thermal citi

Hi I need a little help so I am looking into autocross but I don't know which car to get a 84-87 c4 or
a 97 to 04 c5 the reason i have quite a conflict is after reading an article about how the c4 is better at autocross and was said by a very experienced autocrosser

here is a link to the story
http://www.superchevy.com/features/v...y-corvette-c4/

let me know what you guys think also i am in high school and will not be my daily driver just a autocross monster.

Mahalo.

dbgoodwin

Personally, I wouldn't be considering a c4 at all despite that article. The c5z is such an awesome machine for all aspects of driving, even according to the article you posted there c5z is a great autocross machine. I don't autocross, but I do use my car at least 3-4 days a week, and it was my only car for 4 years.

Not only is the c5 a great car for that, but its also reliable, economical, comfortable, and easily daily drivable. Even if the car was substantially worse for autocross, I would still take it due to all the other benefits. If you made a pros/cons list there would be very few pros on the c4 side.

bikeriderga

Notice that the article keeps mentioning, "except the Z06".

C4's are cheap. That is something they do have in their favor. You can pick them up for 10K or less.

~Josh

If you're in high school I'd not spend a bunch of money on an old Corvette. They can be money pits.

Autocross "monster" can be done with a cheap Miata or $7500 Porsche Boxster. It's the time you want and those little cars are zippy and since big HP isn't as important in autocross unlike drag racing I'd get a cheaper car and learn the ropes.

Plenty of guys show up with a Viper (or something else crazy) and suck. A great driver is the fastest part of the equation.

Phanni

c-4s do quite well in auto crossing.
Remember, the NCCC class's corvettes in different classes, so you'll be competing against like vehicles. C-4's are not as fast as C-5s in HPDE event, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun while doing it for less money.

Gordy M

The C4 of Roger Johnson was basically a "1 of" Corvette. It was optimized per the SCCA rules--front sway bar, shocks, etc--for the stock class and was awesome on the tighter courses run in many parts of the country. Also, 86 was the only year for air condition delete for the 86+ C4. Today, the C5 is basically a faster car in BS (SCCA) because of the track layouts and rules optimization. Before you create an autocross monster, you should look at what venue you are going to run--SCCA, NCCC , Optima, etc and find out what the rules are. Just starting out you are better off learning how to be a fast driver and the slower the car the faster you will learn.

When Roger sold his C4, I was able to run against it and on tight small courses it was a killer, but when it came to higher speed courses, the owner wisely parked it and ran a different Corvette.

Scylla

If you want the perfect autocross car, then buy a turbo miata or an S2000, autocross is the realm of tiny import roadsters. You take corvettes to autocross to have fun and tune suspension, not so much to post amazing times. The article also seems to be under the impression that an extremely high torque engine is desirable for autocross... Lots of Cummings Turbo Diesel swapped Miatas kicking *** in Auto-X!

A C4 is a hard car to maintain these days and in terms of overall build quality, it's not great to put it mildly. The body warps on jack stands, parts are hard to find, etc... The C4 is a little smaller (and therefor corners better in theory), but everything about the car is inferior, and even brand new they could never corner worth a damn unless you're talking about a ZR-1, which is plainly not the same car.

The C5 is a fantastic track vehicle if you put a little work into it, and very cheap to maintain, especially since so many parts are shared with C6's. It's pretty much the perfect track toy, although posting good times requires learning some pretty advanced driving skills compared to smaller platforms... Just never mention that to friends with S2000's, they'll find some obnoxious way to argue their platform is manual only, because it's hardcore only!

An S2000 or Miata or Lotus Elise will start to get pretty unstable above about 125mph due to the physical limitations of the vehicle's size. So on high-speed courses a corvette can really shine, but it's a harder car to drive proficiently. Learning to properly rotate your car at high speed, braking into corners is just a little more intimidating and demanding than swerving around in a tiny low-speed roadster.

STALION

Stay away from the 84 to 87 for autocross!!! If you're going to get a C4, then at least get 91 and up! Now a days you can get a high mileage c5 for peanuts. If you're really strapped for cash then just get a miata, civic, or integera. Maintenance, brakes, and tires are cheap!!!

DDaaryl

So I wonder if the writer of this article every went to an autocross. I wonder if he ever saw a 175 hp Miata eat a Corvette for lunch. Interesting question, a C4 or a C5, either way a low budget ricer will take home the trophy you spent money trying to win. I wonder if anyone really buys Richard's books after reading this nonsense.

racebum

not even on the same plant. c4 is terrible. requires too many mods

you can run a c5 out of the box and have fun

also keep in mind replacement parts, c4 is hard to find parts for. c5 is much easier, c6 would really be the way to go

you break things racing

also read the rule book for the class you want to be in before you buy a car

pghjeeper

Don't even consider a pre OBD II c4 diagnosing issues sucks and costs lots of money. No one has the proper computers to work on them anymore and it's all a guessing game when **** goes wrong. Plus the if the transmission has never been rebuilt prepare to have it done, even if it's a low mileage car. I had an 85 C4 and it sucked

Velocity_Vette

If I were in high school again and were wanting a good auto cross car, I'd probably go for a Miata over anything Corvette. The affordability of entry price and maintenance is incredibly low, and the various SCCA classes lend themselves well to the car (if they can create an entire weekend series behind the car, then you know they favor it). I'm sorry but I feel a used near 20+ year old Corvette at the youngest is not something you should have in high school, regardless of it being track or daily vehicle. If Miatas were cheap when I was in high school (they never seemed to be) I would have jumped all over one.

That article is not going into the depth of things other than immediately reminding the reader "unless it's a Z06", which to a degree diminishes the point. Of course most base C5s will not be good for autocross. A non-Z51 base car is very likely to come with soft FE1 suspension; not ideal for slow hard cornering. At the least if you don't buy a Z06 you'd want a 99-00 FRC (has Z51 stock) or a base targa with Z51 package. One good thing the C5 does have over it's C4 counter part is the C5 can accept suspension and brake parts all the way into the C6 model (since the C6 was effectively an evolution of sorts over the C5) so it's possible to move up to C6 shocks, struts, and sways if that's a desirable route. It's possible to make the C5 very competent for competition; you just have to be willing to pay and/or accept that it could get class bumps.