redtopz

I took a look back at some old threads about ST2 and what makes a competitive car. As most know, all the T1 racers in CA moved to ST2 this year with our own set of limited rules to keep costs down. Many people said our West coast corvettes were primitive and would not be competitive against top of the line ST2 builds. They laughed at our rules to keep our racing cheaper. I admit our T1 cars were grip limited but that only helped make us better drivers. Bolt on some simple aero and control arm bearings and bam, there's another 3 seconds a lap.

Oli, Chuck and I took our ST2 cars out to Miller for nationals. Tuesday night I went to the dyno to test my power level and my stomach dropped when I was 30 hp low and running super lean. It took 24 hours of scrambling, but I figured out the fuel issue so I could race. On Thursday, I went out for qual and did a few hot laps and came back into impound. The steward picked 3 cars to go to the scales and told me I was free to head back to my trailer. I slumped back into my trailer assuming I brought a knife to a gunfight and this was going to be a mid-pack week for me. When my friend came into my trailer and said "congrats on getting pole position for the first qual race!" I thought he was kidding. After reviewing timing and scoring, I was back up on cloud 9. I ended up putting my car on the front row of both ST2 qualifying races and winning them both out of 15 cars. Things were good!

I ran a 2:01 flat in qual on day 2 which was the winning TT2 lap time and was still way off my potential based on data and video, missing apexes and such. I dropped over a second per lap from Thurs to Friday just by reviewing video and data (AIM solo) and seeing where I was off pace. Thanks Glen and TC Design for the help there! In the final race, I had a brake issue in the 2nd lap while leading the pack and ended up spinning off the track at the end of the front straight out of commission. I never tell anyone about my racing unless they ask, because I assume most people don't want to hear about a middle aged man's "midlife crisis" . But for this event I told everyone to watch speedcast for my 1st national race. This was a major disappointment and embarrassment, but that's racing .

Chuck was running right behind me and he continued on to drive an awesome race leading for most of it and finishing 2nd overall . Oli had problems with his engine after that fire at Laguna, but I know he would have been up front with us like he always is battling for the win. Same with Jim Tway who damaged his car at Laguna Seca and Kyle Kelly if he wasn't so busy racing Nationwide . The truth is any of us 5 can beat eachother on any given day. We were up against many excellent drivers at Miller including previous champions, local hot shoes, and professionals. We are not better drivers than these guys, which kind of proves my next point.

Here's the deal on my car. It is still running a 10 year old bone stock LS6 engine and it was not only low on torque, but also 20 hp below my classification power level. In other words I was racing at 8.5:1. No big de-tuned torquer engine, no drop spindles, no fancy diffusers, nothing super expensive. My hood consists of a stock hood with holes cut out of it. These are just corvettes with stock engines and bolt on parts. I never agreed with those who said ST2 requires an expensive build to be competitive, but I really couldn't argue since I've only raced on the west coast. I could have swapped engines before this race, but I didn't to see what I could do with what I had. I bought my vette for $17k and other than replacing old broken parts it is basically the same as when I bought it. I did have TC design rebuild the cage because the old one was not up to safety specs.

Moral of this story: don't listen to the naysayers who say you can't run a stock ls6 or you need gizmo A or gizmo B to win. Build a simple car with simple aero and a reliable engine and come race! Focus on setting up the car as well as you can and save your money for tires and track time. If another racer is faster, don't always assume it's the car. He might just be a faster driver! This isn't easy, because we all want excuses . I don't knock those who have better builds than me either. I admired and learned some things from the other ST2 cars and my car will continue to evolve as well . This is why I like super touring. It would cost much more for me to build a competitive spec car.

On another note, I would like to thank those who have helped make my car competitive. TC Design builds the best cages I've ever seen. Simple, safe, and effective with no shortcuts. LG Motorsports for their monoball bearings, diff/tranny cooler, and headers. Abel Chevrolet for all my OEM parts and excellent service. Wolf Vinyl for my wrap. Sky Blue glass for my windshields. Rick at Synergy for my tuning. My assistant mechanic who helped me all week at nationals, Billy Ross. Thanks guys, sorry about the final result this year, but we'll get'em next year!

Pics thanks to Andrew (Flink):

L98Terror

Well said and agreed.

Nice to finally meet you in person and thanks for the help

redtopz

Nice to meet you too! Watching your vids made me want to race ST2 . Hope to see you guys at the next one.

autoxer6

Thanks for sharing!

crimlwC6

Very cool post. I hope to be there next year. I've got about the same in my car as yours.

PushinTheLimit

Very cool writeup. I find it interesting in your pictures that your rear wing is mounted more forward rather than further back. I was always under the impression that you wanted it as far back as you could get it.

