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RandellT

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I'm new here and hope to get off to a productive start. Im 26 prior military with a good career. I want to get into competitive racing. I grew up drag racing and have owned plenty of different cars (evo 8, evo x, 2002 wrx, 2005 sti, 2001 frc corvette (wish I would have ketp it) rx8, and I now have a c5 corvette hatch. The corvette I own now is a automatic so it wouldn't work for road racing. Im not sure if it would be beneficial to do a t56 swap on the corvette and start doing hpde with it, or if I should sell/trade it for something else. I want something that would fit into a fun class with plenty of cars. I'm not a big fan of miatas but I know they have their place. People have told me learning to race in the corvette wouldn't be beneficial because its a little to powerful. And I should learn to drive a slow car fast. I really want a 97 or 98 240sx but im not sure if they fit into any class that I would be able to be competitive in within the first year or so?

 

1.) Should I keep the corvette and convert it to manual ($2500) or sell/trade it? Is there even a class I would be able to be competitive in?

 

2.) Is there a good class that a s14 240sx would fit in? I have a guy that wants to trade a really clean 240sx (but its already turboed, has full suspension, pretty much just needs a cage)

 

3.) I am willing to trade the corvette for another car that would be a good fit for me. But what should I be considering? I dont know why but I really like the idea of a 240sx.

 

4.) I have a lot of go fast experience. None have my vehicles have stayed stock. But I don't have any track experience besides the drag strip, and I don't want to get in over my head. What is yalls advise? I want a car that can grow with me.

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Welcome. No need to decide soon as it'll take you some time to climb the HPDE ranks. So my advice is to come do HPDE1 in whatever car you have that is the most reliable & fun to drive. Then talk to drivers at the track and see what they suggest. Hope it helps,

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Sounds like solid advice, Thank you. Beside my truck all I have is the automatic corvette right now. How would it do if I brought it out? I just feel like it would be more annoying than anything because I wouldn't be able to down shift as easily.

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It should be fine. Plenty of people do HPDE1 in automatics. There is much more to focus on & learn about than the shifting... just come have fun!

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Trying it out before committing to a major expenditure (like a car change) is generally advised. Try it, see that you like it, get a better idea of all the details and nuances after the first few events so those can drive a more informed decision.

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Autocross can be a useful starting point as well.

 

The issue with all racing is you really need to decide on the class first, then build the car to best fit those rules. That way you don't have the wrong part that bumps you into an uncompetitive class. Although the rather open class structure of the Performance Touring and Super Touring classes avoids some of that. And an aftermarket turbo on that 240sx would pretty much force you to run there. Start taking a look at the rule book, but HPDE doesn't have to worry about all that yet.

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I went through the HPDE ranks in an automatic SRT8 with the auto-stick feature......don't know if you have that ability in the corvette but having the car shift when IT wants to can be a problem. It's still do-able but if you see yourself coming regularly you'll want to change cars.

As for classes, it depends on regions. Although the Miatas are plentiful and cheap I simply can't get into the sound of strung out mosquitos!!!! Some regions have lots of cars in a class while others have virtually none. Go do a couple HPDE's, meet some of the regulars, find out who busts your balls the most, then search for a car that fits that class. Again, look at the car counts.

 

As for cars. Brakes, brakes, brakes are the 3 most important things and street fluid/pads aren't going to cut it in anything faster than those Miatas. Everything else can be run as is til you REALLY start to improve (especially tires)

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