upgrade or replace; C6 corvette vs. alternative(s)

It's the middle of winter, I just cleaned the snow off of my driveway, so I thought what better way to cheer me up then some internet bench racing.  Why not think about warm summer days spent enjoying sports cars.  

I am getting the itch to replace my current car.  This isn't my normal daily driver but I would like something that can be street driven even if I don't plan to drive it everyday.  In terms of budget, I am looking for total cost of ownership including track day insurance, depreciation, wear and tear items, etc.  Fun trumps overall speed but the roads in Chicago generally are straight, congested, and of less than ideal condition.  A backroads drive requires a few hours round trip on the highway.  

So here is the facts:

Current car: 2008 Corvette (C6, LS3, 6spd, non-z51, totally stock)  have owned it for 6 years.  

usage: occasional daily use, Autocross (SCCA, local miata club, etc.), HPDE/track night in america/etc. (drive it to the event, have fun, drive home), wife and I did a tour in the Corvette 2 years ago and enjoyed it but don't have any of those planned this year.  

ability to wrench: My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

Parking/storage: My parking situation is a bit unique in that I have a tandem garage that is a bit more shallow than normal garages, so the overall length of the car can't be much longer than the Corvette that I currently have.  I was originally considering the Shelby GT350 but found out that the additional length wouldn't fit in my garage.  

Options:

Upgrade the corvette (sway bar, shocks, brakes, cooling upgrades) and run with it

sell the corvette to somebody who wants a street car (3LT stick shift corvette) and buy something more suited to my needs

sell the corvette, take the money, join a country club, and bitch about the smell of cars when people pull the catalytic converters off.  

Upgrade the Corvette. Or get a 911 or Cayman S. 

Talk to some of your friends at your local autocross.  Offer some "exchange" days where you let them drive your car while you drive theirs.  Either swapping cars will make you appreciate yours more (refresh the magic) or you'll have an idea of what you want in a car more and you'll know what you should trade it in for.

*****This advice is applicable to cars only, be warned. 

'18 / '19 C7's are heavily discounted.  A nice upgrade from a C6.

Forced induction c6 would be interesting. 

yupididit said:

Upgrade the Corvette. Or get a 911 or Cayman S. 

When I purchased the vette, i looked at 911's.  The car I could afford at that time  was the 996 and the risk of IMS failure was too real.  Today my concern is the cost of insurance for track days has to come from the same pool of money as the cost of the event fees which will likely reduce the number of days I can do in a year.  

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

Talk to some of your friends at your local autocross.  Offer some "exchange" days where you let them drive your car while you drive theirs.  Either swapping cars will make you appreciate yours more (refresh the magic) or you'll have an idea of what you want in a car more and you'll know what you should trade it in for.

*****This advice is applicable to cars only, be warned. 

this is a good idea (car swapping) save for a few challenges.  The autocross events I have gone too and made some connections at but none close enough that I feel comfortable asking to borrow/swap their car nor do I feel comfortable letting somebody else have mine for the entire day.  

Shadeux said:

'18 / '19 C7's are heavily discounted.  A nice upgrade from a C6.

its a very nice upgrade from a c6 and represents a great bang for the buck.  The problem is that it isn't that much faster than my car, would cost double what I think my car is worth and still require the same expensive cooling upgrades to be track ready.  

Carbon said:

Forced induction c6 would be interesting. 

of all of the options that I would consider, putting a turbo/supercharger on a car that already struggles to stay cool is probably not the top choice.  

I'm glad people buy expensive cars so they can depreciate, but having taken our heap BMW around the track in anger lately I have to say:  I enjoy the relaxing feeling of beating the crap out of a car that I can put into the wall and not feel bad about.

Instead of track insurance and tiptoeing around in an overpowered Corvette, find your comfort budget of something you could stuff and be happy walking away from if it goes wrong.  Maybe that means a $500 318Ti like me, maybe that's a $5000 M3.  It's up to your wallet but the more I'm around track days the less I understand the desire to have the fastest car at a HPDE.  

ClearWaterMS said:

 

sell the corvette to somebody who wants a street car (3LT stick shift corvette) and buy something more suited to my needs

 

 

 

Yes

I didn't see anything saying no Miatas so I'm gonna be the one.... Miata? $20k will buy a nice ND RF. Parts are super cheap compared to Corvette parts and you could have fun tinkering with it. I won't bore you with the reasons Miata Is Always The Answer though.

In reply to ClearWaterMS :

If you get the Z-51 package it's track ready. I'm talking Stingray here, not Z06. In HPDE events I'm walking away from Z06's because they are such a handfull.

The fastest C7 for the track is the Grand Sport package. 

what about a Miata? 

There is a lightly used supercharged ND on the Miata forum that would be almost a straight trade financially for my car.  

