I was having a discussion with a friend of mine regarding motorcycles, road courses, and cars.

The cost comparison between a brand new sportbike (say, an R6) at $12k vs a new sports car (say, C5 Corvette) at $80k came up.

I made the statement that, for $12k, one could very likely take an older car, build it up, and run with a newer car such as the 'vette.

Am I nuts?

My basic thinking was as follows:
$1500 S5 TII shell, in decent shape, with a blown motor
$2000 Motor rebuild, some porting
$2000 Suspension
$1000 Bushings, SS brake lines, front & rear rollbars
$1000 Tires
$1500 Standalone ECU & tuning
$2000 Turbo, FMIC, injectors
$1000 Assorted other things (brake pads, roll bar)
Free: Weight reduction

I suspect, driven decently, this could run with a C5 on a road course.

Am I even in the ballpark here?

-=Russ=-

 

it would stomp it.

plus your way way way overpricing stuff. a stand alone can be had for 500 dollars. and a blown t2 can be had for 1000 dollars.

 

Hehe, ls1

 

Not a Z06.....nod to the Corvette, even in lower levels of trim. After seeing many different preparation levels of RX-7's and knowing their actual cost to build and tune in different autocross and road racing levels, it takes a LOT of car and more importantly a LOT of driver. A stock Z06 Corvette might easily overtake an FC on a road course or autocross, turbo or not.

Case in point-- we have done a lot of work with AMCI and Mercedes-Benz AMG, and after throwing around the best of the best SL55 AMG ('03, new at the time), we had a stock yellow Z06 at our disposal that absolutely trounced it all over California Speedway.

Also, in SCCA autocrossing, the C5 Corvette is classed in Super Stock with the Porsche GT2/GT3, Lotus Elise, and FD RX-7.......the FD is up for a reclass to A Stock (down), and the TII is classed in B Stock with the RX-8, 350Z, MR-2 Turbo, and the "regular" FC/FB/SA is in E Stock with older Miatas and MR-2's. The closest thing to an RX-7 in any of those classes to do remotely well against the "hot" cars of the class is the RX-8.

One vote for the Corvette.

 

Erm... too late to edit my post, but I was mixing cars. C5 Corvette, not S5.

I've heard nothing but good things about the Z06, and I know they're a lot quicker than the C5s.

-=Russ=-

 

$12k will get you a 500hp FC, which will smoke a stock C5.
We're talking an FC that has the potential to do 10's in the 1/4-mile.


-Ted

 

With 12k dumped into a FC it should be able to hang or even take out a C5 vette... but the important factor is the that Vette will still have AC, POWER everything, heater, stear, sound dendinng.. etc.. while you in the FC will be driving a completely striped down,loud (if you take out the sound dending), no AC, no PS, no Heat, Manual windows, etc... Might be fun for track.. but if this is street driven.. I'd defently call Vett the winner.

 

I could take a Z06 in a 1/4 mile with about $3k. (And yes, I've actually done it.)

Free engineless 87 sport, an assload of weight reduction, used stock N/A block, standalone, BNR stage4, lots of fuel, TII driveline and it was done.

Though, I would get my *** handed to me in corners, the suspension wasn't touched. It was good in a line though.

 

who says you have to take that stuff out? I don't see why you couldn't build up an FC and retain PS, AC, power windows, and all that stuff. you 'could' strip it down, but you certainly don't have to...

 

" A used n/a block "

I'm still amazed!

 

No doubt! That thing is STILL kicking, and I've put an additional 50K on it, all of which has been turbocharged. I feel like I stole that thing from you, it's been as reliable as a reman!

 

Ive killed many C5 Z06's with my 378whp FC. Ive spent about 10K maybe a little more on my FC. Most of them even had intake, headers and exhaust. Regular C5s are a joke. BTW, I dont know where the hell trainwreck is getting his info but my car had full interior, AC, PS, PW, sunroof etc.

 

hehe You could eat a vet with a 12grand FC and alot of other cars too.

 

on the track with my fairly bone stock s2000 the z06s hate me... i wont go away.. they pull me on the straights. and whenever a corner come up im threatening them with a pass... when i get my tires on my seven and some more turning im pretty sure.... with the bnr stage 3 and wide tires and suspension the z06s will give up on life at my local track www.hallettracing.net . i havent spent 12k on my seven maybe about 7k.

