a staple for track use ever since its inception in 1989, and it’s easy to see why. Accessible performance, lightweight, a shedload of aftermarket support and quite frankly, they’re just fun.

With the ND having been in production for almost 10 years now, those values all continue to ring true.

Ariel Atom 4R

If you’ve considered a Caterham 620 and thought, “That looks good and all, but I just want something… more”, the Ariel Atom 4R seems like a car built for you.

Using Honda’s K20C1 engine as seen in the FL5 Civic Type R, power is ramped up to a monstrous 400bhp and 369lb ft of torque. In a car weighing 595kg, those numbers are almost frightening.

Helping to keep the Atom 4R in check is an aggressive aerodynamic package, adjustable Ohlins dampers and even configurable ABS.

Toyota GR Yaris

While the Toyota GR Yaris may have been born in rallying, it’s just at home on a tarmac circuit as a loose gravel stage. Also, putting it on here gives us another excuse to tell you that you need a GR Yaris in your life.

In its ‘Gen 2’ guise, it produces a healthy 276bhp and 288lb ft of torque. That continues to be sent through the mega-grippy GR-Four system, and now with a choice between a six-speed manual or an eight-speed torque converter auto. The latter is brilliant, but we’d always row our own, given the choice.

Aston Martin Valkyrie

We did say something ‘much less’ obtainable in our intro, to be fair. We also have to consider that Jeff Bezos may be reading this list. In which case, Jeff, for the ultimate track day weapon, nobody is going to outpace you if you rock up in an Aston Martin Valkyrie.

1139bhp from a hybrid-assisted 6.5-litre V12, Adrian Newey-honed aerodynamics and a weight of just 1335kg. Oh, and it’s the only road car to have served as the base for a Le Mans Hypercar, just to lend extra kudos to it.

Alpine A110 R

Normally, our suggestion of an Alpine A110 would be to go for the absolute base version of it. On the road, it has the perfect amount of power and a chassis that’s perfectly balanced for inconsistent UK tarmac, with any attempts at a ‘better’ version spoiling the recipe a little.

If you want an A110 predominantly for track use, though, the A110 R is hard to ignore. It gets the most potent form of the Renault 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine, producing 296bhp, and 34kg worth of weight savings thanks to extensive carbon fibre use.

Stiffer springs and anti-roll bars contribute to even more sensational handling, and out on track, you won’t be affected by the compromise in refinement those bring. Act fast, though, the A110 has its date with death set for 2026.

A TCR Race Car

Forget road cars that can take to the track, go the whole hog and buy a homologated race car.

While that sounds intimidating if you’ve never set foot in a competition car before, a TCR race car offers the experience while remaining approachable to noobs. Trust us, we’ve tried it for ourselves.

Various manufacturers have homologated TCR cars based on production models, but the performance of all falls in the same range, and prices are pretty comparable to a Porsche 911 GT3. Just remember you’ll need to buy a trailer, though.

BAC Mono

Your Formula 1 dream never came to fruition, no matter how many times you watched Logan Sargeant in recent years and told yourself even you could do a better job.

Live out those single-seater dreams with a BAC Mono, and it’ll also ensure you won’t ever have to worry about bringing passengers along for your track days, either.

The Mono has been in production since 2011, but has consistently been updated to keep up with the times. Its current guise sees it run a Mountune-honed 2.5-litre Ford Duratec engine, good for 305bhp.

There’s also the more serious R, which takes that to 343bhp and proclaims itself as the first production car using material graphene. That truly feels like Track Day Conversation™.

Some old hot hatch you bought on Facebook Marketplace

Forget buying something new and shiny, give yourself a £5,000 budget, buy an absolute shed of a hot hatch and leave yourself with enough change to make some useful chassis mods.

You don’t need lots of power, clever aerodynamics or exotic chassis materials to have fun. Grab a Suzuki Swift Sport, Ford Fiesta ST or a VW Polo GTI, put some coilovers and nice tyres on it, and go have a care-free blast. You’ll feel even more heroic when you’re passing the serious stuff, too.