Opels in GTS?

[autodoctor911]

I was contemplating using an Ls3 engine in an Opel GT(new roadster(solstice/Sky) chassis) or original Opel GT coupe, or even a mid engined, lotus designed Opel Speedster.

 

Since the Opel Senator V8 came with an Ls3 engine, this should be legal in GTS, Right?

 

If I were to go with the late model Opel GT chassis, would it be OK to convert a Saturn to Opel bodywork, instead of having to import a car from Europe? They are nearly identical, other than a few badges, trim items, and TUV/DOT differences.

 

I think the mid engined Opel Speedster would be the best chassis, but hard to fit a V8 into, so maybe an Ecotec would be better. I think it is basically a Lotus Elise, with an Ecotec turbo engine anyways. IIRC.

 

I think a lot of it's sibling, the Lotus Elise's development for racing would help this chassis to be a winner in whatever level of GTS. What could be better for circuit racing than an Elise, with a more powerful, cheap to modify, ECOTEC turbo, and all of the Aero, and chassis/suspension possibilities already available for this platform. Now, I just need to find a good Speedster for sale, maybe even already on this side of the Atlantic. What if I converted an Elise to Opel power and Bodywork? I think I would prefer to just find an Opel version though.

 

Am i right in interpreting the Eligible cars as German Manufacturer built, not necessarily built in Germany(i.e. Boxster[Finland], Z3,Z4[uSA],3 series[south Africa], etc.), and not necessarily for sale as a USA street car(ie, grey market cars, Cup cars, etc.)

[Alan_Wolfe]

WOW, I think if you gave me the money you are contemplating spending, I'd kick your ass in whatever you were gonna build....

[autodoctor911]

I would think it would be less expensive to reach the level of performance possible in GTS with a car that already has an aluminum monocoque chassis and very good suspension geometry, such as a Speedster.

 

The Speedsters in Germany seem to be selling for pretty high at around 15K euros and up($20K USD), but the UK Vauxhall is identical, save for the RHD and some badges, and start at around 5K GBP, or about $6k USD. It would be easy enough to swap it to RHD with some Elise parts, or better yet, Center seat driving position, as some of the Lotus cup cars were, using standard racing steering and interior parts. I think any driver seat position is legal, right? It would then have a normally aspirated 2.2 liter ECOTEC at the lower price point, which could easily be supercharged with COBALT SS parts, or swapped for a pull out from a later Cobalt SS turbo motor and trans.

 

I'm not sure what the Shipping would be for the car from the UK, and taxes, but It should still end up cheaper than making a steel tub strut suspension street car into something nearly as fast as the Speedster would be with a basically stock chassis, some decent brake pads and some good DOT rubber.

 

Some of the UK ones for sale at a slightly higher price point(still under $20K USD) have already been upgraded to around 300HP, with racing dampers, and brakes, and even a bolt in FIA cage.

 

I think just a minimal build would be faster than most BMW and Porsche street cars with even the best suspension kits available.

 

Of course, if you wanted to go wild, you could get Pillbeam GT3 wishbones, hubs, billet uprights, AP Racing brakes, etc.

That kind of stuff is still a lot cheaper than Porsche Motorsports parts, and I believe would make it faster than a Porsche 997 RSR, if the same HP/weight is achieved. I would not be able to fund this kind of project though.

 

My original thought was to put an LS3 in a Saturn Sky, and rebadge it as an Opel, which led me to find out about the Speedster. My goals are a lot bigger than my budget of course, so I may end up just building my 986 Boxster, or maybe a Z3 for GTS 2, then maybe GTS3.

 

By the way, Alan, I see you are located not too far from me, in New Braunfels. What Are you running in GTS? I would love to come and help support you to try and get an idea of what GTS is about. I have mainly only done crew work for circle track stuff, but I have built up some track cars, and I work on Porsches and BMWs for a living, and I want to get into road racing. I am not an experienced driver(PCA HPDE, Texas Spokes autocross is all I have done). If and when I build a GTS car I would like to have someone that can drive it to it's potential to show what is possible. I will drive it myself of course, but I don't expect to do that well until I get a few years of seat time.

[braknl8]

If you already have a 986 and a decent budget just do a 3.6L or even 4.0L swap. Concentrate on weight and aero and you could do wonders. If you'd like to up reliability, put an LS in it. Probably a ton less of a headache than having to do driver side swaps, etc. Not to mention dealing with getting the car across the pond....ugh.

 

ps- should you need someone to drive said boxster...

[autodoctor911]

I'm planning on putting a 3.4 in it already(99 model), possibly boring it out with liners to a 3.6, or stroking too for 3.8, And it has some decent Ohlins dampers, but I'm looking at the GTS rules, or lack there of, and I don't think the Boxster suspension would work very well, at least not without using the front wheel carriers(spindles/uprights) from a GT3 RS or Cup car front and rear on the boxster to get some camber gain and a decent roll center at the ride height it is at now as a fairly low street/track day car.

 

With unlimited suspension regulations, I would like to have a decent SLA suspension with adjustable roll center height, and no one has developed a kit for the Boxster yet. I may look into using the Carrera rear suspension somehow, and just the front Cup car uprights. The uprights alone are $2000 each, plus another $4k for brakes to fit(used) Or, Maybe I can just cut out enough space to redo the front and rear suspension with pieces from an Reynard, or Swift super vee, or similar, and just upgrade the brakes and spring rates for the weight of the car.

 

I know most people just run a lot of static negative camber on a far from ideal geometry with stock boxster uprights and probably do just fine, but I know the Cup cars gained a couple seconds a lap by correcting the roll centers with the newer uprights that came out in 04, and similar results were found on Boxsters and Caymans that are at low ride heights with the taller uprights. Even with the taller uprights, the cup cars have to run a lot of static negative camber for decent tire wear. I noticed the 991 Cup/RSR went to a SLA front setup, and are significantly faster than the 997 cars through the turns.