[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]

What's up Tyler! I would love to hit HPDE events, but having no trailer and a 3hr drive plus a couple hundred to run is not in the budget nor smart since I refuse to DRIVE my car either to Mid Ohio or Putnam. I would most likely go to my first RR event at Putnam since it is a smaller course so I can get comfortable with the car/speeds you would see. Then move onto Mid Ohio.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the real world opinions from people that have "been there done that".

Due to the inherent price increase of corvette components and that I really don't know what I can do with the Camaro due to the differential issues, I may stick it out with the Camaro for a couple more seasons. I do feel there is more in the car if the diff works correctly, newer/better tires and more seat time.

I was just impressed with the performance of a base C5 (driven by ^ that guy above me). How smooth the car was in transitions, better braking with very "basic" suspension mods. I can't speak to the power since it has some HP mods under the hood now but still more power in stock form than my stock LT1. Hell I had a decent run of 57.XXX. When I rode along, he spun out, finished the course and pulled a 57.1XX or something. Needless to say I was saying "wtf". LOL

My best time of the day was a 54.700 with him coming in I believe in the 50's or 51's (not positive).

This post has been edited by Smitty2919: Oct 7 2014, 05:36 PM