The start of my road race/steet car....I got my 3D wing today!
04-24-2016, 05:34 PM
#21
you should make sure that Wolf "cage" is legal if you ever plan on doing anything beyond DE..... Lots of Drag-race touches that aren't allowed in Road Racing based on their photos.
Good luck with the build. You might want to consider brakes and coolers before you go too far if you are serious. Assuming your aero works out, you are just going to over-work the already over-worked parts of the car.
Good luck with the build. You might want to consider brakes and coolers before you go too far if you are serious. Assuming your aero works out, you are just going to over-work the already over-worked parts of the car.
04-24-2016, 05:59 PM
#22
04-24-2016, 06:02 PM
#23
Burning Brakes
Hmmmm.....that wing looks familiar. From the look of the mounts and the shape it looks like my old fiberglass C5R reproduction which I made brackets for to extend higher and further back. Just be sure to use something under the deck lid to secure it. I think I sold the bracket with the wing but have no idea how many hands have touched it since I sold it back in 2012.
04-24-2016, 06:31 PM
#24
Hmmmm.....that wing looks familiar. From the look of the mounts and the shape it looks like my old fiberglass C5R reproduction which I made brackets for to extend higher and further back. Just be sure to use something under the deck lid to secure it. I think I sold the bracket with the wing but have no idea how many hands have touched it since I sold it back in 2012.
04-24-2016, 09:35 PM
#25
Melting Slicks
Not sure if this thread is serious or a troll, but if it's real then I would stop with the mods. That cage would be a big mistake and so would the supercharger and aero. If you want a rollbar I would go to the shop listed by Ratt Finkel and have them start with a half cage (roll bar back). And definitely no maggie supercharger. The more you try to mod your car now, the more you will screw it up and make your life more difficult down the road. BTDT. Take the road racing class and do some track days with a coach. Then come back and use the search button and try to learn from others on this forum. Modding for a road course has been discussed ad nauseam and you can spend weeks reading and learning from others. Then ask questions. Lots of knowledge available here. 
Last edited by redtopz; 04-24-2016 at 09:38 PM.
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brkntrxn (04-24-2016)
04-24-2016, 11:44 PM
#27
Not sure if this thread is serious or a troll, but if it's real then I would stop with the mods. That cage would be a big mistake and so would the supercharger and aero. If you want a rollbar I would go to the shop listed by Ratt Finkel and have them start with a half cage (roll bar back). And definitely no maggie supercharger. The more you try to mod your car now, the more you will screw it up and make your life more difficult down the road. BTDT. Take the road racing class and do some track days with a coach. Then come back and use the search button and try to learn from others on this forum. Modding for a road course has been discussed ad nauseam and you can spend weeks reading and learning from others. Then ask questions. Lots of knowledge available here.
04-25-2016, 08:53 AM
#28
Its very real i guess im having trouble with 1st why would i not want a full cage? Ive been upside down in a tube chassis car and thanked god for a full cage. 2nd why would i not want aero? I feel thats like taking my old super late model and asking me to remove my sway bars, you can drive it like that but not quickly.
About the aero. The point is that it increases the grip threshold, which steepens the learning curve. Having come into road racing from circle track myself, it's a totally different ballgame, and trying to go from a top tier car in one directly to a top tier in the other is not a good plan. What these guys are saying is that you'll learn more about road racing technique without the aero than you will with it. The downforce has the ability to cover your mistakes, rather than exposing them and allowing you to learn from them. While you're learning the car and this type of racing, I'd also suggest starting with narrow, hard tires, as it brings the grip threshold to a point where you can deal with the car at lower speeds. I run 255/40-17's on my car to save cost, and still pass pretty much every Corvette we encounter at track days, despite being detuned to about 260whp for the rules of the series I run.
These guys are offering sound advice, not pi$$ing on your shoes. Be skeptical of the people who suggest that you need to add expensive parts to your car, not the people who suggest that you don't.
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Racingswh (04-25-2016)
04-25-2016, 09:38 AM
#29
Melting Slicks
Its very real i guess im having trouble with 1st why would i not want a full cage? Ive been upside down in a tube chassis car and thanked god for a full cage. 2nd why would i not want aero? I feel thats like taking my old super late model and asking me to remove my sway bars, you can drive it like that but not quickly.
