I would like to hear from some of you who use your car as a dual purpose both drag racing and road racing.

If there is already a thread like this please point me in that direction.

I have mostly used my car for drag racing and I have found many of the weak links I am in the process of fixing all of these weak links and as many of you know it aint cheap!

I just did a track day at Road Atlanta with my buddy Dave this past Sunday....he has a little 3 series BMW that is a stripped down race car....going around the track in that thing was so much fun!

I now want to get my vette out and play for the next track day

Before I jump in let me say that I am not looking to make all out blistering fast car or the best braking or best handling. I am just looking to set the car up to play with it on the track for some fun. I realize its difficult to do the best of both and I am not looking for the best of either just enough to have fun.

I already drag the car and that is where most all of my knowledge lays as far as setup and what the car will handle.

So what do I need to do to the car.....Can I run the factory brakes with better pads or do I need a rotor and caliper upgrade if so what do you recommend. Also I have been thinking of changing my shocks or maybe even going coilovers....budget comes into play here.

The car is very far from stock.....many many years ago it used to be tracked SCCA(-prior to me owning) it is stripped down and light 2900lbs with a 4 point roll bar.....small block with a 4-speed

Thoughts and suggestions welcome

 

I still run the stock brake calipers and for me they work well.
The key here is cooling, good new and clean fluid together with really good pads.

I removed the dustshields both front and rear and got 4" cooling hoses running from the spoiler to the center of the front discs.

I have tried some different pads and have now setteled with the Porterfield R-4 compound.
http://www.lpiracing.com/Porterfield...-Pads-c762.htm

 

Adjustability of front coil overs or semi-coil overs is a good thing. The ability to change the front springs and ride height along with dual adjust shocks.

As my power level, sticky tire width, and skill went up the stock front brakes would boil 600 degree fluid. which required bigger rotors and thermal blocking pistons.

The fun factor per dollars spent goes with road racing where you can get up to a couple hours of track time for a couple of hundred dollars of entry fees

 

would shocks that you adjust with the turn of a **** be good for the OP use ? would a 420# rear spring ,and 550# front spring be too much ?

 

Back in the 80's I bought the VB&P street and slalom kit with the 1 1/8 550# one inch shorter springs, smart struts, poly end adjustable lower rods,3/4 sway with spring end links front and rear,and added a leaf to get 500+ pound rear. 8.5 x15 front wheels and 10X15 rear

So I grew up with my vette handling better. When 17 inch wheels came out I went to 17X9 front and 11X17 rear.

So for back in the day when I competed in bracket racing I was good to go. I never thought about a harsh ride. I have 174,000 miles on my 79 Vette and have driven across the US a couple of times.

I put on a 420# mono last year because I quit racing my vette. I went out for a SCCA track day and my slicks touched the wheel wells and screwed up my body even with them turned up to over 2 1/2 inches of clearance to my flares. with 12X28 road racing slicks So I bought a custom mono of over 500#'s so it would not happen again.

I drive around and it is a fun car

 

NHRA National Champion and world record holder in both Gas and Nitro classes .....

the little Vette was basically a tow piece

 

Dont want to do my first road course Id like to too much and cant afford it.
Stick to drag racing for now.

MH is that an Anglia??

 

heat is an enemy of Corvette calipers, upgraded pads, pistons, brake fluid and some air ducted to the center of the rotor will help, you don`t want or need coil overs a new set of Bilsteins will work just fine, besides are you a talented enough driver to adjust coil overs? I`m not and thats me in the #1 below.

 

that car looks cool ,but scary ! I would like to try a track day at BIR ,but I would love to drag race more .

 

For anyone looking to do some track driving it is best to do one of those track school courses first. You can look up your closest track and see when they come around, maybe drive to a track farther if that is where they are. Benefit is the instructor goes with you and tells you exactly how to be safe and how to drive a track.

With a track school weekend to start you would be seasons ahead of self taught driving for sure, safer more confident and more fun!

If you have a club that does track days or a knowledgeable friend that is essentially your instructor that's different but going cold to a track isn't the best idea. But anyone can do it.

With seat time comes knowledge of what your particular car needs.

 

With drag racing you are on the track for a trilling 10-11 seconds until the next run. With road course you are on the track for a thrilling 20 minutes until the next run. Can take your car to the limits of driving on a road course. Both good but different.

