Auto-x and road racing seems like it would be pretty tough on a car. Do most people who race more than once or twice a year have a dedicated race car?

 

I think you need a 3rd choice... My wife and I have 3 cars. My autox/tracker is the third car. Sometimes it gets driven, sometimes it doesn't...

 

Same here. 3 cars for 2 people who both work. Very capable of being driven daily, but not desirable.

As far as racing being hard on cars, sometimes the street is harder on cars set up for racing than racing is. Full road race cars would rip-off spoilers and get stuck on speed bumps and would break the suspensions in potholes.

My autocross level 1994Z28M6 is often driven daily on the street, when 1 of the other 2 cars is being worked on. With zero rubber or polyurethane bushings on any of the tubular control arms, panhard rod or torque arm, 500lb front springs, Konis and 35 - 40 series tires, it can be a fairly harsh ride. Recent bad road construction has had me slowing to a stop for potholes and abrupt changes in pavement height. The car is actually a blast to drive on decent roads, but a pain on poor roads.

Rick R

 

My wife and I have four vehicles. I would drive it daily (and use to), but hate putting that many miles on my car (100/day ). I do drive it to work once every couple of weeks: stress reliever.

 

Not quite a daily driver anymore but it was and still could be. I drive it when I get the urge but due to all the idiots on the road, I usually drive the 94 Geo Prizm. If it gets plowed, I won't cry. I can't say that for the SS.

 

Daily driver. 50 miles a day, back and forth to work with 155,000 miles on it.

 

Steve,

My car has 85,000 miles of which 40,000 miles have been traveled, since I added all of the rod-end tubular suspension pieces. Until I buy a new truck (maybe Silverado SS), I have been driving the Z28 3 times per week 55 miles per day. However, I am careful when traversing bumps. My wife is not as careful, as she is used to the cushier ride of the 1996 Impala SS. So I really don't like her driving the Z28.

Atlanta has some fun hilly roads to tackle. I went to Georgia Tech for 3 years and loved some of the roads up there. Most of the medium to high speed corners in Florida are found on Highway ramps. Not as fun. Of course Moroso of West Palm Beach is only 20 minutes away.

Rick R

 

It's nice having it as a daily driver. A group of us just went to Brasstown Bald (highest point in Georgia) on a Sunday run two weekends ago and have a run planned for the "tail of the dragon", Hwy 129 where it crosses NC and Tennessee. ( www.tailofthedragon.com ) . So yes, we do have some twisty roads to enjoy it with.

 

Another 3rd choice req'd here. Mine is a "fair weather car". I suspect once the Zed is done it will see very little of the street.

Our streets are harder on cars that autocross.

 

You have GOT to tell me more about this!!!

This is Newfound Gap between Cherokee and Gatlinburg right?

I took the SS up there a couple months after I got it just so I could have fun. Over the course of a week's stay in Bryson City (NC side) I must have gone through there to Gatlinburg at least 4 times both ways. I had to keep pulling over to let traffic clear ahead of me so that I could round the corners at speeds fast enough to really enjoy. But it was a good excuse to be able to pull over to take pictures. The family was alittle green anyway. lol

I found a "twisty road" sign on the road to Clingman's dome that had an added dinky sign below it that read "next 11 miles" or something like that. I pulled the car up behind it, kneeled down by the car and had my wife take a picture of it. Of course it didn't turn out very good cause she was too far away, we weren't centered and another car passed just as she was taking the picture. But oh well. I'll try again next time.


***edit***
Okay I found the map. 441 is the one I was thinking of but I think I was on 129 once too that week. Anyway, is this like an organized event or just a bunch of guys out for a drive through the mountains?

 

In 1994 we took the Z28 from Statham Ga to Kentucky to go to Mammoth cave. On the way back we detoured towards the Tennessee/NC border and hit alot of the Blue Ridge Parkway and various twisty roads out there - beautiful country and a blast to drive. However, in my unmodified Z28 with wife and 6 year old daughter I couldn't really hang into the corners to near the limit and they were getting beat up going from side to side.

Last year made the trip from Statham Ga to Talulah (sp?) gorge in the 1996 Impala SS with Hotckiss bars and Bilsteins. I was the front car out of 3-car convoy and enjoyed some curves past a small town with a very green lake. The Impala is a 2-ton+ car, but I still lost other 2 cars by 2 miles in that stretch. Not as fun as a Z28 though.

Rick R

 

This road is just south of the park. It runs east/west through Tennessee and North Carolina. It has 318 turns in an 11 mile stretch. No, this is not Newfound Gap. I went to college at the University of Tennessee (in Knoxville) and I think I spent more time on these mountain roads than I spent in class. And this run is absoulutely the best, anywhere in the south. Most turns are cambered just perfect. The road (at least last time I was there) was very smooth. Click on that link (if you haven't) and take a look at the map and the pictures. And you get to visit the mountains while you're there... well, before the run and after the run. You don't see much of the mountains for about 11 miles....

 

My camaro is my nice day car. I drive it 7 days a week when its nice.. but for 5 months a year it sits in a garage. How do you count that?

I have about 50 passes down the 1/4 with it, and about 25 autocross events (thats like 150-200 runs!) on it in the last 3 years... nothing but preventative maintenance and never had a problem.
It is tough on a car... but maintenance makes all the difference.

 

My daily driven TA saw about 17 Autocrosses this season. The LSD went out after about 7 of them, but other than that, it runs like a champ

 

I drive mine every day. It’s got about 75 auto x runs or so. I don't exactly take it easy on it when I am driving around town ether. Nothing but preventive maintenance also.

Adam