bosco022

By my experience, well prepped GTA cars with parts that are maintained do not "break a lot."

We have V8 series guys still running on original Lingenfelter motors that could not have been built after 2004. A fresh Jerico tranny will go a lot of hours before needing freshening if it is not badly abused. Quick changes are reliable but need more attention. Use 7.25 triple disc clutch's and they will last. Helps to tow cars to the grid etc for longevity as most use a first gear that is like a normal second gear. Keep good pads in the calipers and they will last.

LateBreak

I think this could be due to poor prep prior to conversion. Lots of circle track teams struggle with reliability because they focus too much on gimmicks and saving a few ounces rather than ensuring their car is 100% reliable. Most of the time, they're only running 30-50 lap features on 1/4-5/8 mile tracks, so they don't have to make it through any kind of grueling, long races or suffer the abuse of a road course. With a little attention from a good mechanic who knows what kind of setup and parts to run, they should be dead-nuts reliable.

Personally, I'd run a Ford 9 inch with a spool in it and a cooler, seems like we were replacing locker springs every 150 laps or so in our quick change, and I don't think the quick change is worth the power loss in a road race car where you rarely need to change ratios. The spool also tends to make the car more predictable for the driver.

Drivetrain-wise, an LS crate motor should be solid. The 4-speed race trannies are built for Cup cars with several hundred more horsepower, they don't tend to give any trouble, just make sure the shifter is adjusted properly and that its fasteners are secured with safety wire. Clutches were mentioned earlier, get a 7.25" instead of a 5.5", used NASCAR clutches are cheap and rebuildable.

Wiring can be hit or miss depending on who built the car, my buddy paid some bonehead to rewire his car over the winter and the guy didn't use a single fuse on the whole thing, needless to say it got ugly when one of the wires shorted Alternatively, I've looked over Trickle's last ASA tour car several times and the wiring was extremely professional, almost looked factory. Luckily, the wiring is extremely simple and easy to redo if necessary. 1-2 days with a few spools of wire, a solder gun, and some heat shrink is enough to make any car right.

Other than that, it's all normal race prep and nut-n-bolting between track times. Heat protection is important as it is with any other race car. Safety wire goes a long way to keeping fasteners tight and will give you a visual indicator without having to put a wrench on.

That's my $.02, these cars are entirely custom built, so reliability is more dependent on the builder and mechanic than with production-based cars like the Vette.

RedLS1GTO

I will add my $.02 on the reliability...

I bought a car that was "race ready". I say that it was race ready because that's what I was told by someone who SHOULD know. It wasn't. I spent the entire winter going through essentially every nut and bolt in the car. I added a lot of robustness to the wiring and fixed a whole lot of things that were halfassery at it's best.

Now of course I am doing some work to rebuild after a wreck, but mechanically, I have absolutely no reason to believe that the car is anything short of bulletproof.

It is a conservatively tuned LS1 powerplant... 1 of the original Lingenfelters that Bosco mentioned. The valve springs, etc have all been redone and it now has an LS6 intake on it. It has a good oiling system, plenty of cooling, etc. It should be as reliable as any LS powered track car out there.

It goes from there into a NASCAR 7.25 Quartermaster clutch which is what it is...

The transmission is an ex-NASCAR, magnesium case Jerico, and the rear is an ex-NASCAR 9" which should have absolutely no problem with the < 500hp going through it. I have a spare ECU that I could swap in about 20 seconds. Suspension, etc is as simple and reliable as it gets and short of bouncing off of a Porsche should last forever.

It's a race car so yea... occasionally things will break, but I don't know how you could possibly build a more reliable car that is even in the same ballpark in terms of speed. The best part is that when things DO break, there is pretty much nothing on the car that can't be fixed easily. Hell, I pulled the transmission in my garage with a couple of floor jacks and a set of Craftsman tools in about 20 minutes.

MarkDFW

1st gear at low speed the car sounds and feels like a beater, but that is probably true for many purpose built race cars. It doesn't like low RPMs. As was mentioned above, 1st gear on this car is more like 2nd gear on other cars.

I have never practiced left-foot braking. Last Friday was my first time. The dog box transmission is just a tad bit different from the paddle shifters on the grand sport I sold. Although I'm sure anyone with a 6 speed would tell you a dog box takes a bit of adjustment.

I was not physically comfortable in the car last Friday, but this should be resolved next time I go out. The safety net on my right side was a little too low, so my elbow was fighting it during shifting. And the shifter design was tilted back rather than upright. My right arm had to go WAY back to shift and it simply did not feel natural. They have since moved the net up so it won't hit my arm and put in an upright shifter.

The location of the pedals is different than my corvette as well. I'm not suggesting the placement is bad, just different. I will get used to it with time.

The feedback of bias ply tires is different from a radial R comp or slick. I was driving scrubs as well as I didn't want to take a chance I flat spot sticker tires. There is no ABS, no Active Handling, no traction control, power steering. Just me and the car.

The rotors are around 12.25 inches and you have to apply more pressure to the brakes than I'm used to. I was expecting this as it was the case when I drove a NASCAR at TMS through the Andretti experience. I may see if I can have this adjusted as I prefer a firmer pedal.