You will be a better, faster driver if you learn to drive the car at the limit now, taking the wing off the car, and then with every mod you make going forward.
You have the makings of an awesome track car. I love them and have since they came out. Best of luck with it whatever path you choose. It will be a ton of fun!!
04-25-2016, 12:12 PM
#30
Thanks guys explained that way i can understand why they say do it in that order. I just have a 50/50 split on peoples opinions on how to setup my car. The end goal is a full on race car that is still road legal....im looking at a c6z for a daily so a full cage isnt a real big issue. I found several road race cages but they essentially gut the doors and require fixed lexan windows and move the fuel tanks as you stated.
04-25-2016, 12:23 PM
#31
To be clear, you still run the stock fuel tanks, you just have to remove them while you're installing the cage because it mounts to the frame alongside them. They go back in stock position after the cage is done. Main problem with the Wolf cages and similar is that they're not really mounted to the frame unless you do your own tie-in work, but mostly they restrict interior space by pushing the main hoop forward of where it should be.
This shows where the main hoop should mount, you can sorta see where the fuel tanks will go back in place after the cage is done and the filler panels are welded back in.
This shows where the main hoop should mount, you can sorta see where the fuel tanks will go back in place after the cage is done and the filler panels are welded back in.
04-25-2016, 12:28 PM
#32
To be clear, you still run the stock fuel tanks, you just have to remove them while you're installing the cage because it mounts to the frame alongside them. They go back in stock position after the cage is done. Main problem with the Wolf cages and similar is that they're not really mounted to the frame unless you do your own tie-in work, but mostly they restrict interior space by pushing the main hoop forward of where it should be.
This shows where the main hoop should mount, you can sorta see where the fuel tanks will go back in place after the cage is done and the filler panels are welded back in.
This shows where the main hoop should mount, you can sorta see where the fuel tanks will go back in place after the cage is done and the filler panels are welded back in.
how much would it hurt the car to move the fuel to a cell in the center rear? Where a sub box goes...
04-25-2016, 07:31 PM
#35
I think im going to research then finish building my aero splitter, canards, side skirts, and diffuser but make them removable. That way i can learn without them but install them for car shows....or who knows maybe one day i will learn to drive and use them 
04-25-2016, 08:45 PM
#36
Drifting
(Thank you to the guys above that explained it better than I could from my phone while out of the country)
Low Bowtie:
Think of it this way: Your car, as it sits on stock suspension, stock brakes, full weight, and street tires has a natural ability to run xxx laps at a race track with the best driver ever. If a new person (new to the car or new to driving) gets into the car, it is going to take xxx amount of time and laps to learn where the threshold of the car is on any given corner and any given braking and any given acceleration AND any given reliability. Now the driver and the car are at 10/10s of the combination. If the driver has pre-existing and transferrable skills from previous types of racing or even life experiences , then their learning curve will be less steep than the newbie. Life experiences are just as important and they are the reason why GOOD instructors ask lots of questions about the career choices and background of a student/newbie.
Once the driver gets to the limit of the car, then say that driver adds stickier tires, brakes, and suspension goodies. Now the ability of the car has been elevated to xxx-xxx. Make sense? I'll give examples below with my history. So now the driver has to learn how to drive the car to the new limits. New braking, new cornering speeds, etc. Now the car AND the driver are again at 10/10s of the ability of the combination.
Now the driver adds aero goodies and other items to the car. Once again, you have elevated the ability of the CAR to xxx-xxx-xxx. Notice I say "minus" to indicate faster lap times. The job of the DRIVER is once again to learn how to brake and corner faster.
Also notice, not once in the example above did I mention "accelerate" or learn to "go faster in a straight line". I am glad to hear you want to do the motor last because that truly is the LAST thing to do to a car... make the "straight line talent" go faster in road course racing.
The learning curve and timeline of the above equation can be very long for some and very short for others. The point is to learn the limits of the car prior to elevating the limits of the car. It makes it MUCH harder.
