NoOne

After reading about a new Spec Corvette class in the racing forum I could not believe where C5 prices have gotten.

So I'm looking for a C5. I had a 2000 before but forgot most of what I knew about them. I've read through a ton of threads the past few days but breaking this down:

1. With a budget of say 15K TOPS, and really I'd like to be around 10-12 thousand what year is best to buy?

2. Interior don't care about, not at all. I'll strip it anyway.

3. Is AH better some years, I seem to remember a new generation system being put on one MY year. The AH in my old C5 was violent, in the C7 you can barely tell its there.

I plan on replacing:

Bushings, sway bars, springs(Z06 spring), front/rear brake system, seats, removing the AC, radio, interior panels, etc.

Part of the reason I am looking for a cheap car is I'll be gutting it.

I'd probably do a cam and headers but not much else. If I can get to about 400rwhp and 2800lbs I'll be very happy with the power to weight ratio. I only really care about power from 4K to redline so might do rear gears to keep it up there.

This is not for the Spec Corvette series but I'll use it as a guideline. HPDE car only.

Thanks

k24556

If you have done a lot of HPDE's then you probably already know the answers. Whaere you are heading is to take a base C5 and pretty much make it into a C5Z, so why not go there first. At any rate, stick with 01-04 C5's Ones in your budget will be high milers.

unless you are running in advanced run groups, the stock brake calipers are fine, just good pads. HP is about $50/hp so to get to C5Z performance is $4-5k, so if you are heading there just go with a Z. A stock C5Z is still a VERY capable track car right after being bought. Then if you don't like the HPDE world, you can sell a Z pretty easy. They are still sought after.

If you post in the AC and RR section we all will tell you buy a stock car and spend your money on seat time (events) and mod later. Then you can make smart decisions about what to do to the car. Yo will need to budget $1k per HPDE weekend, Motel, Travel, fuel, brake pads, entry fees food , beer (at the end of the day). You can buy ANGEL pads that will make good subs for racing seats.

Bottom line is you will be passed by Miatas and 1980 318 Bimmers driven by better drivers even when you are in a modded Corvette. Until you are good enough to need all the mods you are describing. Up until you are passing them with a bone stock C5 spend your spare dough on seat time.....

NoOne

15 years of track experience. Driven cars way beyond what I am building and ran our own events for a long time with hundreds of participants.

I mostly drove a FR500S, full race prepped World Challenge car that was competitively run.

Stock C5 brakes are **** regardless of the pads, especially if you have tires. It was a bad design on the drawing board and a worse design in practice.

We will be running our own events again and all the tracks are within a round trip drive within a day. My office is a mile from M1 Concourse and my home 20 minutes.

I thought about buying a Z but not sure I can pick one up around 12-15 thousand. If I do it will need some maintenance and I like to tinker, a big part of this is to give me something else to do that I find relaxing so building it versus buying it has my interest.

k24556

The following quote has been attributed to Junior Johnson, but I'm not sure who the author is:

"To make a small fortune in racing... start with a large one"

With the experience you quote, you should know this is not a poor man's game. Going in poor only means staying poor. Your budget limit is really not suited to Corvettes. If you think the OEM brakes are crap (probably are, but for a sat-sun fun they are prob good enough), then expect $3k min for a BBK. Pads, rotors etc, all run more. The seats and suspension you desire, another $3k. And with your experience you would also know that you can go cheap for these parts and get crap too. Then your car budget of $15k will get you a car you can pound on for a couple three years, but cam it up and that duration goes down. My estimate for engine, susp, interior, BBK is about $10k. So then you would have $22k tied up in a budget car that is going to do nothing but break down. All the people I have ever seen that bought a rag to run, see the rag dragged back to the paddock.

Seriously, if you are going into the HPDE promoting business, you really need a nice looking ride that says success has smiled upon you, unless you have a reputation so extensive that it automatically follows you. otherwise you may be dividing your time between fixing a car and promoting/scheduling. I wish you that absolute best, you are heading for a tough competitive market. Don't know how it is where the snow falls deep, but here in the South, the promoters don't make anything Dec Jan and Feb. March and November are spotty. So there are 7 profit months (except Florida I guess).

jackthelad

For a track car why are you worried about AH? Turning all this stuff off is usually the first step for most track cars. I would go for an early car, which can be bought cheaply, then spend the money on the upgrades you want..

NoOne

First, yes I do have that reputation. People contact us constantly about going to our events and the local tracks prefer our organization, the way we run the events, and the type of people we attract.

I don't do this for profit, we do it for something to do and go to the track for free. We've run events for 10 years. We do make money but that is not the point.

Most I want to cover my costs of my car which is about $2,500 per day since I was renting a World Challenge car.

At 4 events per year I'm running 10K per summer to go to the track.

I know the costs of running the car well, my budget was for the car, the rest of the stuff I'll just do.

Considering my wife and I were looking at a Cayman GTS for this same duty the C5 will be much cheaper and a purpose built track car, plus we don't need another car we don't drive enough, have 5 already.

Our other idea was to make my C7 track ready but I don't want to go down that road with a 750hp car that I'll probably sell when the C8 comes out.

The buy in price made it interesting to me because we could build a true track car and it goes off track not something to worry about.

Because it is a safety net at the end and I have other people driving the car, mostly customers and people we instruct.

At 8/10th's the AH in competitive mode is not interfering with anything and its there just in case.

maj75

I bought a '99 FRC as my track toy. Car had right around 100k miles. Had new clutch, Z06 intake, Vararam CAI, and complete SLP exhaust. I redid the stock brakes and hoses and did all the pulleys and tensioners on the front of the motor. I added the C6 Z06 shocks and sways package sold on the forum. My son bought a '01 Z06 and paid $5000 more than I did with the same mileage but no mods. We ran very similar lap times and I've never been passed by a Miata...

I did blow the motor. It spit out a rod bearing and lost oil pressure. I then went with a Texas Speed LS1 shortblock, LS6 Heads, comp Cam, LS7 lifter, new dual valve springs and titanium retainers. Now I have 430 rwhp and the motor pulls hard from 2500 to 6500.

Since you will replace a lot of parts on any C5 you buy, no reason to pay the Z06 tax.

NoOne

That was my feeling. If I were buying an as-is car then the Z06 would make more sense but at the price range I'm looking, and the fact that it is not a total budget number I can build it the way I want.

I don't expect it to make it through a full season of events without having to do some major to it motor wise. An LS1 at 8/10th's is probably good for 150-200 hours and that might be stretching it.

romandian

i would think a decision between c5 and c5z should also be based on the ratios of the gearbox.

93Polo

Having owned a FRC with stock M6 ratios, M12 3.42, M12 3.73 and driven my college roommate's FRC on 3.90s and M6, both cars were ~435rwhp. I would take the closer gear ratios of the M6 over the M12. I have a Z06 now with M12 and 3.73s. The FRC was purchased with some of the same logic 15 years ago. I picked up '04 Z06 shocks, springs sway bars all new take off from a T1 build that Phoenix racing did. It came out thousand cheaper than a Z06. I did heads and cam which I would have done with Z06 as well.

I would skip the Active Handling, if you track the car your skills will outgrow it rather quickly in my opinion. Also the EBCM for an active handling 99-00 car is rather expensive and getting somewhat hard to find. I would also stay away from F45 (selective ride control) cars as you would need a tech2 to delete the programs to add aftermarket shocks.

y5e06

What about consideration for ABS? It is my understanding you can more easily disable ABS on the earlier cars using a switch while on the later ones this is more difficult and the braking bias is affected w/ ABS off.

El original

I think OP has all the answers....