What would be the easiest, quickest, most reliable and cheapest car...

J DAWG

to mod and run a number at the track, both straight line and corners. Has to be a 2000 or newer car.


What would you do to the drivetrain? suspension? body? interior?


What would be the ultimate car that isn't an exotic and kick every other cars ass.

SylvanSRT

Mazda Miata for road course stuff(would be kind of weak compared to viper in 1/4 miles stuff). Any mods you might like to know about let me know. you would be happy to see mods are quite inexpensive compared to viper stuff, then again you have almost 600,000 people to sell stuff to. My Miata easily keeps up w/ M3, S2000, 911's, Vettes and lots of other way more expensive hardware. This is on a smaller road course(waterford hills road racing), on a big track Mid-Ohio would be a different story. BTW you can buy a used miata for a couple of thousand bucks and for less than 10k you can buy a set up spec racer.

SylvanSRT

oh forgot if you have the brass a Caterham on the track(again road course) will eat up most cars handily.

Mark O

A McLaren


Signed,
Bill Gates

Tanked

Easy! Evo MR! You can lay down 12sec passes all day long, and well they corner like mad. AWD kicks ass.

If you can go 1 year older. I'd take a Eclipse GSX. Yes, I love that little 4g63 engine. Hell it's dirt cheap to mod. A entire 3" turbo back exhaust system is $500

NOITALL

yeah go crankwalk!

DSM's are shit.

onerareviper

1.) The Miata is a 'best known secret'. Don't let the cat out of the bag..... Seriously, you can pick up a 1.8 Liter 1994-95 with moderate miles in nice shape for $3-5K, trim the weight to just over 2100 lbs., do the spec racer mods (roll cage, suspension, tires/rims, etc...) for a few more grand. You have a killer on a short track for 7 grand if you do the labor. Now, add a VERY reliable fly'in Miata Turbo and goodies for about $5,000 and put down 300 RWHP (15 psi). That's about the same power-to-weight ratio of a new SRT10. To the best of my knowledge, this combination is unbeatable for anything even close to the bucks. The ultimate sleeper...

(Ooops - you said 2000 or newer.... So add $7,000 to this price)

2.) The EVO. OK, nice bang for the buck here as well. Although, to get it into the mid-low 12's (reliable - done right) on street gas, you're looking at $6,000 in mods. How do I know this? I spoke to the World Record holder (with stock turbo's - Kurt Brown) who lives a few miles from my house. I met this guy at a Lotus dealership, where he is the salesman (I test drove the Elise). We got to BS'ing and he told me about the EVO he owns. He turned 11.75 (give or take) with stock turbo's and race fuel (put $6,000 into different intercooler, exhaust, gears, modified stock turbo housing, etc.... - Does not include labor) from Bushar racing. Figure low-mid 12's on pump gas (93-94 octane). This car was featured in a magazine, and Kurt also holds some old DSM records with 9 second 1/4 mile times. This guy knew his shit when it came to the 4G63 (?) 2.0 Liter Turbo motor... Can't remember all the details, but he said it takes about $6,000 to get an EVO into the mid-low 12's RELIABLE on street fuel with very little Turbo lag (less than stock). You might be able to do it cheaper with a big turbo and having it run like an on/off switch, but that's not streetable IMO. Stock the handeling/braking are already pretty good, so these engine mods are all that's really needed for an good street/track car. Kurt did additional suspension work, where he said it handles UNREAL. But, you feel every pebble in the road (more track set up than street). For street/track use he recommended the stock set up. Not sure about the stock brakes when it comes to track use, but on the street I hear the work well. Figure another $1,000 to make them track worthy. Bottom line: I wouldn't trust an EVO on the used market, seems to be a car kids mainly own and beat the snot out of... So that leaves us with a new EVO +/-$29,000 out the door and $7,000 in mods. $36,000, not exactly cheap, and you lose the warrantee, but would make a fun car. Problem is, for $4,000 more you should be able to buy a new C6 once the hoopla wears off, have a car with a full warrantee, probably more comfortable to drive, looks way better, etc... Given, no back seat...

