Now, many venues or clubs do not allow "open top" car to participate in track days, or more specifically HPDEs. Any thoughts or insight on this by you track junkies?
The reason I'm asking is I was recently bitten by the Autocross bug and will now be looking for the proper car, but if I am going to make the investment I may as well attend track days and HPDEs as well. I don't plan on any club racing.
While this has come up in the past it's been a very long time since I had to deal with it. Just make sure you get a hardtop and just always act/assume that it's NOT a convertible (which it is not). So if anyone else hassles you just say "uh, it's a hardtop, period". As pointed out already the top does basically nothing for safety, that's what the integrated roll bar behind the seats is for.
The local BMW club used to be a pain about this when the Elise first came out. Within a year they realized they were wrong but they require hardtops (soft-tops are out). Just get a car with both.
And if you don't know yet you can convert the Exige to a soft-top like an Elise if you want (I did that but wound up selling my top as I never used it). So the Exige technically is NOT a convertible where some sites/groups call the Elise one.
So again to answer a rather complex question with a very simple answer
2006 Exige
-Ross