tommyc6z06

Just wondering...who is the new garage? To replace Zeke's?

NoradIV

There is a guy in laval with a corvette-only garage. The store is named Corvette plus.

Seems to be a one man show (Patrick), which is usually red flag for me, but the guy only does corvettes. When I entered the store, I almost turned back right away as it is cram full or merch (kind of store for customers who spend more time shining the wheel rather than checking if it has the correct pressure in it).

Spoke with him about one hour. Seem to be very knowledgeable so far. Has parts in stock with is a giant plus and his back store is clean and well organized. The guy is pretty responsive and did follow up on the things I asked him. I have a pretty loud noise coming from the back (not sure if it is the diff or a wheel bearing), I will let you know how that goes.

He did say he wasn't an engine guy, so building an engine is not something he will do.

He told me he did lemans at some point and was part of a racing team. Not sure how true that is.

Any planned events this year? Curious to see your car.

tommyc6z06

I called him when I bought my car last year to ask if he could do my LS7 head swap, or if he knew of any corvette specialist shops who could? Answer was negative to both. So, I had my Porsche specialist do it.

He has had a big annual gathering every year, like a parking lot event.
i missed it last year, because the date conflicted with a race date at Watkins Glen for me. And it will be the same again this year, May 25.

Lemme know if you do find a corvette shop here in town. There used to be many, decades ago,but none now

NoradIV

Yeah, he told me right away he wasn't an engine guy. I am not looking to do anything on mine for a while anyway. Need to work on the chassis first.

Truly a shame zekes closed; I don't think we will see better engine builders for a while.

ticejon

What is the goal for the car? Sounds like you just want to make adjustments and buy parts that will allow you to understand what those adjustments are doing. A book would be a lot cheaper (my suggestion "Going Faster! Mastering the Art of Race Driving"). Do you want it to be a streetable car still? Then just drive it how it is, replace the maintenance items, buy safety gear, and enjoy a car that will put up top 10% lap times at just about any "track day" for street cars. If you want to start racing or doing time attack events, the c5 chassis is pretty well developed and there are plenty of setups to try to mimic, but prepare to pay double what you paid for the car, just to get started, and then the cost of the car again every year after to keep it going or be competitive.

I'm in a similar boat with my c5 and have come to the realization that unless it becomes a "racecar", I don't care about knocking a few tenths off my track day laptimes with hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of parts, I haven't hit the middle, let alone the end of the learning curve of how to drive the car, and seat time > bolt ons for me.

NoradIV

I just want to begin by saying that I have a lot of character, and if I argue while being wrong, please tell me.

Well, for now, its a street/strip combo. I fancy the idea of turning it to a fully dedicated racecar in the future, but not before I can afford a truck/trailer and built a garage, so it has to remain somewhat "street legal" in the meantime.

The thing is, I don't learn from books. I understand the words, but until I put my hands on a steering, I don't get it.

I read a lot about trail breaking and I just couldn't figure it out until I actually spent the entire winter behind a controller. Last summer, I understood how loading the suspension and how balancing the weight plays out, but the car was understeering so much I wouldn't understand that letting the gas would make the front bite more and could get the rear loose a bit. I understand that a car that understeer can still do trail breaking, but its not as easy to figure out as it would with a car that is properly balanced.


Its not about it being a racecar just yet, its about learning chassis tuning and experimentation, which will be useful in the long term. Its also learning how to work on my own car as time goes.

I am not looking at increasing the lap time, I am trying to learn how to balance understeer/oversteer, tune the car for a specific track etc. I'd rather have some of this figured out now than later when I need it. Experience doesn't build itself overnight.

I understand I am clearly not at the limit of the car after a single season; I could still work on my line, on my braking and pretty much on everything else. However, I have already altered my racing line to adapt to the way the car drives (my current setup understeer like crazy). I could further change my line if I had adjustable sway bars that would address this and perhaps learn from this. I could also purposely make a bad setup and try to work around it.

Last summer, I stayed mostly at the same track the entire summer. The last 16 sessions were completely useless since I was stalled and I didn't learn anything from that track during that period. At the end of the year, I tried another track and I then understood other things.

Basically, what I am saying is that variety and changes will certainly help me progress, and its why I want an adjustable setup.

I am just asking questions. I am at the point where I am facing unknown unknowns; sorry if what I am saying is stupid, I just don't know better.