Ultimate Track car.
06-03-2014, 08:30 AM
#1
On The Tree
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Ultimate Track car. If you want a dedicated track car, quit dumping $$ into the F-body and go to something like this. Its a purpose built race car and you will have less money into buying it than turning a street car into a track car! Wear parts are much cheaper than street car stuff.
There was a similar thread on here last summer, Bosco feel free to jump in here if you want.
http://www.racingjunk.com/GT/1822076...rvette-C6.html
There was a similar thread on here last summer, Bosco feel free to jump in here if you want.
http://www.racingjunk.com/GT/1822076...rvette-C6.html
06-03-2014, 10:33 AM
#2
Great price on the track car. If someone has the dough to "do it all" up front and dedicat it to a track-only, this definitly among the best ways to go. I still like the looks I get when passing high dollar builds in the beast in my footer tho. Plus, the car is street legal for cruise nights and occassional barn storming. I think a lot of folks here like or need that flexibility.
06-03-2014, 11:46 AM
#3
Would be nice, but I'm going out on a limb here and saying that most of us here don't have the kind of money to have a dedicated race car. I still really enjoy driving my dual purpose car on the street. Also, if I was going that route, I wouldn't go stock car. Yes, parts are cheap but I would want something designed for road racing from the start, not circle track.
06-03-2014, 02:42 PM
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Would be nice, but I'm going out on a limb here and saying that most of us here don't have the kind of money to have a dedicated race car. I still really enjoy driving my dual purpose car on the street. Also, if I was going that route, I wouldn't go stock car. Yes, parts are cheap but I would want something designed for road racing from the start, not circle track.
That's a road race chassis, not circle track. Bang for the buck on those cars is huge. I've seen plenty of them in action at local track days. Gotta watch your mirrors when one or more of those things is in your group.
I agree, I like my door slammer and it's ability to cruise up a mountain road, rip around a race track, and go to the grocery store occasionally. The downside is it's no where near as safe as that ASA car.
06-04-2014, 02:06 PM
#5
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Yes from a safety standpoint they can't be beat. The car ran in the TransAm 2 series, a professional race series so it's set up for Road Course racing for sure.
The guy who drove it was competitive with everyone in the class, which says a lot as there are guys who run $100K+ cars in that series. He may have even ended up 2nd in points overall that year, if I'm not mistaken.
From a lap time standpoint I'm told they will outrun a C6Z (weighs 2600#).
Some of that may be due to the fact you can drive 10/10 in the car, in a C6Z a guy might do 8/10 since it's a $40K car.
I will agree that dual purpose cars are nice though, for sure.
1981TA I was at Road America 2 years ago for the MFBA run in the spring, I was thinking the same thing you were as I watched you pass all those guys.
I wasn't in your run group, which was nice lol
I just kept thinking "man he should paint that car" lol
The guy who drove it was competitive with everyone in the class, which says a lot as there are guys who run $100K+ cars in that series. He may have even ended up 2nd in points overall that year, if I'm not mistaken.
From a lap time standpoint I'm told they will outrun a C6Z (weighs 2600#).
Some of that may be due to the fact you can drive 10/10 in the car, in a C6Z a guy might do 8/10 since it's a $40K car.
I will agree that dual purpose cars are nice though, for sure.
1981TA I was at Road America 2 years ago for the MFBA run in the spring, I was thinking the same thing you were as I watched you pass all those guys.
I wasn't in your run group, which was nice lol
I just kept thinking "man he should paint that car" lol
06-04-2014, 03:17 PM
#6
All great points, especially the safety aspect. That's the only thing I dislike about a dual purpose car. Once you put the proper cage in, street car days are over.
Guess I should have read the ad in more detail, had no idea it was a TA2 car. I'm used to seeing those with the Camaro body on them. Love watching them race at limerock, and I have even seen them outpace TA1 cars because they can push the TA2 cars to the absolute limit. Come to think of it, I have probably seen that car run.
In a perfect world, I would have a track only car, and a dual purpose car for autocross/HPDE if I'm too lazy to trailer a race car to. A man can dream, right?
Guess I should have read the ad in more detail, had no idea it was a TA2 car. I'm used to seeing those with the Camaro body on them. Love watching them race at limerock, and I have even seen them outpace TA1 cars because they can push the TA2 cars to the absolute limit. Come to think of it, I have probably seen that car run.
In a perfect world, I would have a track only car, and a dual purpose car for autocross/HPDE if I'm too lazy to trailer a race car to. A man can dream, right?
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06-06-2014, 11:42 AM
#8
I could never give up having a dual purpose car, even if I had a track only piece like that. I live smack dab in the middle Limerock and the newly opened Thompson speedway road course in CT. It's far too easy to throw my tool box an helmet in the car and drive 45 minutes to the track. I'm spoiled.
06-06-2014, 06:08 PM
#9
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If I had unlimited moneys I would drive Ken's car
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/pea...7635501607310/
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/pea...7635501607310/
07-23-2014, 09:50 AM
#12
Staging Lane
My long-range plan is to do exactly this. I think I'll be ready to go in the spring of '16.
