I have a 03zo6 with a few mods. I used to be a serious drag racer with my 2000 z28. But I bought the vette to go road racing. I have 4 tracks all within easy trailor distance. I want to set this car up on a so-so budget. What info do you guys have that would be helpfull.

I have 15k on the car. Just had a tranny built. its got all the good stuf in it.
I will be installin a clutch after the first of the year. I am also going to spend myself into the 500rwhp N/A

 

Do the power mods last, everything else first if you'll be doing road tracks quite often.
In a quasi particular order assuming you have wheels and tires ready to go.

Brakes, the stockers are a joke. -if your going to use them, change the pistons, get pads, get titanium backing plate, get brake ducting, and get some nice 2 pc. rotors

Suspension/lowering- max out the stock bolts, or buy t1 bits and tricks or go with a street coilover system.

Cooling, engine/trans/diff- good for durability and reliability depending on driving style

upgrade the driveline, rearend first.- durability reasons.

*safety things, if your into that sorta stuff that requires it.
THEN engine.

 

With the Z it depends on the road racing you want to do. For your HPDEs you just really need a helmet and gloves. The Z06 is setup very well from the factory to handle those events. There are suspension upgrades you can do like shocks, sway bars, springs, or coilovers. Now if you wanted to get into competitive racing then you will need more items like a roll cage. The cage will normally have to have sidebars and often requires cutting up the interior on the car.

I personally just stick with the HPDE stuff since I can run my car as is and just need the helmet, gloves, and entry fee. HPDE is like a lapping day at the local road course for street cars, and down here run around 115 dollars per event.

 

Get some good brake pads (Performance Fricton is good), T1 sway bars, better seats w/ hraness, and some Kumho V710 tires and you willl tear up T-hill and sears w/o a problem!

 

hanks guys. I am going to do a harness 4pt bar by wolfe and 5pt belts. Should I get a set of repo 17`s and 18`s with tires or different rim size? Who do I get the brake system and ducting through? My tranny and rear end are brand new stuff. I know I need a clutch. After doing a top speed run the other night my clutch felt like crap for about 2 or 3 miles of stop and go. I know from previous experience where thats going. Whats a well know road race clutch set up?

 

For brake ducts go to doug rippie, or lou G, but you really dont need much in your car to go fast.

I currently run 7 or 8 track days a year, and all that i have done is 04 shocks, steel braided lines, roll bar, sparco seats, harness and long tubes.
Mainly I go thru brakes and tires. Napa rotors just recently went up in price, but unless your going with a big brake setup stay away from the 2 piece rotors, they look great but dont last any longer then the cheapys.
also remeber these cars were designed for tracks days, the only down fall is cooling issue, so down the road you might want an oil cooler, they really need nothing to go fast.

 

Saftey first then HP, since you are already installing a harness then next I would look at doing a track tuned alignment. If you haven't done much road racing before I would suggest working your way into things. First event just make sure you have fresh DOT 4 brake fluid (I like Wilwood EXP 600 you can't beat it for the $). Put in some good track only pads Wilwood H pads have a good mixture of longevity and bite. Bring an extra set of rotors with you just in case. Also put a good track alignment on the car (about -2 degrees in the front and -1 degree in the back) this will help you from trashing your tires. I would run the first year this way. Just hold off on the HP until you get some experiance under your belt. If you have to get some HP just do intake and headers for the time being you'll need that later anyway.
Then step up to R-compound tires, T1 bars and poly bushings then max out the front camber and set the rear to about -1.5.
If you are going to go for more HP do yourself a favor and get a BBK the StopTech ST-40 caliper with 355mm rotors front and rear is a great kit. I've installed a couple and the rotor life has been the best I've seen (better than Wilwood for sure).
Once you have all of those toys then add hp untill you leave black marks down every strait.
Just look at it this way if you spend a year learning the limits of the car before you mod it you will have the money saved up for all the mods you want.
Also do yourself a favor and do a driving school over at Spring Mountian, you will learn a lot on how to drive smooth and fast.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

 

Not sure Id agree with worrying about the pistons and such in the brakes. I would get yourself a set of pads and NAPA rotors (like 20 bucks a piece, good for a few track days). I think best case scenario is to go with what you have and see what the car does. Would even stay with the tires you have. Then add a little here and there to see the change. Good luck and have fun!

 

I have lots of track experience at all of the facilities that I will be driving my car at. I am an AFM motorcycle racer. Im taking the next year off of that, mainly due to injuries. I do appreciate all of the info you guys have droped for me. I think I will be doing a good set of pads, braided lines, race brake fluid, and toyo's. The alignment is a defenate.

 

I think your looking to do track days and stuff like that, maybe a time attack event later on... if your going to do road racing you wont be let on the track w/out the proper licence for that event you want to do, and paying big bucks to set up a car to compete..... get the saftey equipment, cooling equipment, upgrade the driveline parts, and spend money on tires.... your horsepower isnt going to matter if you can keep your momentum, so do that last....

 

What size tires are you thinking of running?
Theres a few low budget options:
1. Square all the way around, 315's on the 18" rear
2. 18" up front, 17" rear, x10.5 all around. DJWorm was running this set, proved to be a more forgiving rear and easier to control setup.
3. You can fit a 305 in front with no worry, but there are some guys running upwards of a 345 in the rear (no flares or tub kits, kinda funny looking, but it works)

Yes, get that camber placed yesterday.

 

Danny Popp runs this set up as well.