[Terp]

A guy at work is selling his bone stock (down to the wagon wheels!) 6 spd 98 C5 with 61K miles. He is asking about what I could sell my car for (02 Formula) so I am considering it. I like having the back seats for kid hauling duty though and am not crazy for the RED color. Anyway, I am wondering if there would be much, if any, performance gained in going to a Vette vs my car with the suspension mods I have (Strano F/R sway bars, Springs, SFCs, Koni 4/4s). I run about a 13 flat in the 1/4, so I figure I'd be losing some straight line acceleration. I am more interested in track days these days anyway. How do base C5s track? Do they wear out expensive parts (like F-bodies and front wheel bearings)? I don't really think I want to get rid of my car - it was the first car I bought myself when I finished school, but if a Vette is that much of a better starting place for a track car it might be worth it. Any thoughts?

[Blainefab]

Piling on here - After my 94Z28 went to ITE/AIX track only, I bought a 99C5 FRC new, and autocrossed it heavily till the warranty was up, then started tracking it - I was instructing with several different clubs. The Camaro was being developed intensively, finally won a SCCA regional championship with it in 2003. Description of the Camaro is here: http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/index.php?showtopic=13432

The Camaro was faster than the Vette on track only in its final season after all the development.

I left the Vette bone stock, cept for Bilstein shocks, tires and brake pads and a careful alignment. I used the same wheels/tires/brakes as the Camaro so it got hand-me-down consumables.
I replaced one set of hubs, halfshafts, and the diff at about 60kmi. At 103Kmi I sold it to a guy who took it out east as a track toy, then sold it to a guy in GA who tracked it heavily. He finally blew up the motor a year or so ago.

This post has been edited by Blainefab: Oct 12 2009, 09:14 PM

[Terp]

That is pretty telling, sounds like they take track abuse much better and do all right performance wise too (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .

Is an FRC worth trying to find?

Piling on here - After my 94Z28 went to ITE/AIX track only, I bought a 99C5 FRC new, and autocrossed it heavily till the warranty was up, then started tracking it - I was instructing with several different clubs. The Camaro was being developed intensively, finally won a SCCA regional championship with it in 2003. Description of the Camaro is here: http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/index.php?showtopic=13432

The Camaro was faster than the Vette on track only in its final season after all the development.

I left the Vette bone stock, cept for Bilstein shocks, tires and brake pads and a careful alignment. I used the same wheels/tires/brakes as the Camaro so it got hand-me-down consumables.
I replaced one set of hubs, halfshafts, and the diff at about 60kmi. At 103Kmi I sold it to a guy who took it out east as a track toy, then sold it to a guy in GA who tracked it heavily. He finally blew up the motor a year or so ago.

[Mojave]

That is pretty telling, sounds like they take track abuse much better and do all right performance wise too (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .

Is an FRC worth trying to find?

The FRC is nice if you are going to get serious about tracking it, but they are somewhat rare compared to the coupes and Z06's. If it's going to be primarily a street/HPDE car, I would find the nicest car for the least money, regardless of body type.