Dilemma: Build a gt350r or a gt500 to prep for road racing or buy completed track car?

[Flsupraguy]

My background is a highly modded 997 gt3. Im tempted to buy a gt500 and gutt it as a road race car but afraid I will miss having a manual trans. 90% of the time I track at sebring and about twice a year at daytona. I love how the gt500 has an endless opportunity for power but think the gt350r will get me the feel that I'm accustomed to. I like that even if I get them setup for the track I can drive them to car shows opposed to buying a track car that I cant. First world problems. Budget is about 100k

 

[blacksheep-1]

buy a completed track car with a documented history. Srsly, no brainer.

 

[RES_22]

Cross-plane crank if you intend to race-race it.

Also a no brainer.

 

[TMSBOSS]

There are a few Boss302 race cars set up and available well under the budget you set.

 

[Flsupraguy]

Cross-plane crank if you intend to race-race it.

Also a no brainer.

So I guess its safe to say rule out the gt350r?

 

[RES_22]

350R is great especially the 2019+ with Gen2 engine mods. If, however, you intend to race it for points and more than regionally, then the reliability of a CPC engine (in a race car-race car) that will live 90+% of its life close to 8k rpm...coupled with race engine building/expertise of CPC wizards.....well...simple is usually most cost effective, unless you are the factory.

Oh yeah...the factory...Ford sells only CPC race engines and purpose-built race cars. They must have data to support that decision...so if it was my $100k I'd look at what @Fabman, @ArizonaBOSS and @captdistraction have done (comprehensive build threads are on this board) and blend it all into a winner. Fantastic S197 equipment and operating experience. They all help/share happily, too.

So like Tracy said earlier...find a built Boss race car, polish it with tips from the guys mentioned above and make budget.

You'll have a blast....and please share with all of us YOUR JOURNEY once you take the plunge !!

 

[blacksheep-1]

I think both Phoenix and Kohr have cars available.
Tell them I sent you

That turbo 4 banger is an SCCA national champion, BTW

Phoenix Cars for Sale

Corvette C7 SCCA T-1 Racecars for Sale - Built by Phoenix Performance

www.phoenixperformance.net

This is a partial list, they are moving to Daytona and have not updated their info, but they do have cars available other than these

Cars for Sale | KohR Motorsports

kohrmotorsports.com

 

[Vettel-ish]

Track car for sure, get something sorted and drive the wheels of it.

 

[PatrickStapler]

If you can find a 60% off coupon, that Kohr GT4 car will be right at your budget....

 

[racer47]

Buy a real race car. Once you've driven one, you'll never go back to a converted street car

Race Cars, Parts, Trailers & Engines for Sale | RacingJunk Classifieds

Race Cars, Parts, Trailers & Engines for Sale | RacingJunk Classifieds

www.racingjunk.com

 

[blacksheep-1]

Buy a real race car. Once you've driven one, you'll never go back to a converted street car

Race Cars, Parts, Trailers & Engines for Sale | RacingJunk Classifieds

Race Cars, Parts, Trailers & Engines for Sale | RacingJunk Classifieds

www.racingjunk.com

That's kind of a 2 edge sword, while it's true that most purpose built race cars are much easier to maintain, and they can be "clipped" if they are damaged for about $1K, so they can never really be written off, the (TA2 cars are a great example of this), so they do offer some great advantages, I've always preferred stock type cars for the fact that they are built on a "stock" floor pan, and technically, are a streetable vehicle, like the old 60s Trans Am cars. The Gt1 style cars are also limited in what classes you want to run and end up in categories with Gt3 Porsches and such. It just depends on what your long term goals are.
They are a decent alternative though, there's a lot to be said for riveting a new fender on in a couple of hours vs drilling out spot welds for 2 days.
Along those lines, if you can find an old "square" pavement late model chassis (new ones seem to be mostly offsets) that might be a good starting point.

 

[racer47]

Really the core question is, does he want a semi streetable semi fast race car or an actual fast competitive race only car or just a fast street car.

The old ASA style perimeter, or square, or non-offset chassis are getting pretty old now. I think the TA2 / GT2 Howe chassis cars are the sweet spot. New design, parts are available for reasonable costs, easy to fix and will also hold its value longer. Used ones can be had for $60k.

The street car stuff is all special. Every car is built differently. They are all heavy. They lose value quicker. The wiring harnesses are a pain. Motor costs are high. Transmissions are expensive and not as durable and on and on. Its a constant battle just to keep them on the track. I like the 60s Trans Am cars but newer GT350s are crazy complicated compared to those.

I just picked the GT1 car because he has $100k to spend. Plus 2600 lbs and 800 hp is just a ton of fun. They have their own SCCA class, National and Regional. That car and a decent driver would dominate Regionals. But they don't fit into NASA well and most HPDEs don't allow cars like that.

 

[RES_22]

4 (four) mile 302S on Bringatrailer.....$50k.

Looks solid.

 

[vetracer]

It's a no brainer. Buy a well built and maintained existing race car. The cost and time of building a car even if you do all the work yourself will be multiples of the cost of buying a prebuilt car. Ask me how I know says the person who did it more than once.