I don't know anyone who has bought one of these cars that wasn't pleased with the purchase, especially if operating costs are a factor in their decision. You don't buy this car to have the coolest car in the paddock that gets the most attention. You buy it for safety, operating costs, and lap time per dollar spent. Good luck finding another car at this price point that can run these lap times. If a corvette beats you on the track, it is either a better driver or someone who put big bucks in to building up the car.

RedLS1GTO

Oh... and if we are talking about prices, used Cup/Busch wheels are $30 from Roush, good scrubs are all but free and stickers are about $100 ea. Pads are no more expensive than the Vettes and they last WAAAAAY longer. Used Cup rotors are cheap and have plenty of life. I just replaced the entire left front suspension, both master cylinders, and the clutch M/C for less than a decent Corvette shock. The entire body costs about the same as a new nose on the Corvette.

Captain Buddha

Manual brakes take some getting used too...it does have power steering though, that's a plus! At least mine does.

I had to replace a front wheel as well....$50 or so....a Beemer dive bombed/crashed into me and ended up taking himself out of the race due to it jacking up his car...oooopsie for him...all it did to mine was beat the wheel up and leave a little tired scuff on the body (that will come off with a rag)....I kept on going and finished with no issues. Just had to replace the wheel. It didn't knock any of the suspension components/adjustments out of whack...and it was a pretty hard hit too!

troyguitar

What tires are these?

RedLS1GTO

Hoosier 3035/3045

Call the local circle tracks. Many (at least up here) run them in their local series. Many tracks have warehouses ful of them that they'll offload under retail. We found a local late model team that had a barn full ...


.

Captain Buddha

I want to know too!

MarkDFW

I've got Hoosier 3045 on my car right now. I believe the 3035s are slightly softer and don't last quite as long.

RedLS1GTO

http://hoosiertire.com/pdfs/speccat.pdf

Page 6.


Also, if you are just turning laps and not worried about a "GTA legal" tire, the F35/F40/F45 Hoosiers are essentially the same thing and absolutely everywhere. Find a local short track, and you'll find them cheap.

troyguitar

Now if only I could fit 15" wheels on a C5Z, hmmm... need a "small brake kit"

RedLS1GTO

I'm going to put this in a little more perspective. A couple of weeks ago, I bought 3 complete sets of wheels and 4 sets of tires (1 sticker, 3 scrub) for this car for LESS money than I spent on a set of crap condition Speedlines and 1 set of Continental scrubs for the C5.

The "scrubs" you can see closest to the cab in the picture above. Notice the center line still in them. They were each used for a qualifying run and pulled off. Essentially brand new.

troyguitar

Right on, that's approaching karting prices. I'm stuck in the street+track car game for the foreseeable future, but whenever I get back to wheel to wheel racing it will definitely be in an actual race car of sorts. In the meantime smaller brakes and some 15" track wheels might not be the worst idea in the world. I need to look into this further.

LateBreak

This is a fairly easy fix, you just need smaller master cylinders, this will increase the brake pressure that you generate with identical force from your foot, the pedal travel will increase proportionally. Circle Track guys run large master sizes so that they can control braking more with pressure than travel, but they're doing far less threshold braking than what's done on a roadcourse.

If you look at the master cylinders, it should plainly show the bore size on the outside of each one so that you can order the next smaller size.

MarkDFW

This is exactly what I am considering doing after I've run the car for a few more days. Feels like I have to stand on the brake pedal to reach threshold braking. But that's the way the car was set up.

I just want to get where everything in the car I need to do is automatic. I had enough days on my corvette that the only thing I had to focus on was the limit of traction. I only have 1 day and 4 sessions on the GTA car so I need seat time until everything is 2nd nature.

Captain Buddha

Mark: part of it is that you are not used to left-foot braking and I think the other part of it is that these are manual (not power assist) brakes.

RX-Ben

The pedal pressure to lock should be high, at least based on every real race car that I've driven. I would guess somewhere in the range of 150-200lbs to lock at speed, towards the higher end on a slower formula car w/aero. Pedal doesn't move (seemingly), just pressure to modulate. I don't know if you have seen the F1 brake fact sheets that float around before each race, but the dehydrated jockeys are finding a way to put 250-300lb on the pedal for 4.5g braking.

Supercharged111

That just seems *** backwards. With the minimal pedal effort and my comfort level in my car, it almost turns into a video game. Once the fear is gone and you fully trust the car, it sort of feels like that. At least to me.

millstreet

no substitute for seat time, the more time you spend driving these cars, the more things make sense -
case in point-
my car came from Pinnacle as well, early on, I must have called Greg 3 times asking why 1st gear is SO tall?? [1.66 in mine]
after racing for a season or so, I've realized when you're limited to just 4 gears, you need 4 that are useful ON the racetrack, you'll figure out how to get it around the paddock

the brakes are the same way, with more time, they make more sense, and there are many ways to taylor them [different pads,F-R bias,pedal length,etc]

No better bang for the buck, GTA is the way to go road racing

Andy