Thought I would give a bit of my input as I used to own an R27 (197 with stickers on) I used the car most days as my daily driver and owned it for 18 months and did about 30,000 miles in it. The car probably did around 20 or so track days and stood up pretty well to the abuse (Helped that is was brand new). I started tracking the car as standard and it was a very good track car, On the first ever trackday the only thing I suffered with was brakes overheating, presumed it was boiled fluid so replaced but never seemed feel right since then (Still to this day don't know what it was although think it might of been air in the ABS pump) I also uprated the pads all round to DS2500's. Worked well but after the next trackday it had warped the discs. I then bought the Yozza brake kit which was separate bells and rotors, these dissipated the heat much better and that was the end of my braking issues. The car ran on 888's and even with pretty much standard geo and 30psi hot all round wore the tyres very evenly and lasted many track days.
The car didn't go without its faults though, had a new gearbox, cylinder head, radiator, some bearings and quite a few electrical issues. I had bought the car new so thankfully all was covered under warranty otherwise it would have been very costly.
I also fitted an aftermarket exhaust and remap but it just made the car more noisy and had a flatspot from the exhaust so I wouldn't recommend that if I were you.
Obviously I have also driven a few 1*2's on track and if I were you I wouldn't sell the Trophy as it's a much more fun car to drive on track, much more rewarding and ultimately a hell of a lot cheaper to run. Tyres, bearing, bushes, body panels, wheels absolutely everything is alot more expensive to replace and the electronics are a mine field so you have very limited potential for tuning.
Don't get me wrong as an all rounder it was a great car for me at that point in my life and I did love it and it was quick but it was an occasional trackday car rather than a dedicated one which is what I think you are wanting it for?
Looking at it from a Wallet v's Laptime/Fun perspective I would either keep the Trophy or buy a mk3 Cup racer but you have to be prepared for the bills with the cup racers as each day will cost 1k easily by the time you look at wear on the car, tyres, brakes, circuit fee, fuel etc
I know that's not what you want to hear but just thought I should give my opinion after having a similar 197 and a similar 182
