craig brian johnson

I'm currently re-assessing my roadracing hobby... winter time gives you a chance to do that... work on the car... strip/clean/tighten... and think of ways to "improve"/ "tweak"/ "re-engineer"/ "make it faster".

These are a list of things that I wouldn't do again, as they may have made me a bit faster, but the "racing experience" suffered.

1. I took out the passenger seat. I used to spend hours of enjoyment at track days taking friends/students for rides. Now there's a coil-of-snakes header and flowmaster where the passenger once sat.

2. I'd have left in the defroster. What a pain in the butt to have your window fog up... and it's always on the right side where you can't reach with a towel when belted in your harness... and it seems that you always have to turn right.

3. I should never have replaced the windshield with lexan. It flexes, glares, you can't wipe it or it scratches. The mounts usually get buggered up when you re-install.

4. I wouldn't have re-inveneted my brakes. Yep this was the perverbial dual-master-cyldr-6piston-caliper-nightmare. The car never stopped right after that.

5. I wouldn't have made the car so fast.
It's too fast to be reliable, and breaking is frustrating; not fun..
I find myself not doing practice sessions to "save the engine"...
and when you only get like 2 laps/gallon... and have to feed the 14:1 engine expensive race gas, I find myself hesitating even more.

6. I wouldn't have built the car faster than my skill level. With the power parts availible for a SBC you can easily get yourself out of your comfort zone. I can't tell you the last time I felt comfortable driving this car... and certainly it's not easy to take time off from racing, and then expect to jump right back into the drivers seat... and try to drive fast when you're a bit rusty. I'm thinking that this car's going to spank me hard someday.

So, what are all of your thoughts/confessions of the fun old days of racing?

larryfs

#6 is why I kept my C4 for the track, and not moved up to a Z06.
The LT4 is sufficent for any track.

#1-5 is why I keep the car mostly stock, except the roll bar and seats.

Olitho

A friend of mine did this. He won't admit it to me or himself, but he regrets building the car.

It is more car than he is able to afford to drive quite frankly....

OKsweetrides

I sympathize with #4.

I introduce a new one:

#7 Don't stray from the common mods... you find yourself in a relatively lonely world. hahaha

63Corvette

Well, my C5 Z06 is my street car and daily driver.
My C2 Z06 is my racecar
Works for me (Your results may differ)

John Shiels

all good points. I did mine over years and so far I am happy even though it got more expensive and involved than I first expected. I haven't sprung for a cage and that is my biggest downfall.

fatbillybob

Made too many changes during the off season and totally screwed the car up. Make one change at a time and test it!

Olitho

Hey Fat Billy Bob!, Hey Fat Billy Bob!

Cal Club T1 racing is calling you....

TedDBere

Great post!

While I autox exclusively I'll add some money saving tips that I learned while enjoying the thrill of competition.

When I started I drove a C5 coupe and was convinced I was slow because of the car. I just had to buy a Z06 to go faster. Fortunately a friend invited me to drive his nationaly prepped Z06 in a Divisional event in DC and I promptly finished DFL. I decided it wasn't the car and I spent the next year and a half learning to drive in the coupe. The Z06 I had wanted to buy went from $52k to $34 and when I ended up buying it I saved $18,000!!

The next best money saving experience I got was by buying a freakin' game. I got the x-box 360 with the microsoft racing wheel and that has cured me from wanting anything with horsepower! It's so realistic that by driving the 800hp monsters I've learned that I can't drive them! They are so tail happy that I'll gladly leave them in the garage for a meek 400hp corvette. Trust me, buy this set-up with Fornza2 and you'll think twice before adding hp to your car. Unless of course you have a really long straight to compete on!! This game has saved me tons of money!!

73-84 IMSA Widebody

I started with a monster when a damn Miata is beyond my capabilities. Too much car....not enough seat time.

Nihilation

Do you play online much? That game's the only reason I bought an xbox360. Add me next time- Nihilati0n

Hazman

I just sold my racecar and have run two events so far in a showroom stock C5Z06. It is so much more fun being able to come to the track run every session in a good quick reliable car, be able to take students out for a ride and not spend all my time between sessions wrenching on the car. Going to the track is fun again!!!

ZO6NTHEWIND

Craig:

Great thread, and some really good replies. So many times people get involved with a hobby that is fun and then there is a natural progression to be 'better'. Then what started out as as 'fun' turns into something that is not.

scottmartin

Gone to the darkside i see!! Scott

STEVEN13

Great thread...Thanks for posting.

My 1992 is so much fun with the stock HP. When its time to do a motor it won't be much more (HP) than stock.

What issues are you having with the brakes?

Steven

Bink

My car is changing, again. More HP soon. Still need a cage.
I hope I don't regret it.

Aardwolf

With mine I decided that since I was not going to be winning any money racing it, I wasn't going to stick tons of money into it. I really enjoy the car and the hobby. I wish I had more time, I love track driving! Going faster is always fun but I don't want to get into more and more maintence.

Have fun out there!

ZO6NTHEWIND

fatbillybob

I'm thinking about it but honestly...I'm not sure I have enough skill to get out of your guy's way. I think I'll do a super school however. I'm researching dates. I contacted one CalClub person and they said no school in Feb/mar 08 and their schedule was not set. Anyway I'm still checking.

Tintin

This is an excellent topic. I once sold a showroom stock (remember that class?) Camaro Iroc-Z to a new racer and after his first regional he told me he was going to get the engine balanced and blueprinted so the car would be faster. I advised him that he should do that right after he found another 5 seconds in the lap times so that he could match me and reach about 95% of the car's capabilities. He didn't want to hear that and spent $5K having the work done , which was a lot of money at the time. He was actually slower afterward and wrecked the car beyond repair on lap 2 of a regional race. You should always ask a fast friend for driving tips before you blow a lot of money on mods. Going really fast is not always a good time....

The most fun I have ever had was in our little Honda Civic racer with the 115hp Vtec. You could drive into corners with much faster cars and out corner them because the drivers were going so fast down the straights that they over braked.. we were always top of our class in that little car and never frightened