What competitive autocross car - without a clutch pedal?

My first thought was Corvette, but are the non-Z06 cars(of any generation) competitive in any Stock/Street, ST, or SP class?

Next thought was the Evo X MR, but damn they aren't cheap, and I'm curious how well they hold up to the abuse...if they're even competitive at all?

The easy answer may actually be to build something for CP, although it would be nice to have a car that could see occasional/limited street use(though not a requirement).

What else am I overlooking?

This is really just a thought-exercise/bench-racing at this point, but I'd like to get the family more involved in autocross, and my '96 Miata will never really be competitive anyway, so I'm tossing around ideas for the future.

go-kart?

No shift kart ( I see like idea above)
Anything Mod running a snowmobile engine.

One of our local guys runs an auto c5 in AS and does pretty well. Another runs a newer GTi with flappy paddles in STX and also does well. Now if the C5 had flappy paddles......that would be friggin sweet.

LT1 powered Camaro/Firebird. 93-97 Look for the performance axle pkg, has a 3.23 ratio vs standard 2.73. Back seat (ok it's small) helpful for getting family to/from event. Cheap to buy too. Huge aftermarket if you want to start modifying. 98-02 LS1 cars are good too, they have better brakes and torsen diffs, but are more expensive.

In reply to Gearheadotaku:

I tried autocrossing a 4th-gen Z28 once, it wasn't a pretty sight. :( It was setup for FS, so it wasn't unprepared, but I couldn't begin to get a feel for the car.

S197 Mustang GT... or 4th gen F Body but you just said you didn't like them.

In reply to Spoolpigeon:

Doesn't the DSG GTI have some ridiculously expensive and short service interval?

petegossett wrote: Next thought was the Evo X MR, but damn they aren't cheap, and I'm curious how well they hold up to the abuse...if they're even competitive at all?

MotoIQ has a project MR that is being built for track use. Looks like one of the first changes they had to make was to improve the cooling for the transmission. They also had to change the trans fluid fairly early on IIRC and that stuff isn't cheap.

No idea if they're competitive or not, I'm not planning to take mine (that I haven't even picked up from the dealer yet) to the track or Auto-Xing until it's completely paid off and the warranty period is well and truly over.

The only one I recall seeing in person was an LS1 Camaro, I could see an automatic FRS being ok, I'm not sure how competitive they are but I got to autocross one at a test drive event and it seemed pretty fun for a car with only 2 pedals.

Autocrossing with BMWCCA quite a few SMG trans cars think e46m3 or newer dual clutch not just automatic. Not sure how competitive a E46 m3 is but I know an e36 won STU last year as Tristan is a local (much to the chagrin of all the evos)

Top Car at lincoln national last year was an Audi TT in Dstock. Probably comes with a DSG and there was one e46 m3 in STU and a z4m did pretty well in BSP

I think you are getting up there with EVO MR money with the z4m or a cayman etc. I am guessing the e46m3 or Audi TT is the cheapest end (besides like a GTI which I am unsure of how good the DSG box is)

In our region dsg gti's do well in Gstock, and smg equipped bimmers do well in bsp and b stock. Oddly enough, one guy was even running DSC during his runs. I did fairly well when I started out in my autotradgic zx3 nearly a decade ago. The way I see it, its all about fun.....so anything is fair game to be hooned.

Ok, thanks for the info!

I need to do more research on the reliability and ownership/maintenance costs of DSG/SMG cars, and see if any of them would hold up without breaking the bank.

GTO? Lots of torque so the car wouldn't need to be bouncing around the gears all the time.

EVO X MR obviously as you said.

I've seen GTIs do well.

I have never seen an audi at autocross that was a regular.

Corvette C6 with a shift kit? There has to be some way to get the transmission to do what you want (like hold 2nd gear).

An old boss of mine had a big block Chevelle with a full manual valve body TH400 that he autocrossed and drag raced. No clutch, but you are working the shift lever.

DS Audi TT with the DSG looks like it's VERY strong. 2 are running locally here with good results at the tours they've been to.

F500?

i seem to remember that one of the quicker CP mustangs I've seen had an auto. Since drag racers use them to good effectiveness, look into what they use- it's not as if they want to lose performance much based on the trans.

for the DSG cars- find one that allows you to do the gear selction. Other than that, they are manual boxes, so should be stout enough.

C4 Corvette - my understanding is that the 4-speed auto is the preferred choice.

Also, a PDK Boxster/Cayman should be good...

alfadriver wrote: i seem to remember that one of the quicker CP mustangs I've seen had an auto. Since drag racers use them to good effectiveness, look into what they use- it's not as if they want to lose performance much based on the trans.

Former National Champion Darrel Padberg's Mustang indeed is an automatic--a well built C4.

What does "competitive" mean to you?

A guy in our region occasionally runs a '71 Camaro in ESP with an automatic. The car is pretty well prepped (running A6's on CCW rims and trailered to events) and he is a good driver so he usually places well. I believe he manually shifts it, starting in 1st and slamming into 2nd for the rest of the run. It sounds freakin' awesome.

petegossett wrote: In reply to Spoolpigeon: Doesn't the DSG GTI have some ridiculously expensive and short service interval?

That I don't know. He's been racing with us for ~5 years without any hiccups.