smitty2919

This should get some good debate. I was aloways into drag racing, the sheer power of launching a car flying down the 1/4 mi. Was never really into the corner carving although I would sometimes drive spirited around turns.

Yesterday I went to Putnam Raceway in Greencastle IN to see my brother in law and father in law race just for fun and to get a ride. HOLY **** is that stuff intense. My brother in law has a 87 Vette full blown race/trac car pushing about 500 n/a CCW's, the whole nine yards...the amount of focus/attention required to fly around turns pulling those kind of G's is amazing. It is such a viscous ride getting tossed around. I was going around turns so fast I was expecting to fly off the track, but the saying "good tires are everything" could not be more true. These track built cars hug corners like nothing I have ever felt.

I may be converted to a "road courser" now...during lunch they allowed ANYONE to bring their car on the track and cruise around, but loosely limited you to 50mph. So OBVIOUSLY I took the Mach out and he rode with me explaining things turn by turn. I was going "slow" compared to how he can drive" but that **** was FUN!

Anyone that bashes road coursing...have you been in a strictly built track car? Not just your buddies budget built Miata lol.

Let's see people's opinions on this one. Seems like a good debate.

school boy

glad to hear you had some fun! bowlingreen ky is opening a road course in the next couple of years. the corvette museum is the one's building it. there is a couple local guys where i live that get into the auto-x and road racing. there my go-to guys if i have any questions. i do agree................ road racing>drag racing.... lol!

Harryman2002

DUDE! I was at putnam park yesterday also, thats where I met the guy who sold me my evo that I bought! By any chance did you see a white evo there that was parked next to a red one with no spoiler?
Cause if you did that was the one that I went to get. Haha wow what a weird coincidence.

There were some seriously sick cars that were there yesterday and if I weren't already a cornering over drag person than that probably would have converted me also. Those corvettes that were fully set up for the road course were insane looking.
There is much more that goes into setting up a car for a road course than a car for drag.

turbo232

i would love to get hold of a Miata for dirt cheap and convert to a 5.0 and make it a track only car. road courses are tons of fun and you dont need loads of power to go fast...but it does help.

smitty2919

I saw a couple of EVO's but none stuck out in my head, where were they parked? toward the enternace of the pits or at the end? I was there in my AB Mach 1 sitting next to a white Suburban. I was with people of a blue 87 Vette parked on left hand side as you came into the pits about halfway down.

That's funny that you were there. Small world how far of a drive is it for you?


I had a blast, the 3 hr drive there and 3hr drive back sucked though. I think that IRS swap just got moved up my TO DO list a little more LOL.


Turbo232: you have a link to any more pics of those enkei wheels on your car? they light?

turbo232

the fronts are under 16 pounds and the rears are right at 17 pounds. 17x9 in front and 17x10 in rear. they are lighter than the stock 17x8 Bullitts.

pics are from both cars just for an idea.

Harryman2002

I didn't go down very far, the car was paked pretty much at the entrance of the track area. Alot of trailers were around there that people took their cars in.
It was about a 9-10 hour drive for me. That would have been crazy to run into you!

smitty2919

Turbo: Thanks a LOT! Where did you pick those up from? What tire sizes are you running? I'm looking to dump my 18" saleens and go with something diff, but I feel I'd want to get a functional wheel, not some heavy a$$ ones. I'd like to keep the 18" size though.


Harryman: that suck for the drive LOL. I take it you bought it there and drive it back?? I was gone by 230ish so I don't know if I would have even run into you. Also, how you get to buy a car that was 9-10 hr drive away from you?? lol

Harryman2002

Haha i got there around 10:30am. We left at midnight and drove through the night.
I found the car on the evo forums and it was a great deal so i had to get it. I just made a thread about it. Check out the pics, maybe you'll recognize the car.

turbo232

i got them from Discount Tire. i dont know if the offsets for 18s will even work. the onl ones that i think would be close is 18x9.5 with +15 offset and 18x10.5 with +15 offset. al the others are very high offsets. mine are 17x9 with +22 offset front with 245/45/17 Nitto 555s and 17x10 with +18 offset and 285/40/17 Nitto 555s. they fit great. i had 315s out back but went with the narrower and slightly taller tires for clearance. they also grip just as good as I outran my buddies 01 Cobra to 60 mph. they also clear the Cobra brakes so you can upgrade those.