CKit

Again, that's why I think it's akin to street racing. You don't know if the other person is working on something specific in a particular corner or has just gotten back into tracking after a bad previous wreck or has a medical condition that lets him putter around in the car he loves.

It's not a race. Getting a kick out of "beating" someone who isn't racing? Not my cup of tea.

Here's my question to ricer kids and HPDE thugs:
"If someone makes 10x your income and spends 10x the amount you did on your car, what does it say about you if you pass them?"

IMHO, it means nothing. Only in a competition does any of that matter. That's why I think street racers are the bottom of the food chain. HPDE thugs are just a half-step up. For these people, go time trial and see how you stack up if you think you're good.

Chris S

I just have a few random comments:
1) You'll be a lot more respectable driving the wheels off of a milder S2000 vs. pussyfooting, crashing, or breaking a 550 whp one
2) Agreed w/ Rob, KW V3's are a great way to go for tracking
3) Your learning curve at the track will be a LOT steeper w/ turbo power vs. NA power. Some of the best drivers I know run Miatas - you learn a lot about conservation of momentum and proper lines when you don't have excess HP to use as a crutch to make up for your mistakes
4) You'll very likely have thermal management issues at the track if you want to do more than a handful of laps at a time
5) I see you're OK w/ a certain amount of parts breakage to cut corners, but consider that it may happen at the worst possible time, which could me hurting you, your car, &/or others when something goes.
6) You're likely to spend multiples of what the car is worth, and will get a tiny fraction back on resale....be sure you'll want it for a long time!

Note that I have a pretty big bias against aftermarket FI after 2 bad experiences. IMO, so many aspects of a car (braking, suspension, wheelbase, track, tire sizing, etc.) are oriented towards OEM style power levels that multiplying like you want to do uncovers all kinds of weaknesses. When I want a faster car, I'll just go buy one!

CKit

Totally agree with Chris on all of the above. High speed track is dangerous enough without having an engine fire at 140mph. If you're at all susceptible to the "red mist" of competition and have something to prove (as your comments of "catching up" on track with me and "showing" the Corvette guys something would suggest), I'd go for heavy overengineering rather than under.

jon3501447

Here's my for instance, and this occurred at the last track event.

A couple guys rolled up in a full 18-wheeler with an ACR Viper and a CTS-V Coupe, both running continental slicks, both attempting to push the envelope, both crashed or at least flew off the track.

But I digress..
Racing= Apples to Apples
For shits and giggles= Apples to Oranges

Forcednduckshn

+1 +1 +1

robrob

My for instance:

I drive my race car to the track for a Friday open practice before an SCCA Regional race weekend. There's a guy across the ally from me with a nice transporter and beautiful 70's era Porsche 911 race car. I'm an ex-Porsche owner so before the first session we chat a little and I ask what lap times he turns around Summit Point Main. He replies, "One nineteens," which seems about right for this slick-shod turbo monster. A 1:19 is two seconds better than my best time so I say, "Wow, very cool. I'll see you on track." I lapped the guy in every session.

CKit

My "for instance:"

I did a NASA HPDE event last year at Road America in our SCCA Showroom Stock Civic. It's basically stock, but is stickered to high heaven and is a "race car" but could easily be mistaken for something modified. I had been SCCA Club Racing earlier in the season at the track and felt pretty comfortable there.

I was there in "HPDE 4" in order to get my wife comfortable for her upcoming HPDE 1 session. Puttered around the track at "8/10ths" to show her the line. Since my run group and hers were back to back, I spent the middle 6 minutes of the session looking for the hot pit exit so I could pull in to swap drivers in time for her group.

Thankfully, nobody was a douche about it. But I could see some goober saying, "Yeah, I caught up to the Civic race car that thought he was all hot shit... look at him with all those stickers, thinking he's fast."

Dude, I wasn't racing. If I were racing, I'd be racing.

Actually, I preemptively circumvented that by mentioning that I was doing wife instruction in the morning informational meeting.

dsddcd

You guys are getting all worked up here just remember we do this for fun. Everyone has their own idea of what fun is, to some it is wrenching every last 10th out of a lap and for others it is just being at the track. As long as everyone is safe, plays by the rules then we can all be happy.

I would like to have a racecar and really learn to drive and tune, that is a goal for me but I do not. I could afford to another Z06 or other car to track but I would prefer to retire before I am in my mid 50's. So I satisfy my wants with a single car that has to be a liitle of everything which means I have to make sacrifices to do so.

For me this means that I have to drive at 8/10's which is fine with me. In fact just being at the track is great, I got the opportunity to watch a 1 lap years ago and really had a blast. The was one of the turning points when decided I was really interested in racing.

As for the saftey aspect, now this is a serious matter. Before I ever took a car on the track it would have a substantial amount of street time to ensure it was safe. I go to great lengths to ensure that the parts will not fail by employing vibration dampening methods, wire lock, high grade hardware and hoses...... There is no fooling around here.

Thanks for details and good luck with your winter projects!

CKit

Did you see that this is the "Racing and Competition" subforum?

It has a different bent than FI, Street Encounters, Wheels and Tires, etc. The thing that kind of defines this subforum, IMHO is that we are striving to get that last 10th out of our laps.

Again, very thankful that you're mature in your responses and not getting defensive.

And I'm going to call a little BS on the money / retirement thing. For the cost of your turbo build you could have a full out racecar or Time Trial car and do some real "racing and competition."

Did you know that time trial doesn't even require fire suits and harnesses? Pick up a $300 Harbor Freight tire trailer and some cheap AP2 rears with good tires for $1500 and voila! You're racing!

CKit

BTW, I put hundreds of street miles on a turbo S2000 that basically melted within an hour on track. Street safety does not translate into track safety. That's just a point of perspective. If I had it to do all over again, I would have built a T3 Club Racing S2000 instead of the current turbo build.