dizwiz24

i posted about this a couple months ago and, to my surprise, i got flamed, called a 'troll', etc.

i am a very diehard c4 fan. i believe the car highly capable and to be a performance bargain.

buy an $6000 c4, put 80k mods in it and you are ahead of the c6r and c7r guys out of the box (who paid 6 figures just for the car).


it well known that the c4 was so successful racing that it was banned, so there is a storied career and history of domination at sports car races.

we have had streetable c4s rocketing at 255 mph.

what would it take to take on a c7r?

i think it would be funny as he11 to shut down the pretty boys in an older car, shoestring budget

FAUEE

Well, the first thing you'd need to do is secure a multi million dollar budget for travel, drivers, entry fees, duplicate cars, staff, practicing, and general operations. Then, you'd need to throw away everything you think you know about what a C7R is, because it shares very little other than general styling with an actual C7. You'd need a new engine that was built around the specs of whatever series you were racing in, as well as brakes and suspension and whatnot, and you'd probably be running a totally different frame, either a tube frame or a monocoque or something like that depending on what series you wanted to run in. What you're talking about doing is basically building a Trans Am car with a C4 body slapped on top, which is theoretically doable if you found someone to do the body for you.

If you just wanted to go out on a track day and embarrass some C7 drivers, get a good driver, good tires and either a track that's not big on power or more power out of the LT1 and you'd be able to do that.

dizwiz24

good points. a c7r is not a c7.

people put old car body shapes on tube chassis all the time. ex, funny cars

i imagine GM would hate for what i am suggesting to happen because it throws out the whole 'win on sunday, sell on monday' philosophy (ie. you cant go out and buy a brand new c4 from gm, so they arent going to like it if it pans out)

sahhas

Article about 2 yrs ago about the C3 race car that went to lemans in '72. They used a '68 body as basis, but basically made a new car. Interesting article- I think it's online . Anyway they were comparing budgets of the '72 team with the new corvette race team, the '72 team had a budget of about $60k. The new corvette race team said that's the cost of a brake for themes cars... It's big business now, not a group of privateers having fun. The 72 team was the R.E.D. Team that had a lot of success with the Rebel c3 corvette in early 70s

Joe C

...here we go again!

blackozvet

I like your thinking dizwiz !
But what type of racing, what class, what modifications ??

ghoastrider1

might be better off throwing dollars toward the forum upkeep than a race team.

dizwiz24

i know. it seems now posts are more geared towards 'my car wont start' vs 'liter bike beating builds'

Tom400CFI

100%. Beating C7r's is not economically practical, with a C4. Doing it w/a "C4 appearing device" might be, but it wouldn't be a C4.

Whipping up on later model cars at a track day is probably the closest thing one could hope for....and that IS totally attainable. Especially since many track day participants can't drive very well. One track day I did, I was lapping a guy in who was driving a C6Z...I was in my base C6. That's how far "off" this particular guys was and had I been in my C4, I'd have been right one his azz, or even had a slight advantage over him.

ShadowC4

The C4 is 31 to 20 years old they are getting to that age where electronic gremlins show up and plastic crumbles if you look at it funny and that's not bringing up the VATS.

I am going to be brutally honest now the average C4 owner can't afford a "liter bike beating build" or want to spend that much on a C4,
You're talking over 10K in parts alone(new power train,10 second 1/4 mile safety gear,brakes,tuning or new ECU to run it all).
By the time all is said and done you would be looking at dumping double what the car is worth just to get it to that point and done right.

FAUEE

So true. If you ever want to feel like a hero, drive with PCA. The guys in most of their run groups literally are some of the worst, slowest drivers in the fastest cars you've ever seen. I did a track day with my dad in his old 997 S, and made a guy in a brand new Turbo my bitch. I was faster than a guy in a heavily modified Exige S (he made sure to let everyone know that it was NOT an Elise and it was MUCH faster and more special) both on the straights and in the turns. This all was my first time in the car too - he had literally bought it a few days before, and I wasn't pushing it. He was wiping the floor with people in his base model 993 as well, with only 285 hp or so too.

Then there was the a-hole with the 550hp modded charger SRT8 who was slow as **** in the corners, but felt that he didn't need to point anyone by because he could outrun people in the straights. Literally was behind him, in his mirrors all lap for 2 laps before he finally gave a point by (actually, his instructor finally did, and he barely let me by, he felt like it needed to be a drag race with me to see if I could take the damn point by).

Anyways, if you were to go to a Corvette club event like that, I'm sure a C4 would wipe the floor with a lot of much "faster" and newer Corvettes too.

cv67

Not that it couldnt be done anything can with enough money
easiest way is pick up a C7r and rivet some C4 looking panels on it

Joe C

-- for what it would take, a C4r would cease to be a C4. seems we go through this same topic every couple of months with the diz. ...got to stop feeding the troll.

Tom400CFI

Good point; this caused me to remember something I was going to post earlier but forgot....
Diz...why don't you take YOUR car to a track day, and whup up on some C7's??

Kevova

the 1995 DRM Callaway zr1 GT2 car was as close to a C4R as you could get. It did run Sebring and LeMans. It did have reliability problems but it appears to have been a 1 year deal. I don't see anything where it ran with a C5R in vintage racing to compare the 2 side by side.

pologreen1

Nah, ecklers, etc has the corner market on c4's.

What would be your c4R build combo?

corvetteronw

The fastest Corvettes I have driven are my old LT4 and a C5 Z06.
UNTIL - my son bought me some seat time with the Extreme Experience crew at Gingerman Raceway in Michigan for Father's Day '14.
They put me in a C7 Z51 with a professional driver who scared the ever loving crap out of me. That thing was brutal
I have a friend now with a 2016 Z07. Still waiting for a ride.
I think throwing a bunch of money into a C4 in order to give it C7 power, handling and braking is only for a rich person and would be a rather poor investment.
I don't think Diz should be called a troll because he has contributed a lot to this Forum.

rfn026

Speaking of C4 race cars here's one I passed on. I sort of wish that I had it now.



Doug Rippie built the car. The body was designed and built by Jeff Nowicki. It has no significant history but it is a neat car. At the time I was just too busy with other projects.

Richard Newton
Historical Racing Images

PatternDayTrader

An experienced driver that actually races on a regular basis is going to flat out smoke any enthusiast or weekend guy. It wont really matter much whos driving which car.

Joe C

OK, my bad. change that to "wannabe" or "part-time" -

seriously, we go through this every couple months with the diz. same crap - building a C4r to embarrass C7r-Corvette Racing - on a budget to boot. either he doesn't get it, or he's screwing with us (trolling). i'm not even sure I understand the reason "why" he wants to do this - diz isn't any more a diehard c4 fan, than I am, and while I'm not the smartest guy on the planet, I do know this is a dumb idea. nobody in their right mind would invest in this concept. if it not C7r's, it's liter bikes, or a budget AWD conversion kits. not to fear though, the diz will be back with another concept - maybe with a budget, mid-engine, C4 conversion, to compete with the next generation C8's - all for a thousand bucks!!! how about this, while we're dreaming, a street legal, liter bike beating, mid-engine, AWD, race ready, C4r, all in kit form for a couple grand.