 

You don't live that far from Willow Springs Raceway. That is a fun road coarse. I've done 1000 upon 1000's of miles around that track including a 3 driver 6 hour event. The car was out of gas about every hour so it was a driver change and gas. At 2 hours it was driver, gas, and left side tires. At the 4th hour it was 4 tires and front brake pads. A friend owned the car and we split the expenses. It was in an older pro racing pontiac trans am with a SB2 nascar 358 ci motor.

People are always selling out at the end of a season. Last Friday I bid on a track champion total caged road race only Miata for my 60 year old Aunt. I quit when the bidding went to high.


RedVetracr is correct about dual adjust shocks. I am not using them to their potential. It would really take a modern sophisticated data logger to fully use some items.

 

no not far at all. Set my car up to hook and handle if I choose and wouldnt be afraid to run my car on a course. With a pack of them maybe not its just too nice be afraid of someone taking me out. Someones project strictly track car would be a good idea. one day when funds allow lol.

 

If the Vette has been set up for drags first thing I would do is proper alignment. You might want to try some auto cross events first then move on to the open course events. I would hunt up some F-41 parts for a good baseline that would be a good quality 7 leaf 330in/lb rear spring some 550in/lb front springs a 1.125" front roll bar and the 7/16" or 5/8" rear bar commonly found on big block Vettes (I have some around I might sell.). Buy some Bilstein Sport shocks or get the Guldstrand Bilstein with Dicks "Sears Point" valving. I would swap to a Boregeson steering box, buy some race harnesses, get a Kirkey or Ultrashield aluminum road race seat then roll bar/cage to stiffen chassis. Good sticky tires last would be motor improvements in search of speed.

 

Thanks for the replys guys..... So I can run my stick calipers and upgrade my pads.... Stick rotors good or is it worth the money to get a set of slotted/ drilled rotors.

I will make some cooling vents for the rotors that's a good point. I don't want to go big rotors I want to retain my 15" wheels.

As far as shocks I will not bother with coil overs it does not sound like its needed. As I mentioned the car use to be tracked years ago. It has big springs upfront.... They are big block springs with a big block sway bar.

As far as the rear I replaced my rear spring with a stock replacement heavy duty spring I don't know what rating. I have though about going heavier for drag racing purposes.

The car is extremely stiff and it does have a 4 point roll bar in it. I need to find a good set of seats that will clear the roll bar.

The one big item I will need is a good set of tires..... I don't think slicks are needed. I am not a pro and again I am not looking to push the car real hard I just wanna have some fun. I currently run 275/50/15 Micky T street radial up front and a 325/50/15 Micky T drag radial out back these obviously will not work.

What tire do you recommend in a 15"?

 

I would say to just try what you have and then you can determine the short falls.

I've actually seen cars out on the road courses using drag radials. Are they optimum............. probably not, but once you are out of a turn they can put the power down.

The reason for a dedicated set of track tires is that road racing slicks are cheaper to destroy than high end sticky street radial. Actually nobody makes performance 15 inch street tires. like "W" or "Y" rated ultra performance 17-18-19-20 inch wheels

If I tried to drive my Kumho ultra performance summer radials on a track the lateral forces doesn't wear the tires out. It actually tears the tread blocks off. That is why they make shaved of treaded tires. The blocks then allow the tire to slide without bending the blocks over and tearing them off.

 

I have thought of running what I got but I kinda feel that the rear tires are a little too tall for road racing purposes....they are more for drag racing due to the taller side wall. I dont wanna take out a rear quarter...the rear is pretty damn stiff but you never know....

I also need some some tips for tuning my carb for road racing.......I got it setup and working great for street and dragging but i have the typical flooding issue in a hard turn.

Its a 750 mighty demon......I have had zero problems with it....basically took it out of the box and bolted it on about 9 years ago. I have played with the jetting for drag racing but it does the typical flooding when in a hard turn.

I how do I adjust this out?

 

I use the higher flow titanium needle and seat for alki. I use lower psi like 5. Set float level so the fuel is on the bottom of the sight glass.

I have never had fuel slosh out of my demon Vent tubes

 

There are a couple of things you can do to a Holley, get some road race floats from Brasswell or BLP carbs, put some extensions onto your float bowl vents I just use clear tubing and zip tie it to the air cleaner stud. For tires street/track there are many 17-18" sizes. 15" Hoosier has the RS6 in 275/50-15" size but they are pretty picky on the alignment set up and pretty hard edged on their breakaway when you reach their adhesion limits.

 

send your carb down to TOE in Suisun, Tony Oddo jr will fix it up for you