RacePro Engineering

UPDATE: Car has been sold, and is headed to its new home.

For anyone interested in a road racer based on a 1995 C4 chassis, we have a beauty for sale:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1592170323

Thanks for looking!

RacePro Engineering

This is kind of embarrassing!

We have this car also advertised on the RACING JUNK classified forum. We have had three somewhat serious inquiries from there, and not a single one from here.

Any ideas as to why?

Here is an additional, current photo, but with paddock wheels.

TLS_Addict

My friend, I would love to have it but not sure I could swing it now.

BTW, last time u was up I stopped for dinner at Wheelers and have to say the food was fantastic. Not a ton of people into C4s anymore and even less in to all out racing. I blame the economy and the fact that hose who usually buy C4s are mostly the type to cruise around town (nothing wrong with that).

RacePro Engineering

Thank you for the kind words, both here, and on the Racing Forum. In my "day job" several years ago, I worked on various projects for Corning Inc., and have clocked literally hundreds of miles walking Market Street. I believe the town still hosts a Ferrari get-together in late summer that is very neat.

So you moved from not-too-far-away-from-Watkins Glen, to not-too-far-away-from Sebring! Perhaps racing IS your destiny - if not immediately, then certainly in the future.

We recognize that the C4 is now 20 years old, and that by C6 standards, it is sadly underpowered. We also believe that the basic shape is an excellent point of departure for an incredible aero package, and have proven that the handling is absolutely amazing!

In perspective, this would need significant upgrades to be a competitive racecar, but already is a dominant track-day runner. It would be hard to find a better platform on which to learn to drive FAST.

Ed

TLS_Addict

Can you put a plate on it and drive it? Lol It could be my destiny to race. My racing has been limited to drag racing motorcycles, Corvettes, GTOs, and Camaros in Leicester, Beaver Springs, and Numidia. Been wanting to road race but never got into it. Some of my friends do it and a shop that worked on my supercharged C6 here in Florida offers track support and aftermarket parts here in Orlando. Great guys and a forum sponsor.

My father is retired from Corning and mg biological mother has worked there for years as well. I see youre in Rochester as well. I used to work not far from RIT, near in a small business area. Dinosaur is a favorite of mine as is a Garbage Plate if I have the time.

I look at this car and I get a recruiter calling me for a Controller position in McGraw, NY.

Bad Karma

I think the focus here especially from the racing crew is more towards the C5 and C6, I've seen the option before that the C4 can't keep up with a C5. The C4 is probably more geared towards a slightly more budget minded racer, but I've seen a couple move around the track. I'm not knocking your car, I like it a lot, but I just bought a C4 race car, or I'd be looking at yours. The C4 right now is it that lull of interest like the C3 was in years ago.

Personally I'd love to see more of them on track, so, I hope yours goes to a good home for more track time.

RacePro Engineering

Hi Bad Karma,

Congratulations on your recent acquisition. We hope it provides many, many hours of thrills, and I regret that we did not have ours on the market early enough for you to consider.

You bring up some excellent points for discussion, and are reminding me of the tough decision leading up to purchasing a C4 instead of a C5. At that time, good base C5s were selling for between $3000 to $4000 more than good base C4s, and that was a factor for us. Stated another way, we decided upon a very nice C4 chassis, in preference to a pretty good C5. But . . . why?

As all road racers know, there is a world of difference between a street car, and a full race-prepped example. So while a stock C5 offered a decided power advantage, and perhaps some inherent improvements in suspension geometry, very little of that matters in a carefully prepped racecar. Additionally, we felt that the C4 body style offered some aero advantages over the C5, and since both were relatively low on power (plotted against weight), the C4 seemed a very good bet.

A short time before we started this build, there was a revival of the old Corvette Challenge here in the Northeast Division of SCCA -- unfortunately, a revival that was too short-lived! However, many of the results from this series tell us we were on the correct course. For example, the ITE class record at The Glen belongs to a very well prepped and driven C5; BUT less than one-half second behind that is an equally well prepped and driven C4 -- a 1984 chassis C4!!

Our #75 car did very, VERY well in testing. Unfortunately, financial circumstances prevented us from completing our build, which next involved installing a much more powerful motor. The car was simply set aside for awhile.

Hopefully, this will work for someone’s benefit, who does not want to spend $18,000 to $20,000, yet still wants a very nice, really quick track car. Equally, I hope that “lull of interest” that you mention does not last too long . . . . .

jay23ls

Hey man, low demand for a nice C4 track car is disappointing. I point towards economic & cultural changes as the real cause.

My hypothesis:

Ppl want more value, that will never change. So automakers turned to tech to keep giving buyers value.. faster cars w/ more modern amenities. Not to say the C4 isn't a great value but so are decent sports cars that now come w/ 300hp + modern amenities options etc for 25kish or so brand new or good used ones at like 10-15k used (350Z)

Ppl are also now concerned significantly about the environment.. everything matters to ppl and they are sensitive about many things. so automakers turned to tech again and offer cars ppl would have laughed off the production line 10-15 yrs ago (Prius.. cough* cough* lol) So guys have wifeys or gfs who make them get the Prius or Nissan Leaf or Civic.. poor guy will never get his true sports car (Corvettes )

Anyway, I studied Economics in school so figure I'd throw up my generic long winded analysis lol I like workin my brain GLWS

RacePro Engineering

Jay,

I agree with a lot that you wrote, but I doubt that "cultural changes", or what we might even refer to as popular fads, have very much to do with racing machinery -- at least, I hope not. Outside of potential distractions like data acquisition and dash cameras, most racers are still really focused on going quickly.

ECONOMIC CHANGES, on the other hand, have a huge influence! They have governed our level of involvement, and our success (or non-success) for the last twenty years!

Ed

RacePro Engineering

Thank you all for your considered opinions and discussion. The car is sold, and will be continuing its track life in the west. A little disappointing for us that a Forum member is not the new owner, but it is going to a very good home.

Ed