turtlevette

I have been running about 2 events per year for the last 5 years so i still don't have a lot of seat time. I run the DE events only, where you are not racing just practice. My club has very strict rules. You need to get a point by before passing. The second day is timed runs only, no door to door racing.

I have named myself turtle because i have trouble keeping up with the new cars and EVERYBODY runs newer cars. However we have some very talented drivers in the club and most of the regulars are very good.

I run in the street stock class where you are not supposed to do anything to your car. I want to find out what everyone else is doing and decide whether i should do some mods so i can be more respectable out there.

I'm going to run some 27/10/15s NASCAR racing tires as an experiment to see if i can get some better grip. These tires can be bought used for around 20 bucks each.....i do NOT want to spend 1200 bucks on tires.

I need to do something about the tendency of the car to oversteer. It sucks majorly when the back end kicks out at 80mph.

Anyway lets don't dwell on me. I want to hear what everyone else is doing, videos whatever. We need to band together and help each other so we will look respectable out there.

DonBecker

I have a mostly stock 76, and haven't done much performance wise to it. Rebuilt front and rear suspension with Poly.

I don't really know how to get involved with the road course stuff, but I'd love to.

Is there a name or association for what you do? Like SCCA or something?

I just moved out to Phoenix, AZ, so I have enough trouble finding my way home from work, much less to the track...

72 RAY

Turtlevette,
I don't think you will fit the Nascar rejects. I have two complete sets if you want thats 8 tires. I could not run them to tall & wide. With Fender Flares you may get these to work. One of my future upgrades is Flares.

I started like you at stock. I quickly started upgrading after being so slow compared to the new stuff. Now after about 3 years of race-upgrade, race-upgrade, I am nearing the end of easy upgrades. I hate spending money twice but unfortunatly it is a necessary evil.
I'm so competative in my group with other cars that I'm trying find seconds. Unfortunatly they do not come cheap. Also I have this mental handicap about gutting & hacking my car. I have resolved myself to some fiberglass upgrades Tasteful but not hacking.
I'm almost to the point of finding a junker with no motor that I can modify. (but the days of cheap junkers has come and gone). This way I can put mine back to original Numbers Matching state and sell it or keep for cruising It's hard when you have two love's track and street. Which leads us to the buying parts twice. It's either race or street not much if any inbetween.
At this point I am HPDE or time trial (NASA proracing) not Head to Head. I have advanced up to unlimited passing but always err on the side of caution. No car contact here. This make fast laps a challenge and fun. I will adventually patition for my race liscense but will race a different car. I don't know what yet but I can co-drive Enduro's in my friends Mustang AI car. We will see what happens.
As far as the upgrades you name it. I've done it or want to do it.
I can lean more towards Race parts now because my wife bought a BMW z3. I don't have to please her anymore. She's Happy and I'm left carelessly unattended with a street legal race car. I'm Happy.
Later!

turtlevette

there's a dude here called clutchdust that lives in your area that can give you all the scoop. Hopefully he will see the thread and chime in soon.

The first time i did this i kicked myself for wasting so many years drag racing. Its good stuff.

72 RAY

NASA proracing HPDE
http://www.nasaproracing.com/

Be careful. Once you try it you will be hooked. Awsome fun.

ThereIsNoSpoon

I would love to offer some great advice; however, you are going to have to settle for some friendly encouragement. I just got rid of my 05 Subaru STi so that I could get a new pickup truck and my 79 Vette. The performance difference between the Vette and the STi is a world appart (in favor of the STi). I too am looking at what I should do to the Vette to make it more track worthy, but at the same time I have to realize that the Vette is from a completely different era than the modern cars that you are racing. For this reason it has to be judged differently than the more modern cars, that is as long as you are planning on keeping the car near stock. My opinion has always been to mod the hell out of things, which I fully intend to do the the Vette. I guess what I am trying to say is that unless you intend to significantly mod your car, enjoy the fact that your car looks better than all the other cars and be happy for the fact that your 30 year old car can keep up as well as it can.

72 RAY

When I first started out years ago I rode with Clutchdust at Pahrump NV. That ride showed me I had a lot to learn. He's a great guy. Lot's of info.

turtlevette

They fit on back and will with a little trimming on front. What are you using for tires?

72 RAY

It's how far do you want to go. "But"

I think I have done a good job of the sleeper look. From the outside it looks like it has big tires but not much else. The wolf under the hood however howls a different tune. Still has liscense plates though.

As far as the "STI" is concerned, I run with a highly moded one in my group. He and I are very neck and neck. At the H.P. tracks I'm a tad faster at the technical tracks he is. Good competition here. The positive note is I'm not done modifying. The Evo's on the other hand with mods and drivers are very tuff.

