01VetteVert

Hello everyone, I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays.

So my question is, and I have done some research and found some good ideas, of things to do, but I haven't found something that focuses on prepping a Vette for Auto X. But I will continue to look.

What things are you guys doing to your vette when you decide to Auto X it? I have always been a drag racer, and I have a 10 second Turbo Fox body for that. But I have always love taking turns and what not, just never had a car until I got the vette I felt was worth competing in any races. Of course I am novice no matter how good I "think" I am. But I do practice a lot

So let me share my current setup, and what I plan on doing to her over the winter, then any suggestion you have for prepping her, let me know, example z06 brake cooling mod, maybe sway bars, bushings anything like that, brake pads? rotors? anything I want o hear all ideas, simple to extreme.

So current setup
2001 Convertible Automatic 25k miles
-Factory z51 suspension package
-3:15 performance years they call it
-Cold Air intake
-Corsa Catback
-ECS tune
-160 stat
-Bear Rotors
-Upgraded brake pads, just don't know what. They were on there when I got it. So let me hear what the best ones are, I might just replace so I know what they are.
- The rest of car is stock Vette


Things I bought that I am installing over Winter
- LS6 Texas Speed stage 2 heads
-Custom Cam spec'd by Pat G
-Long Tube Headers
- Might change out my Vortex cold air intake9 I have seen ones that get better power faster you go, so maybe I would be better with that)
- Under Drive Pulley
-New oil pump, head studs, lifters, all the **** that easy to do when your doing the head and cam swap.


So let me know what else I should do? Brakes, suspension? Trans cooler, oil cooler. I only drive this car on nice days, and it wont be like a dedicated auto X car, just a fun street car I can race when I find a event. I know with my mustang (which is also a vert) I had to do a lot to re-enforce the chassis, is this needed on the vette? do they make stuff for it? My mustang needed ALOT of work to handle better, entire front K-member control arms, coil over conversion, front and back, rear control arms, trourge arm, The list goes on and on LOL


Well- Hey thanks for readying my novel, I cant wait to make this beast even better. I can never leave good enough alone LOL


Oh also- I am running factory tires, what should I be running?

Scooter70

Step #1 is always to decide which sanctioning body/group you want to run with and then set up the car to fit in a specific class. That said, a convertible with an automatic isn't going to be very competitive no matter where you go. As far as mods, keep close to stock and learn how to drive the car as it is.

reece146

Autocross doesn't need any mods at your skill level. Dump $20k into your car and you'll still get handed your *** by a guy in a 15 year old Civic that's been doing it for a few years.

Year 5, think about mods. Reality is Vettes of recent vintages are FTD cars within class completely stock.

2¢

boltvette

Angel pads - so that you aren't sliding around in your seat or having to brace yourself at every corner.

Jason

Coilovers, full aero, 315's, and an extra 100hp.

c4cruiser

with both. Starting out in autocross is all about seat time. Learn how to negotiate a course, learn how to drive your car, then start to think about mods. This will take some time; not a couple of events, but something like 2-3 seasons depending on the number of events you enter each season.

The Z51 suspension is going to be a big help even starting out. The auto trans may be a bit tricky to learn; be careful with throttle-induced downshifts especially coming out of corners!

Take some time and read this link. I found it very helpful when I started autocrosing some years ago. Some good stuff in it.

And get SEAT TIME!!

reece146

If you really feel the need to buy your car a present get a CG Lock for your seat belt.

Also, if you want to really know how to drive stay away from cheater tires your first season or more. Year five think about R compounds. This is assuming you attend 20-30 events a season.

If your local car club puts on an autocross course/clinic make sure you attend. Even if it's an informal shake the winter cob webs off kind not event. Old hands will be looking around to give noobs in car pointers.

Autocross is like 95% driver, 5% car. Learn your car and you'll know when it's time to start tuning to taste (versus speed).

Jason

If you can attend an Evolution autox school, do it. Often.

01VetteVert

Thanks man! Is an auto that bad huh? I figured as much, for hold gears and downshifting would be hard on transmission. Any type of auto X would an automatic be better at than another? Even though I know it’s not ideal. I kind of knew an Auto wouldn’t be the best idea, but I was given the car as a bonus at my job. So I will make sure with what I have, not complaining. If I am not wining because it’s an auto that fine with me, as long as I am having fun, and the car is performing the best it can and safest it can.

And great advice with #1. I will find out what’s around me, I am just north of Philly, you have any ideas what’s around?

01VetteVert

Make sense, I know no matter how much I think I practice on the street, I know I am beginner at best. I think I was looking more for guidance on beginner stuff. Like my knee jerk reaction would to be at least the upgrade the brakes and tires, like safety, I don’t want them fading on me, since I am new.

01VetteVert

Ahhh. GREAT idea, wouldnt have thought of that. Thanks man.

01VetteVert

Got it, makes sense!!! I am defiantly seeing, I should just get started, and the go from there. Anything like basic brakes and tires I should worry about or just race and see how the current ones work? That link you gave me has a lot of info, I am going to read through it tonight, thanks.

