Sorry to hear about that Dave.

And Marc.......I don't know who you've been talking too, but road racing is far more harsh on the entire car than the 12seconds of WOT at the drag strip.

Talk to Rodger, GeorgeZ, or Charlie about what happens on the track.

 

True story... you may never break your rear at the track... but the chances of the motor going boom are much higher on road courses due to being between 4500-6500rpm for a long period of time. Look at your oil temps while on the course, they'll prob scare you. My car is lucky to see 180* going down the track.

 

wow.. sorry to hear. I thought only c6s rears blew??

Im so used to driving my 93 automatic at the track then when I do take the new one I have a bad habit of dumpin the clutch off the line.. I get shudders down my back each time, watched too many people loose thier rears lately at the track.

Well.. all I can say is get her rebuilt stronger and go out there and get at it again.. dont let this deter you. Good luck

 

not to mention all the wear on ALL of the tires, and your brakes

 

And Chris from ECS with his Honda.......................

 

My $.02 It depends on what end of the car you're looking at. I don't believe these cars were made with the intent of a drag car, but are rather road cars (independent rear suspension) with left,right, braking, and handling in the R&D. F body cars are more along the drag car idea. No independent rear suspended car was ever intended to do drag duty. Put a 9 and 3/8" Ford rear, or a Dana 60 series and a Turbo trans with a brake in it in the car and I'll say that you built a drag purposed car. As far as the strain on the engine, Hey it's racin', but at least the engine has a rev limiter and a very good design in stock form. I used to run offshore boats and with a properly constructed engine they would run at 5800-6000rpms (big block motors) all day, and a boat motor ALLways is under load and trying to beat the crank out the bottom of the hull (girdle needed here for sure). As much as I think most production cars aren't built to withstand the demands of the 1/8-1/4 mile launches (and I believe the launch is the demon that breaks most drive train parts) I also believe that if I was more interested in drag racing (and I was as a younger man) I would build a drag car (maybe a C1 Vette) out of an appropriate base car, and not a C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 Corvette. I'm with Marc V on this one.

Best of help in getting your car back together Dave.

All you A6, A4, 4E60folks disregard what I wrote. I'm talkin' 'bout MN6,M12 cars.

 

Ed,
I agree with you that the Corvette's real mission is to go around the twistys really fast. And it does it really well.
But, it goes straight pretty well too.

And you know I'd love to get my car out on a road course sometime.

Road course $200 - $400 for a bunch of time on the track. Plus brake pads and brake fluid. Tires wearing out. Kinda expensive.

Atco $20 for several runs.
Drag racing - I've got $100 in my drag radials, and that's it. If I break something, oh well. It's still cheaper in the long run than going to a road course. And I can do it more often.

Dave, get the 3:90
(I'm going with 4:10)

 

I hear ya Pete. I have the 4.10s and the car tops out at 165 (a trap speed we'll never see!) I don't think you'll run out of gear with a 4.10 gear at all. Pete? are ya goin' to Pocono in July?

 

Just saw this thread dave. Your case is deff split haha. We will try to get it on the lift tomorrow to take a peak at it.

 

pics ?

 

He thinks its funny Take a good look at the tranny for me because I should prob. just do it now. This is kind of detering me from racing, especially since I was just ready to do heads/cam. However, after this my car will be completely built other than the motor really.

 

I disagree, there are too many variables to cause a car to be "harsh" on a road course. Driving technique and how hard you push the car are just two of them. The only extra wear and tear I saw on my car were brakes and tires. But I also do not drive it as hard as Roger and George, they are road course animals.

 

Just found out my DD is now leaking coolant... When it rains it POURS.

 

Yeah, here is a BAD day at the track.





And of course, my fav:



I see your blown rear and raise you a totalled C5. (guess I can laugh about it now)

Good luck with the fix Dave. Hey and if that DD is troubling you, I know of a nice certified Caddy CTS....

 

Charlie,
I'm glad you feel you can finally laugh about it. It still sucks though.

Are you any closer to a replacement?

Dave, you're ging the right direction with your trans/rear. Get the right stuff now, so what ever you do in the future, you will be set.

 

Pete,

I think its safe to now publicly say that insurance covered it, but it was a bit of a process. Lets just say if it happens again, I may not be so lucky with my insurance company. I ended up walking away with some money in my pocket after they paid off the balance of my loan.

Problem was I was literally suppose to sell my Caddy two days after the accident and I decided to pull out of the deal because at the time I wasn't sure what was going to happen with insurance on the Vette. I want to buy another Vette pronto, but I don't want two car payments so I need to sell my Caddy first. Have had several bites but hasn't sold yet, so if anyone knows of anyone interested in a Certified 2007 Caddy CTS 3.6L, let me know. I actually really love the Caddy, its in great condition, and the warranty is excellent, but I would like to sell it for now, and buy another Vette (preferably a C5 Z) that I could pay off in two years before my fiance and I decide to have kids. Once I pay off the Vette I would then buy another more practical DD like my Caddy.

I am totally going through Corvette withdrawal. Thanks for asking. Need to get together with all you guys soon if you don't mind a Caddy showing up. Just isn't as fun w/o a Vette - I'd be jealous the whole time.

(sorry to hijack the thred, Dave)

Charlie

 

WOW!! Sorry to see that man.

How did you get your insurance to cover that?

 

Its all good Charlie, good luck with it and let me know when you get a new one! I might be going with a stage 2 diff now.

 

I'll let Charlie explain in depth, But it kinda comes down to the fact that Drag racing is just that, racing. Road course Track Days are "instructional" and are structured around safe driving, and learning how to drive. Instructors aboard, track support, corner marshals, flag men, driver's meetings, classroom studies. It's "school" more than racing. No prizes, no timed event, no winner, no loser (other than Charlie!) Do you see why we're insured, while as one person in the car drag racing in a timed event, against others, with a winner and a loser is different. Understand something, I'm not against drag racing, I just think drag racing, and closed course instructional roadcourse track days are different, and they appeal more to me at this era of my life (I'm old!) Back in the day when I WAS a drag racer, every week it was the same thing. Chasing that .001 of a second, breaking things on a weekly basis, spinning wrenches all week long, not knowing where you were at until the first or second pass. All for a few seconds of rush (and the camaraderie that went along with it). I'll stick with the street car/trackable car at my age thank you. With that said. Who's going to Atco for the ECS rental day on March 26th? I'll be there (but just to spectate)

 

I did not know about this.