Best Road Course car off the showroom floor...
06-01-2012, 05:16 PM
#1
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Best Road Course car off the showroom floor...
I suppose we all have a little experience in different cars and considering how the muscle car wars are reaching a fever pitch I wonder what you guys think might be the best car as delivered for road course work.
I suppose we can discount the tires and brake pads since those items are easily changed but leaving everything else as is from factory, which cars will handle the stress, heat, body roll and traction for 30 minutes at a time, all day long as delivered?
I suppose we can discount the tires and brake pads since those items are easily changed but leaving everything else as is from factory, which cars will handle the stress, heat, body roll and traction for 30 minutes at a time, all day long as delivered?
06-01-2012, 05:44 PM
#2
S2000? Maybe Miatas? Probably some Porsches, but I am not an expert on those. Vettes have always been decent, but they are marginal on brakes, cooling, and tie rod boots. Still, I loved all three of my Vettes.
06-01-2012, 06:54 PM
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06-01-2012, 07:08 PM
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Sounds intriguing. So the oil, coolant, transmission and rearend lubes all stay in the safe range of temperatures during hard acceleration? No extra coolers added? What about wheel bearing or brake caliper failures? And lastly, do you know where a nice one is for sale?
I drove one. Super nice car, but no torque at all. If I wanted to wind a motor out to 9,000 rpm, I'd get a bike.
06-01-2012, 07:35 PM
#8
Safety Car
06-01-2012, 07:41 PM
#10
Melting Slicks
Tough question? There are a lot of pretty nice stock track cars. Question?? how fast do you want to go? Hard to beat the track ready Miata's if you enjoy a momentum car. Speed per dollar per fun it is hard to beat a C5Z or C6 or C6Z. I ran a fairly stock 2007 C6Z for 2 years and had a ball with it, and out ran a lot of big buck cars. I now run a highly modified 2006 C6Z and sometimes wish I had the 2007 back. The modified car is more fun! but a lot more work and money to maintain. I vote the C6Z when you can buy a used one for under 44K. JD 
06-01-2012, 07:47 PM
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C5Z isn't quite as fast as the C6Z but they are pretty much bullet proof. Yes, wheel bearings and tie rod ends will fail but they do on most other heavy cars as well. They will do even better with an external oil cooler but really don't need much else.
My C6Z would run 30 minute sessions with Hawk HP+ pads on EMTs with no issue except cost of consumables (brake pads/rotors).
Bill
My C6Z would run 30 minute sessions with Hawk HP+ pads on EMTs with no issue except cost of consumables (brake pads/rotors).
Bill
06-01-2012, 08:26 PM
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The original question was really asking what the manufacturers are doing nowadays with cars such as the 302 laguna seca and the like. I have had to add coolers, bushings, accusump, brakes, seat, radiator, exhaust, cam, quartermaster clutch and many other somewhat expensive items to get the most reliable, repeatable fun out of my C5Z for road course work. It is great fun but I have had to do a lot to it. Wouldn't it be great to just walk into a dealership, buy a car, take it to the track and run it all day long in 100 degree temps and then drive it back home? Or maybe plan a cross country trip to various tracks and make a month or two of it? As it is, I trailer my vette to the track behind my GMC. Anyone with experience in the 302 Laguna Seca or is it out, yet?
06-01-2012, 09:01 PM
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The Lotus is an interesting car although I don't know how much effort they need to get them to the track.
Bill
06-01-2012, 09:46 PM
#18
Safety Car
The original question was really asking what the manufacturers are doing nowadays with cars such as the 302 laguna seca and the like. I have had to add coolers, bushings, accusump, brakes, seat, radiator, exhaust, cam, quartermaster clutch and many other somewhat expensive items to get the most reliable, repeatable fun out of my C5Z for road course work. ?
06-01-2012, 10:25 PM
#20
Racer
The original question was really asking what the manufacturers are doing nowadays with cars such as the 302 laguna seca and the like. I have had to add coolers, bushings, accusump, brakes, seat, radiator, exhaust, cam, quartermaster clutch and many other somewhat expensive items to get the most reliable, repeatable fun out of my C5Z for road course work. It is great fun but I have had to do a lot to it. Wouldn't it be great to just walk into a dealership, buy a car, take it to the track and run it all day long in 100 degree temps and then drive it back home? Or maybe plan a cross country trip to various tracks and make a month or two of it? As it is, I trailer my vette to the track behind my GMC. Anyone with experience in the 302 Laguna Seca or is it out, yet?