From my drag racing background, I think I can give you an example you will relate to. What is easier to learn to launch and catch the perfect 000 light? A dead-reliable Chevelle with a 350 and a 3-sp auto with a good converter OR a 1200hp turbo car with a heavy cam and a touchy stall rate? Which one would you throw a newbie into in order to get their feet wet? Which car would be easier to 60'? The Chevelle on a 12" streetable drag radial or the turbo car on a 10" slick in the skinny tire class?
To give you an idea of transition of times, at VIR myself and others proved the following lap times over the course of the transformation of our C5Z06s and racing classes:
2:14 - bone stock down to the F1 tires with a decent driver
2:10 - with a good driver on street tires
2:08 - great driver on street tires
2:04 - great driver on brake pads, sways, weight stripped, corner balanced, and sticky tires, little clutch
2:02 - big brake kits, headers, lexan
1:59 - aero
See the progression above? And there is a MASSIVE difference in driving a 2:01 at VIR versus a 1:59 even though it is only 2 seconds over the course of 3.17 miles. By the way, every single time above is in MY car with ME driving on a bone stock 36k mile engine with 10k race miles. The lap records for each time I posted above are actually faster by several seconds by the yahoos I race against. All out speed isn't what wins on a lot of occasions!
Low Bowtie:
Think of it this way: Your car, as it sits on stock suspension, stock brakes, full weight, and street tires has a natural ability to run xxx laps at a race track with the best driver ever. If a new person (new to the car or new to driving) gets into the car, it is going to take xxx amount of time and laps to learn where the threshold of the car is on any given corner and any given braking and any given acceleration AND any given reliability. Now the driver and the car are at 10/10s of the combination. If the driver has pre-existing and transferrable skills from previous types of racing or even life experiences , then their learning curve will be less steep than the newbie. Life experiences are just as important and they are the reason why GOOD instructors ask lots of questions about the career choices and background of a student/newbie.
Once the driver gets to the limit of the car, then say that driver adds stickier tires, brakes, and suspension goodies. Now the ability of the car has been elevated to xxx-xxx. Make sense? I'll give examples below with my history. So now the driver has to learn how to drive the car to the new limits. New braking, new cornering speeds, etc. Now the car AND the driver are again at 10/10s of the ability of the combination.
Now the driver adds aero goodies and other items to the car. Once again, you have elevated the ability of the CAR to xxx-xxx-xxx. Notice I say "minus" to indicate faster lap times. The job of the DRIVER is once again to learn how to brake and corner faster.
Also notice, not once in the example above did I mention "accelerate" or learn to "go faster in a straight line". I am glad to hear you want to do the motor last because that truly is the LAST thing to do to a car... make the "straight line talent" go faster in road course racing.
The learning curve and timeline of the above equation can be very long for some and very short for others. The point is to learn the limits of the car prior to elevating the limits of the car. It makes it MUCH harder.
From my drag racing background, I think I can give you an example you will relate to. What is easier to learn to launch and catch the perfect 000 light? A dead-reliable Chevelle with a 350 and a 3-sp auto with a good converter OR a 1200hp turbo car with a heavy cam and a touchy stall rate? Which one would you throw a newbie into in order to get their feet wet? Which car would be easier to 60'? The Chevelle on a 12" streetable drag radial or the turbo car on a 10" slick in the skinny tire class?
To give you an idea of transition of times, at VIR myself and others proved the following lap times over the course of the transformation of our C5Z06s and racing classes:
2:14 - bone stock down to the F1 tires with a decent driver
2:10 - with a good driver on street tires
2:08 - great driver on street tires
2:04 - great driver on brake pads, sways, weight stripped, corner balanced, and sticky tires, little clutch
2:02 - big brake kits, headers, lexan
1:59 - aero
See the progression above? And there is a MASSIVE difference in driving a 2:01 at VIR versus a 1:59 even though it is only 2 seconds over the course of 3.17 miles. By the way, every single time above is in MY car with ME driving on a bone stock 36k mile engine with 10k race miles. The lap records for each time I posted above are actually faster by several seconds by the yahoos I race against. All out speed isn't what wins on a lot of occasions!
Last edited by brkntrxn; 04-25-2016 at 08:47 PM.
