Mineral Wells Pro Solo 06: Yeah, the Formula is pretty soft...
So I wanted a track car. After tracking my F Stock Formula, it was definately fun, but the limiations
of a stock car really put a damper on it. Wheel hop, soft brakes, soft springs, cracked rotors, poor seats, etc. I definately
wasn't the fastest guy ever, but I passed my fair share of expensive cars in my stock f-body.
Mineral Wells Pro Solo 06: Yeah, the Formula is pretty soft...
But what to get? I had $12K to spend on a car. It had to be street legal, as I have no truck or trailer to tow with.
Another f-body could be fun. LS1 power, somewhat cheap, and I already know almost everything I needed to build a compentent track car. But LS1 cars are stupid expensive. Even higher mileage cars are still over $8K. I have seen low mile cars go for $15K and up!! While still a great performance bargain, building them into a track car would take lots of effort: brakes, springs, shocks, roll bars, seat, differential, etc, etc. Finding a prepped LS1 would be great, but I never found a car that fit the bill and was affordable. Even SCCA T2 cars are $13K and up, and T2 cars are pretty darn stock!
C5 Corvette would be perfect. Great out of the box. They require very few mods to make great track cars. But they are more expensive than f-bodies. The absolute cheapest C5's are $15K.
Miatas are great track cars, but I don't fit in a Miata. And I couldn't live with 95 RWHP. Forced induction Miata's are fast, but pricey.
I have always liked C4 Corvettes. With the C6's out, C4 prices are coming down. Decent suspension, chassis, and motors. Plenty of room to upgrade. Somewhat light. Even the later ones have serious 80's flavor, but not a bad place to start. I had to have a 6 spd: auto or 4+3 (what a disaster of a transmission) wouldn't cut it. Really wanted LTx, as the L98 motors need some help to reach 300 RWHP. Some searching on AutoTrader yielded this car:
1996 LT4 6 spd, all stock, 1 owner, 145K miles. Miles are high, but LTx's run forever. I have seen f-bodies go over 360K miles on original, unopened motors. Made a trip to Round Rock to look at it. Seems to be well kept. Certainly not track prepped: OE 145K mile shocks, non-Z51 with the softest springs of any C4. But the price was right, and it's one of the fastest stock C4's. $8500 later and it was mine. Oct 25th, 2006
