Reliable Track Day/Weekend 818 Cost? My Initial Impressions...Feedback Appreciated!

[prematureapex]

Sorry, as a long-time lurker, I know this topic has been covered sporadically...but honestly, I don't know what to think. Please excuse the length.

To start, I've only placed my order, so I'm not speaking from a position of experience with the kit (but I have owned 5 WRXs, and have tracked them pretty extensively).

It seems that every time someone posts here and says they were hoping to spend $20k and a build a fun/reliable weekend toy/trackday car, guys chime in and claim that's a pipe-dream...and shout out "real" numbers in the $30-50k range to achieve that goal.

My issue is, they tend to make those claims yet offer no justification for them. In fact, these guys haven't even tracked (or in some cases driven) the car yet. So I dig deeper and look at their threads: while they're building GREAT 818s, much of what they're doing isn't necessarily to cure any documented reliability issues with the stock car.

I'll elaborate.

While I understand this is a kit car, and as an ME/gearhead I FULLY understand the personality types that build these things, I can't seem to find good threads pinpointing the true weak points of these cars in closer to a donor-build form. I find perfectionists unsatisfied with the imperfect, economic solutions offered by FFR. But bad pedal position/shift feel does not make a track car unreliable. Nor does anyone require 350 bhp to have a fun time at an HPDE in a 2000 lb. car.

I know the brakes are good enough (full-weight WRXs have competed in the US Touring Car Championship on stock brakes and proper pads, I too have tracked a full-weight WRX on 255 R-comps...and yes rotors are a disposable item...but they're also $20). The trans is fine. The engine (well, yeah, typical EJ issues...), but let's call it fine at close to stock power levels.

Cooling...at what power levels in an AWIC needed? And even then, that add-on doesn't turn a $20k build into a $40k build.

So what is it? Specifically, where is the extra $20k one needs to spend to cure KNOWN reliability issues to make an 818 a reliable track car?

My feeling is that while all the extra detail work guys spending a lot of time and money on building their 818 probably technically increase their reliability (and surely their feel/enjoyability), they are not really upgrading/replacing systems that are inherently unreliable. Or at least not that have been shown to be unreliable.

Does anyone else think that there needs to be some more distinctions and information regarding what common upgrades are "necessary" to address known reliability issues, vs. those that are popular because they're better solutions for various reasons (more robust, nicer feeling/looking)?

C/N: I think people blur the line between natural build-creep to make a great 818, and upgrades that are necessary to a reliable runner.

It shouldn't be hard to have a thread that, speaking from experience, tells people what, on a 250 bhp straight donor WRX swap, is likely to cause them trouble doing ten track days a year.

Hopefully that didn't come off badly...just frustrated reading dozens of posts saying you need to spend $30k+, but not many with any with actual experience stating why.