Top 10 best track day cars 2023

The best track day cars bring with them unrivalled handling delicacy, tactile involvement and responsiveness, plus performance that is orders of magnitude higher than the on paper power outputs would suggest.

After all, when you really want to have fun behind the wheel, you need to minimise the mass, maximise the mechanicals and leave the notion of comfort behind. And the simplest and easiest way of doing this is by venturing into the most specialised section of the car market. 

To qualify for this list our contenders have to tip the scales at under 1000kg (or thereabouts) and have a singular focus to engage and entertain. We’re not interested in infotainment systems, leather trim or climate control, and if we’re honest even basic weather protection isn’t a prerequisite to entry.

So, here’s our top picks for brilliant, back-to-basics track day entertainers.

1. Ariel Atom 4R

To the uninitiated, the fourth generation Atom looks much like the first, which is to say a cartoonish mash-up of children’s climbing frame and a single seat racer. Yet while the brilliantly pared-back aesthetics are similar, as is the lazer-focus on stripping away anything that comes between the driver and a good time, this fourth generation road racer is the most advanced and exciting yet.

The 4R, meanwhile, turns things up to 11. The power output swells from 320bhp to 400bhp, its Ohlins dampers with remote reservoirs are updated and mated to either special track or road/track springs and it offers Ariel's first ABS option too.

This featherweight, sequential-gearbox, outrageously unfettered 4R is a little jewel of a supercar slayer, but it can bite if you fail to anticipate the arrival of turbo boost, and care needs to be taken not to lock the brakes. But the lack of inertia allows the Ariel to dart into and out of corners with barely a whiff of slip, slide, rock or roll. It communicates so lucidly too, the unpowered steering keeping you keyed-in to the road, the mid-engined balance and razor sharp throttle giving options and entertainment in equal measure. It’s a total immersion device and every trip leaves you exhilarated and happily exhausted.

You want more proof of the Atom 4’s excellence? Well, it’s one of only a handful of machines to take back-to-back wins in our annual Britain’s Best Driver’s Car shootout.

Read our Ariel Atom 4 review

2. Caterham Seven 360R

There would very likely be no market for lightweight sports cars at all if not for the car whose bloodline flows into the indefatigable Caterham Seven. The original Lotus Seven might even have been Colin Chapman’s greatest gift to the motoring world, and when Caterham Cars bought the rights to Chapman’s little lightweight special from him in 1973, it founded a business that has been indulging and nurturing true diehard driving enthusiasts ever since.

Since the demise of the 1.6-litre Ford Sigma-engined 310R, the more muscular 360R is the Seven that’s the sweetest spot in the line-up. Powered by the larger and more raucous 180 bhp 2.0-litre, it's a lightning quick and responsive performer, intake roar and exhaust bark adding to the heady sense of a near bottomless pit of on road performance.

Then there’s that fabulously communicative steering that allows the driver to work the tiny but wonderfully direct and immersive chassis, the Seven changing direction with fruit fly fleetness and the beautifully calibrated controls letting you direct your angle of attack into and out of corners with millimetric precision. The S pack models have been tuned to the road, but the R’s extra control and limited slip diff are worth the extra outlay, especially as there’s no trade-off in everyday usability (and you should use your Seven everyday).

Of course there are more expensive, quicker versions of the Seven, plus the charming, skinny-tyred three-cylinder 170 models. But when it comes to balancing thrills, involvement and affordability, there is nothing that can match it.

Read our Cateham Seven review

3. Spartan

Could this be the best Australian export since Neighbours, Fosters or even our very own Steve Cropley? The brainchild of single-minded brothers Nick and Peter Pap, the Spartan is a road legal track day weapon aimed at potential Ariel Atom and Radical customers.

Under carbon fibre bodywork that takes its cues from Sixties Can Am racers, the Spartan features a bespoke spaceframe chassis, double wishbone suspension and a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder Honda engine mounted amidships. Here it delivers a heady 460bhp, which is a compact package weighing just 700kg results in sensational performance (how does 0-62mph in 2.3 seconds grab you?).

We’ve only sampled the Spartan on track so far, but it was enough to confirm that this is a flyweight driver’s tool of rare ability. Instinctive, balanced and approachable handling means you can place the car just-so through corners, while the steering is as chatty as a daytime TV host and there’s genuine aero assistance to keep it swift and stable through fast sweeps.

It’s a remarkable first effort, and while £126,000 is a significant chunk of change, few cars offer as much adrenaline production per pound as this device from Down Under.

Read our Spartan review

4. Morgan Super 3

Like all the most characterful machines, the Morgan Super 3 is something of a contradiction. You look past the quaint pseudo vintage car styling and you’ll discover one of the most technically advanced and intriguing cars the Malvern manufacturer has created. Crucially, it’s also a riot to drive, and like the best lightweights you don’t have to be driving like you’re fleeing an erupting volcano.

A clean sheet design, the Super 3 features a light and strong bonded aluminium chassis, plus bespoke double wishbone front suspension with springs and dampers actuated by an F1-style pullrod mechanism. The old car’s V-twin motor has been dropped in favour of a naturally aspirated version of the Ford Fiesta ST’s 1.5-litre three-pot motor which drives the single rear wheel through a Mazda MX-5 transmission.

Driving the Morgan is an experience unlike any other, its open cockpit and small aero screens giving you the feeling you’re piloting a bi-plance rather than a car. It’s at its best when driven within its limits on typically twisty British back roads, where you quickly get drawn into the sights, sounds and smells of a bygone motor era.

Yet there’s genuine ability here, and provided you bear in mind the front end grip limitations of those skinny 135 section front tyres, the Morgan can be hustled hard and steering on the throttle is deliciously precise and progressive way. It goes well too, the rev-happy triple singing its way from 0-60mph in 7.2 seconds.

This isn’t a car to use everyday, and at over £40,000 in basic trim it’s not cheap, but the exquisitely finished Super 3 will leave a smile on your face long after the ringing in your ears has stopped and you’ve picked all the flies from your teeth.

Read our Morgan Super 3 review

5. Ariel Nomad