J DAWG

so far it appears to be all imports. watta bout american muscle? I guess that jacks the price way up?

onerareviper

Not really....

3.) 2001 Corvette Z06 with moderate miles for $25,000 (give or take). Now do a quality head/cam/exhaust for +/- $5,000 (Cartek), and your running mid-high 10 second quarter miles with slicks. The Z06 is a great track car, and already has very good brakes/suspension. The Viper usually takes it because of the power advantage, but with a good head/cam/exhaust the Z06 make more power than a stock Viper. Toss on a great set of rubber and you're set.

** It's always fun to speculate, but I think around a large road course the Z06 and Miata would be a close race, with the EVO trailing.

Tanked

that's why you dump the gen 95-99 engine for a cheaper 89-94 :P

Tanked

that's why you dump the gen 95-99 engine for a cheaper 89-94 :P


What about a mustang or F-body. Good choices too.

onerareviper

Personally, I would not consider a Eclipse (DSM) or and Fbody/Mustang because there is just way too much work that needs to go into the suspension to make it handle top-notch. I've seen fast Mustangs anf F-bodies on a road course, but moocho work was needed and something tells me they would be a bear on the street (too stiff). Now if you're talking straight line racing, all 3 are a great choice.

Tanked

I know your looking at something 2000+ But here are a few cars that are from the 90's and some from the 2000's


What about a supra, Good handling, great power.

VR-4: Not a bad choice either, but it lacks in handling.

WRX: Good handling, lots of aftermarket, the price has gone down due to the STi that has come out.

Corvette: Early C5 would do great. Handling and power.

RX-7: Again, great handling, can have some good power it just takes some work. Rotory engines are a blast to drive.

BMW M3 E36(?) Great handling, limited on power.

Miata: Great handling, fun to drive but limited on power.

Mini Couper S: See Miata.

300Z Turbo: Good handling and can make 500-600hp no problem.

S2000: Great handling, but not too fast.

When it comes to moding a car, america really hasn't had much out there beyond the F-body, Mustang and Corvette. I tend to look at imports. I love the old school cars (why I own a viper) But if you want something that is cheap to mod, handles like mad, an import is a good place to start looking. Getting a car to have bone crushing power, race car handling and ride nice on the street is difficult to build at best. It can be done, it's just not that easy.


Hope that helps

NOITALL

300Z What a heavy turd

onerareviper

Ah yes, the BMW M3 E36. Lots of potential... I'll make that the 4th car on my list.

4.) BMW M3 E36 - Nice 1996 in the used market can be had for $15,000. Great handeling, feedback, and suspension. Was rated by Car & Driver as the best overall handeling car (at any price) in 1998-99. Brakes are already good, but figure another $1,000 to make them track worthy. Stock car weights 3,175 pounds, which can easily be reduced to 3,000. Straight 6 with good torque curve that makes 240 HP. Yep, we need more horses. Two options IMO - Quality Turbo Charger unit to make 400 RWHP reliable (guestimate of +$10,000) or a twin screw unit for $6,500 (about 370 RWHP). Will need a new clutch to withstand the increase in power - $1000 (guestimate). These mods will put the car into the low 12's high 11's. So figure about $23,000 for a track/street killer. These cars known to be very stout and reliable, but if something does break M model BMW's are very expensive to service.

ATVile

A taxi-cab? [img]/images/graemlins/lol2[/img]

Allen GTS

My brother has a Subaru Sti and it's a fast little car.He ran a 12.10@121mph at 5,600Ft with only $5,000 in Modification [image]http://racingsouthwest.com/forums/uploads/garage_gallery-94-1094782278_thumb.jpg[/image]

Tanked

What about a SRT-4?

onerareviper

FWD = NO

J DAWG

forgot about the RX-7 for a moment. I owned a 1994 touring model that was a blast to drive. Lightweight feel and some kick in the pants acceleration from the little turbos.


Just deleting one cat and adding a catback, intake and reprogrammed pcm netted some 12.7's consistently for about 1200 bucks.