As a guy on the Corvette Forum said about his car, "It's 50% street, 50% track, 100% nothing." I've stopped modding my Corvette. The money I save I'll put toward a track car. My DD is due for a replacement which will be a truck. I live 40 minutes from VIR, so track time will be easy and convenient.
There are so many advantages to these cars besides the fact that they are fast and safe. The gouge isn't an ex-Cup/Nationwide car, but a "late model" short track car converted for road racing. Unlike Cup cars, late models have off-the-shelf fiberglass or stamped metal bits that just clip on. Unlike the NASCAR boys who employ full-time bodymen who roll new fenders after rubbin' n' racin' and have to keep those cars looking perfect, the local short track boys just wait until the car looks like complete crap then rivet on a whole new piece. Lots of shops make fenders and hoods by the gross.
You can take any ballast out and run a GM crate motor and easily max out your power-to-weight limit in the GTA class. The result is a car that is easier on the motor, tranny, tires and brakes and handles better because it's carrying less weight. They have a much less sophisticated chassis than the SPO class cars and are easier to set up.
The SPO class are essentially 800 hp ex-Cup or Nationwide cars. GTAs are weight-to-horsepower limited, tube-framed cars. SPOs run carbureted 355 cu. in. race motors turning 8,000 rpm. Most GTAs run mildly breathed on LS1s with either EFI or carburetors making about 450-475 to the wheels at 6,000 rpm in a 2600 lb. car. Despite 300+ less horsepower, they run only 3-5 seconds a lap slower than the SPOs. Both run dog-ring Jerico 4-speed transmissions. You use the clutch only to get rolling. Otherwise you lift to upshift and blip to downshift. All braking is with the left foot.
It's a safe, relatively cheap way to do track days or go racing. I talked to one guy who said he hasn't been into his LS1 motor in 11 years. He's had the Jerico refreshed once in that same time. The wheels are 15 inch and a new set of tires is $650. NASCAR scrubs are $50 each. Used wheels are $40 a piece. NASCAR teams will sell you used stuff for peanuts. Most cars come with 6-pot AP, Wilwood or Brembos up front and 4-pot in back, all manual. You're not banging on a clutch so they last a long time. You can buy these cars all day long on Racing Junk for $15,000 to 25,000, turn key.
A $70,000 C6 Z06 with another $10K in coil-overs, track pads, slicks, headers, cam and dyno tuning will run under 2:05 at VIR. Katech had a 650 rhwp monster running around 2:01 at the National Corvette Museum HPDE. There were a couple $20,000, 450 rwhp GTAs running under 2:01 at the last SCCA race I went to at VIR.
As a guy on the Corvette Forum said about his car, "It's 50% street, 50% track, 100% nothing." I've stopped modding my Corvette. The money I save I'll put toward a track car. My DD is due for a replacement which will be a truck. I live 40 minutes from VIR, so track time will be easy and convenient.
There are so many advantages to these cars besides the fact that they are fast and safe. The gouge isn't an ex-Cup/Nationwide car, but a "late model" short track car converted for road racing. Unlike Cup cars, late models have off-the-shelf fiberglass or stamped metal bits that just clip on. Unlike the NASCAR boys who employ full-time bodymen who roll new fenders after rubbin' n' racin' and have to keep those cars looking perfect, the local short track boys just wait until the car looks like complete crap then rivet on a whole new piece. Lots of shops make fenders and hoods by the gross.
You can take any ballast out and run a GM crate motor and easily max out your power-to-weight limit in the GTA class. The result is a car that is easier on the motor, tranny, tires and brakes and handles better because it's carrying less weight. They have a much less sophisticated chassis than the SPO class cars and are easier to set up.
The SPO class are essentially 800 hp ex-Cup or Nationwide cars. GTAs are weight-to-horsepower limited, tube-framed cars. SPOs run carbureted 355 cu. in. race motors turning 8,000 rpm. Most GTAs run mildly breathed on LS1s with either EFI or carburetors making about 450-475 to the wheels at 6,000 rpm in a 2600 lb. car. Despite 300+ less horsepower, they run only 3-5 seconds a lap slower than the SPOs. Both run dog-ring Jerico 4-speed transmissions. You use the clutch only to get rolling. Otherwise you lift to upshift and blip to downshift. All braking is with the left foot.
It's a safe, relatively cheap way to do track days or go racing. I talked to one guy who said he hasn't been into his LS1 motor in 11 years. He's had the Jerico refreshed once in that same time. The wheels are 15 inch and a new set of tires is $650. NASCAR scrubs are $50 each. Used wheels are $40 a piece. NASCAR teams will sell you used stuff for peanuts. Most cars come with 6-pot AP, Wilwood or Brembos up front and 4-pot in back, all manual. You're not banging on a clutch so they last a long time. You can buy these cars all day long on Racing Junk for $15,000 to 25,000, turn key.
A $70,000 C6 Z06 with another $10K in coil-overs, track pads, slicks, headers, cam and dyno tuning will run under 2:05 at VIR. Katech had a 650 rhwp monster running around 2:01 at the National Corvette Museum HPDE. There were a couple $20,000, 450 rwhp GTAs running under 2:01 at the last SCCA race I went to at VIR.