I hear you on downshift, after the tune, I was getting onto a off-ramp, and hammered it, well the down shift was at that "sweat spot" and she came out on me, I held her, but wasn’t expected it. LOL So now when I know I am going to do that stuff, I shift it manually.

reece146

Brakes are mostly irrelevant in autocross. They don't get hot enough to fade - if they do then you are braking too much and losing sustained speed in corners. Everything is relative of course - I've experienced crispy brakes but then the autocross course in question was three run ways and one of them was very high speed.

As for tires, get something roughly equivalent to what the car came with from the factory initially and not all season. As a noob you'll probably feather the crap out of expensive tires so don't get crazy with them initially. Something cheap but competent is fine.

Other than that just make sure the car is safe. Fresh brake fluid, within spec pads, OEM suspension in good order.

A decent helmet is a must as well. The lighter the better but for your first few events just use your club's loaners if they have some. You may not like autocross well enough to keep at it and end up with an expensive helmet collecting dust.

The biggest mistake new autocrossers make is modding the car. Don't mod the car, mod the driver. You will ultimately be faster that way. Then you'll be a good enough driver to feel the difference between a few pounds of difference in tire air pressure, or a slightly smaller anti-roll bar or whatever and will be able to make informed decisions on tuning your car to your personal taste.

HTH

Bill Dearborn

I agree on mod the driver but there are some things you can do to the car as well. First, check the tie rods and wheel bearings to make sure they are in good condition. Loose wheel bearings and/or tie rods can make the car harder to handle. Go through the brake system to make sure it is in good shape and the brake pedal is firm (when doing tech inspections I have come across cars with brake pedals so spongy that I wondered how the person drove the car to the event). The first few times you can run with stock pads but as you get better you may want to upgrade to a known set of aggressive brake pads like Hawk HP+ pads or something similar. Set the wheel alignment to the Pfadt Street/Track setup. This will give you a little more negative camber that will help the car turn in better. The C5s seat belts come with a cinch mode. You can use that to tighten the lap belt so it will hold you in place. Run the seat all the way back, pull the lap belt all the way out till it hits a hard stop, buckle it and then let it ratchet back into the take up reel. Use your hands to feed any slack into the take up reel so you get the belt snug across your lap (while doing this you should not be able to pull the belt out of the reel). Then run the seat forward, if you fastened the belt correctly it will get very tight across your lap. Once you make your launch or even a slight forward jerk with the car the shoulder belt will lock and won't loosen until you push your back into the seat back or release the belt. If your car has the sport seats inflate the side bolsters as far as possible.

Bill

wtb-z

With the C5 auto kickdown management is a major part of driving it. The trans dropping to 1st will rotate the car in a hurry. Frustrating, but its just another part of the "so bad it's good" story about the car that ends up making it pretty grin inducing.

c4cruiser

One thing that is important is brakes that work! You don't need to go all out for race-level pads or aftermarket rotors, but the brake system should be in excellent shape.

Start with fresh pads, rotors in good condition, and a complete brake fluid flush. For most courses, a good quality DOT3 fluid is fine; something like Castrol LMA or even the Ford Motorsports HD fluid. For a C5, Z06 pads are a good upgrade.

Definitely invest in a good helmet that fits your head. For autocross, an open face design works very well especially if you wear glasses or if you will be using sunglasses. Make sure it's an "SA-rated" helmet, don't go with an M-rated (motorcycle) helmet. The current Snell standard is SA-2010 and it's easy to find good helmets from Simpson, Bell, and Pyrotech in the $200-$250 range.

TedDBere

I'd say just go have fun. With your internal engine mods you will be forced into something like EM or XP classes in SCCA and you'll never be competitive with an automatic in those classes either. But that doesn't mean you can't have a lot of fun learning how to drive your car fast!

In Philly you have a great region, Philly SCCA, with lots of opportunity to push your C5 to the limits. You also have a lot of very talented national drivers who would be more than willing to show you the ropes and teach you how to get the most out of your car.

To find events I'd suggest going to autox4u.com. It updates every week with the latest events in the NY/NJ/and Philly markets.

Good luck and have fun!

68-427Rich

In the SCCA, with an aftermarket cam you're going to be in (XP) X Prepared.

Tough class.

FKING1

Go to an Autocross drivers school.
Run the car as is for a year to get a feel for Xing.
Have fun!!!& don't worry about times.

01VetteVert

Guys.

Thank you sooo much for the honest feedback. I have a lot reading to do on here, and from some the links provided. I am 100% going to take everyone's advice. I am going to take the car to track the way it is, after I look at the safety items mentioned, and the ones I know better about. I knew the auto thing will hurt me. But I didn't know moding the car would put me in tougher class. I might double thing that, or probably not because I am nut when it comes to moding and those heads and cam, and pully, and headers, have been staring at me.

I am sure I will get to the point during my reading of how the classify the cars, and they tell, but because curiosity is killing me, how do they know you have a cam or internal work? My cam is a BABY cam. You wont know from sound, I am running stock stall, to give you a idea how small it is.

Do bolt on like exhaust and intake change your class?