[Smitty2919]

Long story short, my wife finally said "Put up or shut up" about me wanting to autocross. So after asking around and doing some research I found my 56K mi full exhaust/short throw shifter/CAI 95 Z28 for $5000. Clean car, no issues and have been having fun with it. I started autocrossing just this season and have been addicted more than I thought I would be (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Within only 1 season I have gone from a stock suspension car to:
Front+rear swaybars
Strano springs+koni SA shocks
LS1 front brake swap
10 spoke SS wheels on V710's (good deal used)
Race seat + 5pt harness
Fays 2 watts link (good deal used)
Full exhaust (from PO)

Looking to get a differential over the winter since the stock one can not hold power to inside rear tire around turns. It did not take me long to do the previous mods because I felt I could out-drive the car. After the differential, it will be a matter of more seat time to fine tune components to get me faster along with just getting behind the wheel.

I have realized that a Miata and a C5 are the best bang for the buck car in terms of price paid and performance. Since I can't look myself in the mirror if I drove a Miata...a Vette it is (plus my father in law and brother in law road race their 67 and 87 vette's so a C5 would be a nice family addition LOL)

I typically fall within the top 25 cars in a group of 80ish cars each event (I'm happy with that only having run a total of 6 events under my belt this season). Plenty of C5's, turbo's miatas, or well sorted/well driven crossfires/evos/lancers are above me. A lot of the people above me have been racing for a while so I know the driver mod is important.

-SO the question to everyone is if I already have my mind set on wanting to get into a base C5 (I couldn't afford a Z) to daily drive and autocross, when would you stop the mods on the Camaro?
-Would you say to autocross for a couple more years in the Fbody THEN step up to a C5?
-If you stayed fbody, what made you keep with it over a C5?

Just curious on people's opinions since I'm sure I'm not the only person looking to do this. I have no goals to go to nationals, nor do I care to build a car toward a specific class. My goal is to get quick times and have a blast in a car I enjoy to drive anywhere yet beat the snot out of on the track and have it perform.

[Smitty2919]

I have always liked the idea of owning a C5. I like the looks/power and ability of those cars as a DD and a autocross car.

I see your points about the C5 being more expensive to mod and fix. I realistically only see me doing shocks/brakes/wheels+tires and a tune to be happy with the performance of a C5 for a long time.

I am viewing the next car as a dual purpose DD/autocross car since I can't afford to own both. It will be 90% street driven and at autocross every chance I can get out there. (This may sound dumb) but another reason for the C5 is it will be nice to go out and race it (and place pretty decent due to its inherent performance ability in a fairly stock form), wash it then bring the wife downtown to a nice dinner in it. IMO better build quality, better ride and lets be honest no one pays attention to a catfish F body rolling up to a restaurant (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

But it's like anything, I can keep spending money on the Camaro to get all the weak links worked out to match the ability of a C5 (or close to it), or just go buy a decent C5 and be done with it and retain the mostly stock aspect for comfort/reliability.

Bought my car for $5K and spend another $5-6K on parts or buy a fairly stock C5 with 100K-ish miles for $10-13K and not touch it.