04-25-2016, 11:44 PM
#37
(Thank you to the guys above that explained it better than I could from my phone while out of the country)
Low Bowtie:
Think of it this way: Your car, as it sits on stock suspension, stock brakes, full weight, and street tires has a natural ability to run xxx laps at a race track with the best driver ever. If a new person (new to the car or new to driving) gets into the car, it is going to take xxx amount of time and laps to learn where the threshold of the car is on any given corner and any given braking and any given acceleration AND any given reliability. Now the driver and the car are at 10/10s of the combination. If the driver has pre-existing and transferrable skills from previous types of racing or even life experiences , then their learning curve will be less steep than the newbie. Life experiences are just as important and they are the reason why GOOD instructors ask lots of questions about the career choices and background of a student/newbie.
Once the driver gets to the limit of the car, then say that driver adds stickier tires, brakes, and suspension goodies. Now the ability of the car has been elevated to xxx-xxx. Make sense? I'll give examples below with my history. So now the driver has to learn how to drive the car to the new limits. New braking, new cornering speeds, etc. Now the car AND the driver are again at 10/10s of the ability of the combination.
Now the driver adds aero goodies and other items to the car. Once again, you have elevated the ability of the CAR to xxx-xxx-xxx. Notice I say "minus" to indicate faster lap times. The job of the DRIVER is once again to learn how to brake and corner faster.
Also notice, not once in the example above did I mention "accelerate" or learn to "go faster in a straight line". I am glad to hear you want to do the motor last because that truly is the LAST thing to do to a car... make the "straight line talent" go faster in road course racing.
The learning curve and timeline of the above equation can be very long for some and very short for others. The point is to learn the limits of the car prior to elevating the limits of the car. It makes it MUCH harder.
From my drag racing background, I think I can give you an example you will relate to. What is easier to learn to launch and catch the perfect 000 light? A dead-reliable Chevelle with a 350 and a 3-sp auto with a good converter OR a 1200hp turbo car with a heavy cam and a touchy stall rate? Which one would you throw a newbie into in order to get their feet wet? Which car would be easier to 60'? The Chevelle on a 12" streetable drag radial or the turbo car on a 10" slick in the skinny tire class?
To give you an idea of transition of times, at VIR myself and others proved the following lap times over the course of the transformation of our C5Z06s and racing classes:
2:14 - bone stock down to the F1 tires with a decent driver
2:10 - with a good driver on street tires
2:08 - great driver on street tires
2:04 - great driver on brake pads, sways, weight stripped, corner balanced, and sticky tires, little clutch
2:02 - big brake kits, headers, lexan
1:59 - aero
See the progression above? And there is a MASSIVE difference in driving a 2:01 at VIR versus a 1:59 even though it is only 2 seconds over the course of 3.17 miles. By the way, every single time above is in MY car with ME driving on a bone stock 36k mile engine with 10k race miles. The lap records for each time I posted above are actually faster by several seconds by the yahoos I race against. All out speed isn't what wins on a lot of occasions!
Low Bowtie:
Think of it this way: Your car, as it sits on stock suspension, stock brakes, full weight, and street tires has a natural ability to run xxx laps at a race track with the best driver ever. If a new person (new to the car or new to driving) gets into the car, it is going to take xxx amount of time and laps to learn where the threshold of the car is on any given corner and any given braking and any given acceleration AND any given reliability. Now the driver and the car are at 10/10s of the combination. If the driver has pre-existing and transferrable skills from previous types of racing or even life experiences , then their learning curve will be less steep than the newbie. Life experiences are just as important and they are the reason why GOOD instructors ask lots of questions about the career choices and background of a student/newbie.
Once the driver gets to the limit of the car, then say that driver adds stickier tires, brakes, and suspension goodies. Now the ability of the car has been elevated to xxx-xxx. Make sense? I'll give examples below with my history. So now the driver has to learn how to drive the car to the new limits. New braking, new cornering speeds, etc. Now the car AND the driver are again at 10/10s of the ability of the combination.
