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racing bug has bitten...audio budget in serious danger

tomlinmgt

tomlinmgt

Lunatic Member
I'm fixing to have my '68 Camaro back up and running...which will undoubtedly lead to track events (which is where I left off with it almost ten years ago). My fourteen year old son has developed a pretty serious interest in road racing...namely F1...so his enthusiasm makes mine that much stronger. Now I'm contemplating some big suspension mods for the car with thoughts of auto-x dancing in my head. Geez, price of admission/participation for audio starts to look like chump change real fast when you build a race car! :sigh:
 
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Yeah, that's for sure. I haven't spent the money on a hot engine or parts for my Camaro, but I have looked....lots. Building a high output engine doesn't have to cost alot...but building or buying a hot one that lasts does. :)
 
Yep, one of the best things to happen to my audio hobby was selling my 240sx.

Audio can come and go, but the bond you build with your kid doing autocross will be much more beneficial to you and your son long term.
 
Autocross is a blast!

I think it will take some serious work to get it to corner, but it would be fun either way.

If it's something he's serious about, a cheap autocross beater (old Miata is perfect!) may not be much more than suspension mods for the Camaro (and infinitely better for that type driving).
 
Michalel,

Have fun with it. My audio resurection had the opposite effect and has kept me away from HPDE the last two years. 2015 is the year I re-enter that world.

Modifying a vintage Camaro for autocross will be a tall order... but then I assume you know that. Should mean lots of quality time with your son however.

Craig
 
Autocross can be one of the greatest hoots in racing. And, not that expensive. The Camero would not be my choice for a platform to start from. When I did it, I used a fwd MG and MGB. Today with all the 4-bangers out there, especially as quite a few are mated with awd/4-wheel drive in stock form the selection of inexpensive platforms would seem huge. The Miata would be much emotional choice just because I think of it as a MGB that will, start and run 2 days in a row. Some of my old favorites would be too costly to do today as they are collectors' items such as the Sonnetts and frog eye Sprites.
 
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240sx4u said:
Audio can come and go, but the bond you build with your kid doing autocross will be much more beneficial to you and your son long term.
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My son isn't a big gamer, but he still spends what would be considered a "normal" amount of time on the PS3...which is still more than I care to see. I let it slide because it's mostly racing games, and he has a pretty nice sim seat we built for his LogiTech G25 wheel (which was a nice father/son project), but at the end of the day it's largely a solo activity for him. I spend a good bit of time with him working on his baseball skills (he's playing at select/club level now), but I'm totally with you on the quality of bond a mutual endeavor such as auto-x could allow us to have, Evan. And I think it would be a good deterrent to driving like an idiot on the streets (or just doing stupid **** in general....cause, you know, none of ever did stupid **** when we were young :yes::no::yes:) since I could use the privilege as leverage for punishment.

And I agree with those of you who suggest the Camaro isn't the best platform for auto-x and, as such, don't intend to build it for that. I'm gonna trick out the suspension on it a bit (and my comments in the OP were largely regarding the sort of coin it takes to do that) but it's just gonna wind up being a capable street machine that sees some track days now and then. For auto-x I'd get us a different car and I think the Miata is very much worth considering. I do have an ex-SCCA A-sedan fox body that I've converted to run NASA CMC and it's about 90% finished (put that project on the back burner seven years ago because of divorce), so that might get recommissioned as an auto-x/time trial car. I also have a '79 Z28 that's more or less a street/bracket car that I need to sell. Unload that thing and I'd have a decent budget to go toward the auto-x project.

I absolutely need to do something, though. Time friggin' flies by and I can't believe my son is as tall as me and gettin' all hairy. He'll be gone before I know it and I'm lucky that he's into this stuff (amazes me how many kids these days just don't even care about bad ass cars), so I need to take advantage of the opportunity. I'll regret it til the day I die if I don't.
 
and IF he decides to drive like an idiot on the street at least he'd have some skill to back it up. :)
 
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tomlinmgt said:
And I agree with those of you who suggest the Camaro isn't the best platform for auto-x and, as such, don't intend to build it for that.
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Anybody can drive a fast car fast, and anybody can do well in an autocross driving a purpose built autocrosser. If you want to be competitive, then go buy a Miata. If you want to have fun, I wouldn't hesitate to play with your '68 Camaro and just enjoy flinging it around. You might not win overall, but you could always win a class trophy! ;)

I did the autocross and time trial thing with my daughters, if nothing else they learned to be really good drivers. Got a 7 year old step son showing up soon, I'm looking forward to going through the process all over again with him.

bs
 
Racing is a blast, but it's easy to get carried away...I guess that is true in any hobby. I have a saying "you can have 90% of the fun for 10% of the money". You don't have to be the fastest, just fast! I think your '68 is a perfect car. It will keep more of its value after your mods and parts are relatively inexpensive.
My brother has a '68 Camaro SS396 4spd, restored and all original matching numbers. I am in the process of building a 540 for it. We will store all the original parts. Ya gotta enjoy life, and speed fills the need!
Good luck and keep us informed on what you do to get it ready.
 
As stated above, auto x is as cheap as you make it. Sticky tires and off you go. I got bored with it and started doing trackdays.
 
grillebilly said:
Racing is a blast, but it's easy to get carried away...I guess that is true in any hobby. I have a saying "you can have 90% of the fun for 10% of the money".
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Two things I figured out early on when I started drag racing....one, the quickest way to ruin the fun in racing is to consider it fun only if you're winning and two, racing in and of itself doesn't have to be expensive...unless you insist on winning.
 
I realize it is ancient technology but Roger Penske did pretty good with an acid dipped 68 Z/28 forty seven years ago!
edit. the 67 was acid dipped and fitted with 68 parts to look like a 68 maybe? either way it was the 67 or the 68.
 
A '68 Camaro would make a sweet auto X mobile. I wouldn't even second guess it. You have the hard part out of the way, having a platform to work with. Do some suspension and brake mods to it and go racin' :yes:
 
^^^

With all the mods I've done to it...which includes just about everything....it's a fun machine to drive no matter where you're driving it. I might have to do an auto-x or two with it just to mark it off the list, but I've had it on track (HPDE 1-4) so that's gonna' be real hard to beat and a proper road coarse is the place where I really enjoy pushing it. The last engine was around 450 HP, the new one will be 550-600 HP and it's not mini-tubbed so I can't get a whole lot of tire under it. I'm thinking a tight, technical little auto-x coarse will require a lot of steering with the throttle.... whether I like it or not.

Here she is...just to put a face with the name.

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