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What is the best STOCK track car!

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Old 02-12-2008, 02:08 PM
  #41  
Janet Curran
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Originally Posted by zcobra1
At Spring Mountain this weekend, an employee there claimed he had not seen any blown engines, or any clutch replacements in the 3 years he had worked there....... and they use stock cars as far as I know...

I had heard they add an extra oil cooler - but I did not verify that.

I agree the best improvement is the driver
Nope, no extra oil cooler.
Janet
Old 02-12-2008, 02:17 PM
  #42  
Independent1
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Originally Posted by Cobra4B
Not sure about the Radicals, but the used Panoz cars have 2 seats. Here's mine after installing my Ultrashield and some new belts.


^^Some Radicals (SR3 & SR4) have 2 seats but they cost more. The Radical Prosport is a single seater. Weighs about 1200 pounds (give or take) with driver and all fluids. Has around 180 hp and can pull over 2.5gs laterally!!

In one of the threads I read, a guy got around the full VIR course in 2 minutes flat. That was with a stock 1000 cc motor. Can't begin to imagine a a slightly tricked out one could do.
Old 02-12-2008, 02:29 PM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by AU N EGL
Now your thinking. and the idea of the corvette.

95% of all HPDE drivers can not drive a stock CORVETTE to within even 60% of what the car can really do. Let alone the ppl who drive vettes on the street but never attend an HPDE.
yeah i am one of those have half a dozen track weekends and am just starting to get to maybe 70 % of the Z06...

i am a chicken but i am getting faster....very slowly hahahaha
Old 02-12-2008, 03:58 PM
  #44  
bb69
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Originally Posted by Independent1
^^If you truly want a track only car take a careful look at this thread.

http://www.trackpedia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3161

I also pondered the question you are asking and came to the conclusion that in the long run (probably short-run too) it is much less expensive to buy a car that was specifically designed for the track.

You can get a Radical or similar C or D class sports racer for around $25K. These cars are ready from the get go to go to the track and perform. They will out run the vettes with ease for a fraction of the cost. They are also much less costly to operate because they are not as hard on consumables like tires, brakes, etc. They are also easy to work on unlike the vettes.

Here is another option: http://www.3ballsracing.com/index.ph...id=984&catid=4

For under $20k you have a very safe, very fast car that will take everything you can throw at it. I actually drove the car in the link above, and it changed my thinking forever. Once you start doing track days and see the abuse your car takes, I think a dedicated track car is the way to go. The added safety benefits really make it worth it.

However, I have seen plenty of people bring bone stock cars to open tracks days and they have just as much fun as anybody else.

Ken
Old 02-12-2008, 04:34 PM
  #45  
heavychevy
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Originally Posted by 805Z06
911 GT3 is the way to go if you want to keep it stock and under warranty
+1, you only break the bank once instead of in installments. But I cant think of a better prepared track car that needs nothing but gas, brake pads and tires.

996 GT3's can be had in the 70's maybe even 60's now.
Old 02-12-2008, 04:41 PM
  #46  
rustyguns
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Originally Posted by heavychevy
+1, you only break the bank once instead of in installments. But I cant think of a better prepared track car that needs nothing but gas, brake pads and tires.

996 GT3's can be had in the 70's maybe even 60's now.
ditto for a 2003-2004 C5 Z06 and prob cost around $30,000

AND PARTS ARE A LOT CHEAPER

and it will make Porsches real nervous! hahahahaha!
Old 02-12-2008, 04:53 PM
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Originally Posted by rustyguns
ditto for a 2003-2004 C5 Z06 and prob cost around $30,000

AND PARTS ARE A LOT CHEAPER

and it will make Porsches real nervous! hahahahaha!
The Porsche doesnt need any parts, just drive it. I dont have so much faith in corvettes, and neither do many others.

Yeah you pay more for brake pads and rotors, but you have BETTER brakes.
Old 02-12-2008, 04:56 PM
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Originally Posted by heavychevy
The Porsche doesnt need any parts, just drive it. I dont have so much faith in corvettes, and neither do many others.