 

for 12k, i could make damn near anything with wheels beat a stock c5. 12k is a crap load of money.

 

You cannot compare these 2 cars what so ever. The Z06 is a complete beast with no dollar left unspent for development to make it run like a race car on the street or track. Now our cars were sporty for there time frame but are no where near in the same class as these newer vettes. Stop kidding yourself.


yeah 12k will get it done and you can beat a stock z06 but that will be a stock one. Give a z06 owner a jegs catalog and few mods and that car will spank ever our large single turbo cars all day without overheating.

 

radio flyer and a small rocket engine....1000 bucks. safe, no. fast? yes...well until you hit a tree or a wall or a car or a crack in the concrete or a person or a sign or a small woodland creature or a body of water or a mailbox or a homeless person (10 more points than in comparison to normal people) or a blackhole or a hotdog stand or a ditch or a medium or a bridge. the list goes on.

 

I drive an fc and went to a few vette club events at the blimp base in hitchcock .I made the vettes look so bad a few guys (half joking and part mad)said if you dont slow down you might not be invited next time.the last time I went to the track I ran mid 12's and now I've turned up the boost 3 psi more( i'm lookin for c7 watch out) 1.3 L 416rwhp

 

The fact is, we are comparing the 2 cars, note the name of the thread. Dollar for dollar, the FC is faster than the new vettes. Period. Can you imagine someone saying "Here's 50 grand, you HAVE to spend it in your FC" I don't know about you guys, but I'd run out of things to spend it on before I hit 20g's.

 

was it "RED R1" that spent some 100k on his FD?
you can always spend more money.

 

So, 12g, that allows you to import a 20b and mount it with a small amount of leftovers. Add some coilovers and tires and you're pretty much set. Numbers go up a lot when you have a 13bt x 1.5 and then do mods on it.

 

But a Z06 cost $40,000.... We are talking about building an FC that would smoke it for a total of $12,000. Now the C5 costs more than double what you would put into the FC, now you spend another $10,000 on the Z06 to get it to kill the FC, I don't really think the owner of a car that cost 3times more has any room to brag if they beat you, they did spend a hell of alot more money on their car so it better be damn fast. It's like when you see a modded $8,000 civic killing a $30k evo or sti, what would the evo or sti owner get out of it when they had to pay $22,000 more just to keep up with a cheap, built civic. For what it costs for a New STOCK C6 even, you could build a 20b FC that the vette couldn't even touch on any road course or quarter mile. A built used car will always outrun a new car for less money, if not your getting ripped off when buying parts.

 

not to mention it just gets cheaper when you buy someones project, i got my car with all the mods in my sig for 4k, i dont doubt with 8k more i can run all over a ZO6 even with my bad driving.

 

I should probably clarify the discussion I was having a bit more. I posted the thread late at night just before bed, and wasn't fully awake.

My friend races sportbikes (rides an R6 on the track, about $12k new), and was out at Road Atlanta or some other speedway when someone lost it in a new 'vette, left the track, rolled, and basically totaled the $80k car. He was pointing out that for $12k or so, you could have a brand new sportbike, add a bit for good leathers, and have a lot more fun for a lot less money.

My claim was that, for the cost of a new sportbike, you could take almost any old sports car and build it up, and that it is almost ALWAYS cheaper to build up an old car for a given amount of money than to buy and race a new one.

So, just using the cost of a sportbike as an example, I claimed that for $12k, I could build up a 2nd gen RX-7 that would make a Corvette look slow on the track, for... about 15% of the cost of the 'vette. This is more road course than drag, hence the money on suspension/brakes.

It sounds like I was pretty much right on.

-=Russ=-

 

Well, for 12k you could pretty much turn any older performance car into somthing that'll beat a new vette, including cost of the vehicle... For an FC now you could buy a cosmo clip with a 20b and still have 6k+ leftover for goodies! The FC would definitely have the advantage. However I just don't see it as an even handed debate as the FC is obviously modified from stock and the vette isn't.

Now what I'd like to see would be a matching model year vette and FC duke it out with 12k to spend including cost of car. ~rich

Wow, I wrote this as you were writing the post before mine! Great minds think alike I say.. lol