72 RAY

Oh forgot!
Here's a video of one lap at buttonwillow Ca. with a lot of passing and a lotus that is purposely trying to hold me up. (so I won't beat his best lap time). Friendly competition.
http://members.***.net/keiferpkr/buttonwillow.wmv

Here's a picture of the car in action after I passed a porcshe and Mustang.
http://members.***.net/keiferpkr/racevette.jpg

turtlevette

72Ray

do you know what your car weighs?

72 RAY

Turtlevette,
The tire fit OK statically but with corner loads at speed the fenders would hit for sure. I barely clear the Hoosiers I run. There is no way in the front unless the fiberglass gets reworked.
I'm having pretty good luck with the hoosiers. 25.5x10x15 hossiers TD's up front and 26.5x9.5x15 in the rear. These are on Real racing Wide-5 wheels with adapters, 5" backspace 15x10. Offset trailing arms. They work very well. don't last forever but work great when they are new.

Right now 3500 lbs with me in it. Balance is pretty good and cross weights are pretty good also.

DaveL82

I used to autoX in the early to mid 80's and ran very well with a Monza v8 with trick suspension mods hidden underneath.

In 83 I bought my 1980 L82 and over the years added the front transverse spring, carrera shocks and fiberglass rear spring but no track stuff.

Two years ago I pulled the L82 old tech engine and replaced it with a ZZ4 which was a huge improvement.

So now over 20+ years later I've added flares with Kuhmo MX tires fitted to CCM wheels (17x10 fronts and 18x12 rears), a canton roadrace pan, auto power roll bar on order, Wilwood superlites on order for front, mechanical gauges, hydraboost brake conversion, changed the old autobox to a Richmond 5 speed with hydraulic clutch, solid rod end strut rods, OMP seats, and a self designed rear coil over conversion that actually worked!

P.S the car is not painted yet so looks a bit distressed

So where does this lead - Wife and I are selling our motorcycles, I bought a GMC 2500 diesel so we can buy/pull a car trailer.

Plan is for the wife and I to to track days this next spring, open road races in Texas and at some point do the Targa Newfoundland.

So why the hell did I wait 20 + years!!!!

dave

ThereIsNoSpoon

That is encouraging to hear. I am very much looking forward to getting my Vette up to that caliber someday. In the meantime I plan to enjoy my car every step of the way up until that point.

turtlevette

Yep,

I wish i had found out about it back in the 80s when i was drag racing. I just don't know if it was as popular back then.

What is the Targa Newfoundland about?

ThereIsNoSpoon

Hey 72 Ray, my 79 has a rebuilt rear suspension, and new front and rear sways. I have 17x9.5 wheels with nitto drag radials on the rears. It currently has a 355 in it which produces about 280hp and 300tq to the wheels. It has a 3 speed auto trans. My question is what do you recommend that I do first that will provide the most race bang for the buck? I know that I want to eventually add steeroids and a Richmod 5 speed, but your suggestions are much appreciated.

Btw, I hope this is not thread jacking, I apologize if it is.

CrossedFlags77

72 Ray, what steering system are you using? Stock manual steer?

vwcorvette

I've run a number of track days and autocrosses with my Scirocco( it's a VW!) and have yet to drive myy '75 in anger. Need to get the rear bearings done and then do the Corvette steering jeep box replacement/upgrade. Would like to think that eventually my Vette could handle as well as the Dub. Unfortunately, seems that good precise handling for a Vette is WAY more money than a VW. So anyway, aside from the usual mods(poly bushings, VBP radius rods, Poly diff mount, better alignment, ebc green stuff brake pads, braided brake lines) can I use my 15 x 8 rims and find good rubber? Or do I have to make the jump to 17's? (Mo money, Mo money)

gkull

Are you talking about on the throttle in the middle of the turn? Just changing to quality tires will cure this.

72 Ray like my 79 has additional rear track. This makes an immense difference. I have 6 inches of additional rear track.

I had my car weighed on an official state cert scale and had nearly perfect 50/50 with me in the car and full 25 gallons of fuel. total of 3184 pounds.

I met up with Cluchdust is Vegas. He has two items to stiffen the front end. Spreader bar and rear motor plate behind the motor and in front of the tranny.

Getting rid of the mechanical fan allows the motor to change rpm faster.

I also run a smaller dia. damper pulley.

I think one of the best things to increase lapping times on any car is to increase the red line of the motor. Then your not throwing the balance of the car off by shifting. I ran 7200 rpm 355 ci back in the 80's through later 90's when i went to a full out 7500 rpm 383. Now I have a 7000 rpm 427.

It just allows you to be in a low rpm bogg in the middle of the slower turns so you can go WOT earlier without bringing the rear end around. Coming out as rpm increase your back in the power and take off. Then you have so many rpm available that you can choose to not shift back and forth.

72 RAY

I have the steeroids system with the hydroboost and a cooler in line as well. I added some additional bracing for their kit and welded everything up. I had some cracking of the brackets with the load being put on the system in the corners. I havn't had anymore trouble since the mods, but it is on my checklist for every track day. So far so good.