Oh dear.
Some people need to look at the shell and suspension G2 vs G3.
There's not a huge lot of difference, but there's lots more lard added to the G3 as outlined previously, which is a large portion of what dents the track appeal - more weight = less enjoyment, in simple terms.
You can take a lot of the lard out, but £10 says it'll still weigh at least 100kg more, with no benefit. And then you have crud like airbags and ABS to render out of it - time, effort and aggravation and potential MOT issues, along with the need to run a cat if it's road-going.
G3s do seem to rot faster than G2s, with sill covers designed to trap moisture on the sills and generally what seems poor quality steel. Remember the oldest G2s are 1984ish. The oldest G3s are 92-93ish. As cars age they degrade and G2s are older, duh.
Stiffness of the shell - immaterial once you have a cage in it. Who's really going to notice all that stiffness out on track to start with anyway? You'll be focused on driving and having fun, unless you're some sort of anal moron sitting there holding people up going 'you know, I believe this shell isn't very stiff - look feel it, it moved then'. It's not like the G2 was ever called out for lacking rigidity.
Wideness of the track - again you're clutching at straws thrown to you by a bloke down the pub at best. The wide-track stuff all bolts up to the G2 anyway - lighter shell, track just as wide, doesn't look like a blancmange.
This thread was about the 'best trackday fun Golf'. Not the best out and out track day Golf, which is clearly a G2. You want fun? By fun I mean cheap and easy to access = fun - G3 as I've said on various occasions.
You want overall best then buy a good, solid G2 shell and a rotten G3 16V and replace the front subframe etc and rear beam etc as well as the engine and 'box on the G2 with that from the G3 and you have a hybrid, which is better than both and doesn't look like a blancmange.