Yeah you pay more for brake pads and rotors, but you have BETTER brakes.
hahahahaha! I owned a Porsche....
they break too and take parts
Old 02-12-2008, 04:58 PM
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If I was going to start all over again tracking a streetable Corvette I'd do the following and consider them bare minimum.

*Ultrashield seat w/ harnesses (comfortable enough to drive to the track if needed)
*Lowering + more aggressive allignment
*wheels/tires
*Brake cooling + front brake kit
*Stand alone oil cooler

That's it... leave the HP mods, shifters, etc etc alone. I do agree that the GT3 needs nothing other than fluid maintenance and consumables, but the Z06 can be just as good, but it does require a few parts.
Old 02-12-2008, 05:02 PM
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Originally Posted by rustyguns
hahahahaha! I owned a Porsche....
they break too and take parts
A Porsche??? Nice try. How about A GT3?

Everything breaks my friend, but some more than others.
Old 02-12-2008, 05:04 PM
  #51  
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Originally Posted by Cobra4B
If I was going to start all over again tracking a streetable Corvette I'd do the following and consider them bare minimum.

*Ultrashield seat w/ harnesses (comfortable enough to drive to the track if needed)
*Lowering + more aggressive allignment
*wheels/tires
*Brake cooling + front brake kit
*Stand alone oil cooler

That's it... leave the HP mods, shifters, etc etc alone. I do agree that the GT3 needs nothing other than fluid maintenance and consumables, but the Z06 can be just as good, but it does require a few parts.

No question that the Z06 is bang for the buck much better, and has much more potential in it, but as far as best track car out of the box, I'd go with the GT3 10 times out of 10.
Old 02-12-2008, 06:08 PM
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Originally Posted by heavychevy
No question that the Z06 is bang for the buck much better, and has much more potential in it, but as far as best track car out of the box, I'd go with the GT3 10 times out of 10.
Yeah, but for $100k, do you know what kind of C5 you could build/buy? One that we decimate any GT3 with $100k put into it!!!

$100k in a C5 should get you the absolute fastest car on the track across the country on any given day!!! Would love to see this...buy say a $25k used T1 car and go from there...650hp 427/Best Brembo BBK/Penske true race Coil-overs, with new suspension pickup points...and this just as a start!!! Replace all fiberglass with carbon fiber, better aero, gutted to accept 345's in the front and rear. Full syncro transmission from WC car and on and on...oh to hit the lotto!!!
Old 02-12-2008, 06:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Cobra4B
Not sure about the Radicals, but the used Panoz cars have 2 seats. Here's mine after installing my Ultrashield and some new belts.


I saw a few cars just like your Panoz in the GT2 class this year in the Runoff's. Unfortunately, both cars took each other out at the start of the race. Do you know what it would take to make your car competitive in this class? I'm asking because the class had a mix of tube frame cars like yours and production based cars like the Porsche GT3 Cup car. The GT3's dominated the race btw.. I'm guessing that they'd allow more than the engine that you have in there now?
Old 02-12-2008, 06:41 PM
  #54  
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Originally Posted by 95jersey
Yeah, but for $100k, do you know what kind of C5 you could build/buy? One that we decimate any GT3 with $100k put into it!!!

$100k in a C5 should get you the absolute fastest car on the track across the country on any given day!!! Would love to see this...buy say a $25k used T1 car and go from there...650hp 427/Best Brembo BBK/Penske true race Coil-overs, with new suspension pickup points...and this just as a start!!! Replace all fiberglass with carbon fiber, better aero, gutted to accept 345's in the front and rear. Full syncro transmission from WC car and on and on...oh to hit the lotto!!!

You are assuming we are talking about the 997 GT3, when the 996 GT3 is just as potent, lighter, racier, just slightly less hp. It's more hardcore, and can be had in the high 50's if you look hard enough, but regularly in the 60's, and this is with decent mileage.