Now the driver adds aero goodies and other items to the car. Once again, you have elevated the ability of the CAR to xxx-xxx-xxx. Notice I say "minus" to indicate faster lap times. The job of the DRIVER is once again to learn how to brake and corner faster.
Also notice, not once in the example above did I mention "accelerate" or learn to "go faster in a straight line". I am glad to hear you want to do the motor last because that truly is the LAST thing to do to a car... make the "straight line talent" go faster in road course racing.
The learning curve and timeline of the above equation can be very long for some and very short for others. The point is to learn the limits of the car prior to elevating the limits of the car. It makes it MUCH harder.
From my drag racing background, I think I can give you an example you will relate to. What is easier to learn to launch and catch the perfect 000 light? A dead-reliable Chevelle with a 350 and a 3-sp auto with a good converter OR a 1200hp turbo car with a heavy cam and a touchy stall rate? Which one would you throw a newbie into in order to get their feet wet? Which car would be easier to 60'? The Chevelle on a 12" streetable drag radial or the turbo car on a 10" slick in the skinny tire class?
To give you an idea of transition of times, at VIR myself and others proved the following lap times over the course of the transformation of our C5Z06s and racing classes:
2:14 - bone stock down to the F1 tires with a decent driver
2:10 - with a good driver on street tires
2:08 - great driver on street tires
2:04 - great driver on brake pads, sways, weight stripped, corner balanced, and sticky tires, little clutch
2:02 - big brake kits, headers, lexan
1:59 - aero
See the progression above? And there is a MASSIVE difference in driving a 2:01 at VIR versus a 1:59 even though it is only 2 seconds over the course of 3.17 miles. By the way, every single time above is in MY car with ME driving on a bone stock 36k mile engine with 10k race miles. The lap records for each time I posted above are actually faster by several seconds by the yahoos I race against. All out speed isn't what wins on a lot of occasions!
04-26-2016, 12:08 AM
#38
Melting Slicks
Its very real i guess im having trouble with 1st why would i not want a full cage? Ive been upside down in a tube chassis car and thanked god for a full cage. 2nd why would i not want aero? I feel thats like taking my old super late model and asking me to remove my sway bars, you can drive it like that but not quickly.
A supercharger is a bad idea for a couple reasons other than you won't need it for power. It adds weight and lots of unwanted heat. And will decrease reliability. And once it gets hot it won't even make more power than a stock LS6. Just go with a simple LS engine with headers and cam and if possible a dry sump oil system.
Kevin (brktrxn) provided a lot of details, but another reason to avoid major mods to your car as you are starting out is it's easy to get everything wrong and make the car more difficult to drive. Then you won't know if it's you or the car that is off. Once you put on coilovers, adjustable shocks, sways, aero, etc, you won't have a baseline to start with. It takes a long time to get a car dialed in properly so unless you have someone who has set up a winning C5 and is willing to share all the info (you can probably find a lot of it in this forum), then you are better off keeping it close to stock and taking baby steps as you improve and know what the limiting factor is on the car. There is always one limiting factor other than the driver. Unless you know what that is, there is no point changing anything. Enjoy the journey!
04-26-2016, 09:40 AM
#39
Drifting
That makes a lot of sense thanks for you're detailed response, but i do have coil overs coming you think that's going to hurt me over stock leafs? Im all about getting good information ive had success in drag racing and short track asphalt i only had that success due to people, information, and seat time.
My recommendation is to do a couple of events with nothing more than upgrade brake pads and fluids before you swap any parts at all. You can be INCREDIBLY fast on stock leafs. There are still standing TT3 and TT2 lap records that were made on leaf springs by my friends that I cannot beat. I went to coilovers when I did my Wilwood brake kits and it was mainly to help with greater nose compression during braking, not exactly for mid-corner handling. Coilovers are also nice when "tuning" the suspension because it is easier to swap coil springs than full leafs. I am changing springs now and I have been running a full aero car for two years before I finally decided to make another suspension tweak. But again, the factory leaf springs can be unbelievably fast. I used to LOVE telling people they just got beat by a car with the same suspension setup as an 1840's frontier horse-drawn wagon!
A cage is a good idea, but you need a properly built road racing cage. That wolf cage is junk and IMO wouldn't provide any more protection than no cage at all. At your height/weight you will also want the cage builder to fabricate a good seat mount integrated with the cage.
