traumatech

I apologize for not paying much attention to this board yet. But I will now. I do some autoX with my Dad, who runs a IIE Corvette in NCCC. I just got back from an event, in which I was only 5 seconds off of his time (1:36 to a 1:31), in a car that was set up for his style, which is way different than mine (driving school vs. parking lot training). Anyway, I made a bet with him, and I need some help to win it. My '88 third-gen, which will be getting a 383 Vortec TPI, head to head on the autocross course with the new vette he's making this winter -- a '91 with a cleaned up L98, but full TCC chassis prep--roll bar, brakes, braces, the works. To top that off, my Dad designs special handling components for Corvettes (r-dracing.com) so he knows darn well how to make a Corvette handle.

I'll have him for days on horsepower and torque. Until now, my chassis goals included an 8-point cage among other Spohn items with the intention of high 11's in a straight line. So now, how do I make 400 hp and 450+ lb/ft car turn a corner? I'm not scared to run 285 tires, or even 315's if I have to, and I don't mind playing with things like camber, toe-in, and adjusting cross-over weight (if I can figure out how).

Hopefully I haven't bored anybody who might be reading this, so here's the bottom-line -- what will I need to do to make my third-gen run with a Corvette. I can drive the wheels off of most cars -- I showed him that with his 'vette. So now I need to make my Camaro beat him. If you've muddled through all this, I'll take all the advice I can get. Thanks.

slow305

iTrader: (2)

Is the car going to still be street legal (i.e. not gutted and stripped)? If so, I would look at Street Prepared or Street Modified. Check out the rules here:

http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/

In ESP, you would be limited on engine mods (basically bolt-ons, stock internals) but could still do basic suspension stuff (weight jackers so you could corner weight the car, sway bars, battery relocation, panhard bar and torque arm). Street Modified allows for a little more freedom (like, you could swap in an LT1 and still do some internal stuff!). However, SM1 has a displacement limit of 6.0L, so your 383 would bump up to SM2.

You'd also have to take a look at the rules on rollcages. I think SCCA autocross rules on cages "defaults" to roadracing specs, which are slightly different than the specs for NHRA-legal cages (not sure off hand what the differences are, though). So if you show up at an autox with an NHRA cage, you might not be able to run. Or if you show up at a drag strip with an SCCA-legal cage, you might not be able to run.

If you go beyond ESP or Street Modified, you'd end up in C Prepared, which is a huge money pit of a class.

Jumping head first into any one of those classes would be a huge undertaking, and I don't think you could just "make" a car fast right away. Some people develop cars for years before they go fast and handle well.

The good thing is that you have an F Body, so people have already done this before. If I were you, I would just build a car to ESP specs and go from there. Autocross as much as you can and get as much seat time as you can. Sneak out to some autocrosses without telling your dad. With a 3rd gen built to ESP specs, you'll probably be stuck with a car that runs high 12s. But it could be a Corvette killer on an autocross course if you drive it right.

Something I've seen people do in autocross is throw $$$ at a car because "it's not fast enough." I've done it before. "Oh, I'm 2 seconds behind this guy, so I need [enter mods here]." I ended up with a pretty fast *car* but I wasn't a fast *driver.* The cheapest thing is to make yourself faster.

97-1LE

Give Rob Pickrell a call at Royal Tire in Salina. 1-800-776-1722 He's been driving a 3rd gen Camaro in ESP for a number of years. He can tell you what you need to do to your suspension to make your car handle. He can also get you the tires you need for Autocorssing.

traumatech

Thanks for rules link and the phone number. I've been committed from the start of my car to build it into the car that I want -- not what people say it "should" have done, or what mods "just aren't right" for a third gen. I want the car the way I want it. And I realize that it will hurt me if I ever want to race SCCA. My Dad's NCCC events usually let guest cars run for a fee as long as safety requirements (fire ext., helmet, etc) are met, you just don't get points or rewards. That's all I want. My fiance actually wants a Corvette (she doesn't think the 3rd gen is as fast either) to get into NCCC with, so I'm sure my autocross future will be down that path. So for now, I'm just going to have fun with my baby, and just add on what I need for better handling. I do want to keep it street legal, but I don't mind swapping parts for an event.

Something I haven't heard of is weight-jackers. Where do you get them and how do they work?

slow305

iTrader: (2)

They're basically mounts for the springs so you can adjust the ride height. I don't have them for my car (yet), but the way I understand it is that they work like "coilover" kits. A kit has four mounts, one for each corner (duh!). Each mount is a threaded sleave with a spring seat for the spring (usually a smaller diameter Eibach ERS spring). You turn the spring seat to raise/lower the height on that corner. Everything just fits in the same location as the stock springs.

Ground Control has them, although be warned that their customer service sucks. I don't know if anybody else makes something like that, though.

IMO, I would just copy the setup of this car, which won ESP at this year's SCCA Solo II nationals. But since you'll have a bit more HP, get 17X10 or 17X11 wheels so you can run 315/XX/17 Kumho or Hoosier autox tires.