Bill32

Yep, And a certain driver that I know seems to be able to prove this............when his car doesn't break.

geerookie

100%

2002rich

This post should be a sticky so as to serve as a reminder that most of us don't need the best of everything to be the best.
You have proven this point over and over again. You've broken several track records here in NorCal that will probably remain in-place for a long time.

Congrats!

redtopz

Further back will provide more downforce to the rear tires. Honestly, I've just never changed my aero since I bought the car. It just seemed to work. But in general, I would like more downforce in front, not in back, as my car tends to push a little at high speed.

Thanks coach! But I'm not trying to say I'm Michael Shoemaker, quite the opposite. I'm a typical club racer in a very good car and I'm proud of how well my car ran nationally! My intention was to thank those who helped me (I should say thanks to you for teaching me to heel/toe ) and to pass on my first hand observations about many questions I've had over the years. Things like "how much difference do expensive shocks make in lap times?". "How much faster will I be with aero"? "Coilovers vs. leaf springs"? I've had all these questions along with hundreds of others people and now I've been racing long enough in both T1 and ST2 to come to some of my own conclusions.

IMHO, many things are completely overrated when it comes to turning fast laps, racing, and being competitive. People tend to look at improving the car rather than the driver even when they are 5-10 seconds off the pace for what they have! We see it all the time and I've certainly been guilty of this. My car even down on power and with 75 ft/lbs less torque than other vettes ran down the straights basically at the same speed. Shoot, even ST1 and SU cars with 200+ more hp don't usually pull that much more down the straights and they tend to brake earlier! Torque doesn't seem to make much difference in most cases. Yes, it's probably nice to have and certainly won't hurt if you can put the power down, but you don't need a torquer engine to win. Horsepower in general is overrated especially if you find yourself at part throttle. With my LS6 I'm at full throttle almost all the time and that makes it easier to drive. Brake, turn in, roll onto full throttle. At a certain point, you become grip limited with the rear tires. Most of our local ST2 drivers can run faster times than most ST1 and SU cars in CA and I know guys in 11:1 GTS3 cars who are faster than many 8:1 ST2 cars.

All these aero, drivetrain, and various racing upgrades make smaller and smaller incremental differences beyond the basics and I think if you put one of the top drivers in your region in just about any decent car they will still run up front.

A few items that I do love on my car are the light weight clutch, racing seat/harnesses, cage, good corner balance/alignment, turn 1 steering pump, racing brakes, monoball control arm bearings, coolers for everything, and sticky tires. Basically the ability to shift, brake, and turn reliably and feel what the tires are telling you. Even with just those simple things a vette can be very potent and a blast to drive. Oh yeah, and SKF hubs!

FruiTay

Wow! This was inspiring! Thank you for sharing

Bill32

Well, that's kinda incorrect. You're in the top 5%, probably in the top 2% of club drivers. I knew this even in your early years.

You don't see what the "other drivers" are doing cause you're running in the front. The top 5 drivers in the Ca. events are always fast, the rest could use some tweeking. I've been working with the guys setting guys setting the "fast lap of the day" at RFR and can get them to knock off 1 to 1 1/2 seconds . I WOULDN'T be able to do that with you.

Anyway, your thread is very profound, I have a lot of these discussions with drivers that want to spend money on their cars.

We're taking the Atlantic to the track next week, I can still beat your Corvette in that.

troyguitar

Awesome. I'm hoping I can have similar results with my stock-ish car in TT3. Basically the same as your setup except skip the aero and keep the interior. Tires, brakes, cooling, setup, seats, done. Add lightweight clutch/flywheel when the original wears out.

I was going to modify the hell out of my Audi S4 but after doing the math it became clear that a C5 is THE answer for a track car. It was going to cost $40k to prepare my S4 for TT3!

Lasco001

@redtopz
What do you have mounted on a splitter?
I'm looking for my C5 still an appropriate model

Cölestin

Bink

Great write-up!! Thanks!!

joenationwide

That story is heartbreaking. What an up and down Nationals must have been. Looks like you took it in stride.

I'm like you, one of those guys who tries to do well with a simple and effective setup, rather than throwing money at high dollar parts just to win.
I think you embody the true spirit of racing! Much luck to you in the future!

clubracer6

Great write up and perspective!

Joy of 6

Good job, congrats on a win. Must be the talented west coast drivers are better. Have 3 different friends who won the 3 spec Miata races. All from Oregon

DarkMastyr

Very cool Bill!

redtopz

Wise decision! Your C5 will be much faster and more fun to drive on the track than the S4. Get weight off the front end if possible.

My aero is from Advanced Composite Products (ACP) and it was on the car when I bought it. You have to build custom mounts or brackets to hold the front splitter/undertray and the wing. It's not easy to do it right unless you have decent fabrication and welding skills.