JAdams said:

I didn't see anything saying no Miatas so I'm gonna be the one.... Miata? $20k will buy a nice ND RF. Parts are super cheap compared to Corvette parts and you could have fun tinkering with it. I won't bore you with the reasons Miata Is Always The Answer though.

 

I started to reply and got side tracked and didn't see this.  This started because I sat in an ND at the autoshow this past weekend and was grateful to actually fit (6'2 tall wear a size 44 jacket)

What are SCCA's rules for HPDE in Miatas?  Do soft tops need roll bars?  

Is the higher HP car worth the money?  Used 19's are going for around 28k and used 16/17's around $20k.  

Is a 13 club for around $13k a better purchase?  

I have a c6z I've put work into and it is wicked fast on the track.  It is a lot of fun but frankly I have more fun in my also fast nissan s13. Because it doesn't feel like it is trying to kill me. It is, but it is more subtle about it. 
 

as far as dailying a c6, the biggest problem in my opinion is the front overhang and ground clearance.  
 

a m3, 350z, miata, etc would all make fun track cars that would be good for the daily drive as well. 

jfryjfry said:

I have a c6z I've put work into and it is wicked fast on the track.  It is a lot of fun but frankly I have more fun in my also fast nissan s13. Because it doesn't feel like it is trying to kill me. It is, but it is more subtle about it. 
 

as far as dailying a c6, the biggest problem in my opinion is the front overhang and ground clearance.  
 

a m3, 350z, miata, etc would all make fun track cars that would be good for the daily drive as well. 

over the weekend, I did a thought experiment and did some pricing out of Miatas.  NC cars seem to be readily available for between $7 and $12k with really clean NC3 club cars being available for around $14k.  Early ND's can be had for around $17 and modified examples are in the low 20's.  My car is probably worth low 20's so it is probably a wash between mind and a CPO ND or a well modified NC.  

Both cars would need around $3000 to $4000 for a rollbar, brakes, tires, and suspension upgrades to be track ready.  My corvette needs tires, some cooling upgrades, brakes and shocks/sway bars.  I think I am going to stick with the vette for this season and see how things play out and decide at the end of the season if it makes sense to do something for next year.  

So my plan is the following: 

• DRM Bilstein shocks: considered the Z06 and Koni; the DRM's seemed like the best compromise of $$$ saved on mods to put back into driver mods.  The current shocks are the original and are 10 year old Corvette comfort shocks.  
• Strano front sway bar
• Pfadt corvette track alignment.  
• cooling upgrades; trying to decide aftermarket oil cooler with built in oil cooler vs. aftermarket oil cooler.  The water temps on the car got warm but not overheating warm but the oil temps always got hot.  
• Hankook RS4 in 265/305 sizing on stock wheels (RE71's would be better for autocross but may not the RS4's will last better for 20 min sessions at track days)
• Carbotech XP10/XP8 pads: Did EBC Yellow and blue last year and both lasted less than 6 sessions on the track, have been told the XP10 is tolerable on the street

In reply to ClearWaterMS :

I believe the Miatas would need a roll bar for HPDE but keep in mind everything for the Miata is like half the price of Corvette stuff. Tirerack set of 4 RE-71R ($691 for the Miata vs $1112 for Corvette). For me this is an annual cost so I'm much happier with the Miata cost.  I can't speak on the newer ND being worth the price difference. It seems that with the $8k difference you could modify the early car to be faster. I suppose it all depends on what you prefer. 

Good luck with the Corvette though and maybe I can twist your arm next season! 

JAdams said:

In reply to ClearWaterMS :

I believe the Miatas would need a roll bar for HPDE but keep in mind everything for the Miata is like half the price of Corvette stuff. Tirerack set of 4 RE-71R ($691 for the Miata vs $1112 for Corvette). For me this is an annual cost so I'm much happier with the Miata cost.  I can't speak on the newer ND being worth the price difference. It seems that with the $8k difference you could modify the early car to be faster. I suppose it all depends on what you prefer. 

Good luck with the Corvette though and maybe I can twist your arm next season! 

agreed, the Miata is the most compelling.  When you counsider the lower cost parts and lighter weight meaning they might last a bit longer I figured the Miata is probably 1/3rd the annual running costs of the corvette.   

I "hope" that a set of 200TW tires will last a season in the vette but time will tell.  The last two years I have been on the same set of Conti ECS tires and they lasted 3 track events and roughly 11 autocross events plus around 5000 street miles.  The car isn't driven on the street much any more just too and from events.  

without diggin up my notes; I think i have budgeted the following for entry fees, insurance and transportation/lodging: 

• SCCA starting line school
• 3 - 4 track sprint events (high speed autocross on a track) less than one lap from a standing start, plenty of cool down after.  
• 6'ish autocross events   
• 3 - 4 TNIA style events (TNIA and our local SCCA's thursday night track events are run in the same 3 session per evening style with an extended break for track tours in between session 2 and 3)