Like I said, bang for the buck goes to the Corvette hands down, but overall, the corvette is still not a better suited car for track duties in stock form than a GT3, and even if you add all those mods, you'll likely get even more problems out of the vette. So it would be faster, but run a whole race season and see who ends up spending the most money on non accident related repairs.
Old 02-12-2008, 06:50 PM
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I have 4 favorites for best (nearly) stock track cars that fall into 4 discrete price point categories (I have owned 3 of them and have only driven #4)
1. Miata (preferably spec miata variety) Huge fun in the turns, dead reliable, cheap parts, mazda racing support
2. E36 M3 Faster, still pretty cheap, and very reliable with regular maintenance
3. C5 Z06 or Z51 C6 Very competent dead stock, much harder to drive near the limit than #1 and #2
4. 996/997 GT3 Euro club sport package with rollbar, seats, harness would make it a perfect "stock" track car

Last edited by racer02; 02-12-2008 at 06:52 PM.
Old 02-12-2008, 07:50 PM
  #56  
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Originally Posted by racer02
2. E36 M3 Faster, still pretty cheap, and very reliable with regular maintenance

These are becoming the new Mustang. I see nice ones (high mileage 1995-1997ish) going for less than $10K. Wrecked ones with only cosmetic damage are often in the $5K range. Fully prepared, competitive race versions sometimes go less than $20K.

The BMW-CCA and NASA GTS classes feature scores of them running faster than all but the quickest Z06's with a much lower pwr/wt ratio.

Similar times to T1 with much less HP.
Old 02-12-2008, 07:52 PM
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Originally Posted by heavychevy
You are assuming we are talking about the 997 GT3, when the 996 GT3 is just as potent, lighter, racier, just slightly less hp. It's more hardcore, and can be had in the high 50's if you look hard enough, but regularly in the 60's, and this is with decent mileage.

Like I said, bang for the buck goes to the Corvette hands down, but overall, the corvette is still not a better suited car for track duties in stock form than a GT3, and even if you add all those mods, you'll likely get even more problems out of the vette. So it would be faster, but run a whole race season and see who ends up spending the most money on non accident related repairs.
I have a porsche 997 turbo, tracked it once. Blew off the turbo hoses, simple fix, however I have a nice loud whine under speed, which probably means a bearing is gone as well. Nice thing about my porsche is its under warranty. Even if they know I was racing it, they will still fix everything. that b eing said, its going to break just like any other car tracking it regularly.

For my racecar I went with a stock C6. putting 70-90k into it, but that thing should blow past my porsche, and for less money. Parts are going to be alot cheaper on it to fix. However nothing will be under warranty

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Old 02-12-2008, 07:54 PM
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Originally Posted by ScaryFast
These are becoming the new Mustang. I see nice ones (high mileage 1995-1997ish) going for less than $10K. Wrecked ones with only cosmetic damage are often in the $5K range. Fully prepared, competitive race versions sometimes go less than $20K.

The BMW-CCA and NASA GTS classes feature scores of them running faster than all but the quickest Z06's with a much lower pwr/wt ratio.

Similar times to T1 with much less HP.
i been looking at these for a dedicated car that i run into the wall

UHUM.. I mean..... go fast
Old 02-12-2008, 07:56 PM
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Originally Posted by ProgGod
I have a porsche 997 turbo, tracked it once. Blew off the turbo hoses, simple fix, however I have a nice loud whine under speed, which probably means a bearing is gone as well. Nice thing about my porsche is its under warranty. Even if they know I was racing it, they will still fix everything. that b eing said, its going to break just like any other car tracking it regularly.

For my racecar I went with a stock C6. putting 70-90k into it, but that thing should blow past my porsche, and for less money. Parts are going to be alot cheaper on it to fix. However nothing will be under warranty
sounds familiar de javu
Old 02-12-2008, 08:37 PM
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-C5Z - hands down best buy for the money right out the box. Driven many GT3s (and one GT3 RS) on track and passed many more in my Z and FRC....and GT3s do break down on track when they are driven hard (just like hard driven Zs). Smack a fender on a GT3 or a C5Z.....

If I had the money I would have a GT3 in the stable (have to sneak it past my wife - she STILL remembers the Porsche part bills)


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