A supercharger is a bad idea for a couple reasons other than you won't need it for power. It adds weight and lots of unwanted heat. And will decrease reliability. And once it gets hot it won't even make more power than a stock LS6. Just go with a simple LS engine with headers and cam and if possible a dry sump oil system.
Kevin (brktrxn) provided a lot of details, but another reason to avoid major mods to your car as you are starting out is it's easy to get everything wrong and make the car more difficult to drive. Then you won't know if it's you or the car that is off. Once you put on coilovers, adjustable shocks, sways, aero, etc, you won't have a baseline to start with. It takes a long time to get a car dialed in properly so unless you have someone who has set up a winning C5 and is willing to share all the info (you can probably find a lot of it in this forum), then you are better off keeping it close to stock and taking baby steps as you improve and know what the limiting factor is on the car. There is always one limiting factor other than the driver. Unless you know what that is, there is no point changing anything. Enjoy the journey!
A supercharger is a bad idea for a couple reasons other than you won't need it for power. It adds weight and lots of unwanted heat. And will decrease reliability. And once it gets hot it won't even make more power than a stock LS6. Just go with a simple LS engine with headers and cam and if possible a dry sump oil system.
Kevin (brktrxn) provided a lot of details, but another reason to avoid major mods to your car as you are starting out is it's easy to get everything wrong and make the car more difficult to drive. Then you won't know if it's you or the car that is off. Once you put on coilovers, adjustable shocks, sways, aero, etc, you won't have a baseline to start with. It takes a long time to get a car dialed in properly so unless you have someone who has set up a winning C5 and is willing to share all the info (you can probably find a lot of it in this forum), then you are better off keeping it close to stock and taking baby steps as you improve and know what the limiting factor is on the car. There is always one limiting factor other than the driver. Unless you know what that is, there is no point changing anything. Enjoy the journey!
Supercharging is the worst thing you can ever do to a track car. I used to have a ProCharged 99 Cobra making 554rwhp as I was coming up through the DE ranks. I was constantly fighting overheating, fuel vapor lock, bucking, blowing intake hoses, etc. After blowing the second engine in 11 months, I pulled all the blower crap off and built a solid engine making 355rwhp. With 200 LESS hp, I immediately starting turning faster laps. Why? Because it was EASIER to LEARN. I was no longer worrying about the gauges, working on the car between sessions, fighting the blower surge in braking zones, dancing with a touchy throttle when powering out of the corner, etc. The car was easier to drive and more reliable and that equated to more track time and quicker learning. More power helps with straight line speed. Go look at ANY road course map and you will see that WOT straights make up the minority of the racing surface. You need it the LEAST. Driver skill first, suspension cornering second, braking third, aero cornering fourth, straight line speed last. In that order. You can swap brakes with suspension cornering if it is a mechanical issue to overcome (ie, make them last longer).
To Bill's last point, the more you modify the car, the more you will use it as your excuse list. The reason so many of us that ran TTA/PTA years ago in stock C5s are darn good drivers now is because we had ZERO excuses for our car. We had to drive the damn things to be within hundredths of a second of each other. We couldn't open our wallets and spend our way to speed. With the only excuse being the nut behind the wheel, we had to get better to beat ourselves.
All in all, we are simply trying to save you money and time and effort by telling you to take the car to the track as-is. Our advice is simple to ignore and not very "sexy". Ha, that is ok, my wife's statement about fast cars with slow drivers being easy to pass will continue to stand.
And by the way, she was a National Champ at the age of 16 and is my spotter and crew chief at every race. LOL! 
-Kevin
Last edited by brkntrxn; 04-26-2016 at 09:46 AM.
04-26-2016, 10:37 AM
#40
My recommendation is to do a couple of events with nothing more than upgrade brake pads and fluids before you swap any parts at all. You can be INCREDIBLY fast on stock leafs. There are still standing TT3 and TT2 lap records that were made on leaf springs by my friends that I cannot beat. I went to coilovers when I did my Wilwood brake kits and it was mainly to help with greater nose compression during braking, not exactly for mid-corner handling. Coilovers are also nice when "tuning" the suspension because it is easier to swap coil springs than full leafs. I am changing springs now and I have been running a full aero car for two years before I finally decided to make another suspension tweak. But again, the factory leaf springs can be unbelievably fast. I used to LOVE telling people they just got beat by a car with the same suspension setup as an 1840's frontier horse-drawn wagon!
Bill is dead on and I agree with his points. At your size, you need cage built TO YOU to optimize your safety. The Wolf cage simply will not do that and will also reduce your interior space.
Supercharging is the worst thing you can ever do to a track car. I used to have a ProCharged 99 Cobra making 554rwhp as I was coming up through the DE ranks. I was constantly fighting overheating, fuel vapor lock, bucking, blowing intake hoses, etc. After blowing the second engine in 11 months, I pulled all the blower crap off and built a solid engine making 355rwhp. With 200 LESS hp, I immediately starting turning faster laps. Why? Because it was EASIER to LEARN. I was no longer worrying about the gauges, working on the car between sessions, fighting the blower surge in braking zones, dancing with a touchy throttle when powering out of the corner, etc. The car was easier to drive and more reliable and that equated to more track time and quicker learning. More power helps with straight line speed. Go look at ANY road course map and you will see that WOT straights make up the minority of the racing surface. You need it the LEAST. Driver skill first, suspension cornering second, braking third, aero cornering fourth, straight line speed last. In that order. You can swap brakes with suspension cornering if it is a mechanical issue to overcome (ie, make them last longer).
To Bill's last point, the more you modify the car, the more you will use it as your excuse list. The reason so many of us that ran TTA/PTA years ago in stock C5s are darn good drivers now is because we had ZERO excuses for our car. We had to drive the damn things to be within hundredths of a second of each other. We couldn't open our wallets and spend our way to speed. With the only excuse being the nut behind the wheel, we had to get better to beat ourselves.
All in all, we are simply trying to save you money and time and effort by telling you to take the car to the track as-is. Our advice is simple to ignore and not very "sexy". Ha, that is ok, my wife's statement about fast cars with slow drivers being easy to pass will continue to stand. And by the way, she was a National Champ at the age of 16 and is my spotter and crew chief at every race. LOL!
-Kevin
Bill is dead on and I agree with his points. At your size, you need cage built TO YOU to optimize your safety. The Wolf cage simply will not do that and will also reduce your interior space.
Supercharging is the worst thing you can ever do to a track car. I used to have a ProCharged 99 Cobra making 554rwhp as I was coming up through the DE ranks. I was constantly fighting overheating, fuel vapor lock, bucking, blowing intake hoses, etc. After blowing the second engine in 11 months, I pulled all the blower crap off and built a solid engine making 355rwhp. With 200 LESS hp, I immediately starting turning faster laps. Why? Because it was EASIER to LEARN. I was no longer worrying about the gauges, working on the car between sessions, fighting the blower surge in braking zones, dancing with a touchy throttle when powering out of the corner, etc. The car was easier to drive and more reliable and that equated to more track time and quicker learning. More power helps with straight line speed. Go look at ANY road course map and you will see that WOT straights make up the minority of the racing surface. You need it the LEAST. Driver skill first, suspension cornering second, braking third, aero cornering fourth, straight line speed last. In that order. You can swap brakes with suspension cornering if it is a mechanical issue to overcome (ie, make them last longer).
To Bill's last point, the more you modify the car, the more you will use it as your excuse list. The reason so many of us that ran TTA/PTA years ago in stock C5s are darn good drivers now is because we had ZERO excuses for our car. We had to drive the damn things to be within hundredths of a second of each other. We couldn't open our wallets and spend our way to speed. With the only excuse being the nut behind the wheel, we had to get better to beat ourselves.
All in all, we are simply trying to save you money and time and effort by telling you to take the car to the track as-is. Our advice is simple to ignore and not very "sexy". Ha, that is ok, my wife's statement about fast cars with slow drivers being easy to pass will continue to stand.
And by the way, she was a National Champ at the age of 16 and is my spotter and crew chief at every race. LOL! -Kevin
