[s-cars] UrS as a Purpose Built Track Car?

[Calvin Craig]

Wow, you guys have been busy on this thread while I was away on a trip.  Let
me put this in perspective a bit:

I am looking for a fun track car, but I do want that thing to be pretty
fast, as well.  Let me calibrate you guys.  I am already faster than the
spec miatas with my '01 S4 on Hankook summer tires.  I basically run the
same speed as a well prepped supercharged miata driven by somebody of
similar skill, or an M3 with all sorts of suspension mods and R-compound
tires driven by a gal that is unbelievably smooth.  So I do want the new car
to be at least that fast.  Here is a video I posted of me at High Plains
Raceway in the S4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmLm5qubWnA

Second pertinent piece of information is that the car is pretty ragged out
on the interior carpet and seats, all the plastic molding on the outside is
missing,  the paint is way faded Tornado Red, the lower part of the front
bumper is in pretty horrible shape, and the car has 200k+ miles - so the
best I am going to do is to pull about $1,500 out of the car.

Let's say I have a budget of $8-$10k and am willing to do 95+% of the work
myself.  I would be planning on stripping weight, putting on big brakes,
coilover suspension, an engine rebuild - after all 200k miles is not a track
worthy engine on a 2.5 mile track - probably stroking the engine and going
for a 3071 during the rebuild.

Basically what I am trading here is the following - I should have said this
in the beginning:

Option 1: Go to a full up Stage 3+ on my '01 S4 and run that as my street
and track car with dedicated r-compounds for the track - costs about $8k-10k
to upgrade from where I am at right now - turbos and fueling kit plus
installation.
Pros - mods are quick and easy to do and it would be fast as hell on the
track and I would get to enjoy the mods on the street as well.
Cons - it beats the snot out of my daily driver, I have to swap pads and
re-bed all the time or run the Stoptech pads I am running now and live with
replacing pads every 200 or so track miles, and consumable costs (tires and
brakes) are high.

Option 2: Buy a late C4 Corvette or early C5 Corvette and go racing - costs
about 6-12k for initial investment plus mods.
Pros - mods are easily available, I love the idea of V-8s that I have built
many times before, generally accepted as a good track car
Cons - not a quattro, consumable prices of tires and brakes certainly did
not go down, probably went up, and the $ spent are starting to get pricey
once we get done with the mods

Option 3: Buy an Audi 90 or Quattro Coupe and put the I5 in from the UrS -
probably costs about 1k to 2k more than the UrS option itself to acquire the
car
Pros - still a quattro, much lighter than the UrS, consumable prices a
little lower due to weight reduction
Cons - cramming that T-charged engine into that bay will not make for
something that is easy to work on, will the rest of the drivetrain hold up
to the power of the engine (clutch, rear diff, etc), headache of the initial
conversion

Oprion 4: Swap the 455 out of my '72 Firebird and put in a modern injected
LS series engine and 6 speed tranny and change the suspension and brakes
drastically - costs about $12k or so
Pros - I already have the car, it would be way different than most stuff out
there, way easy to work on and pretty light even with a full interior -
weighs 3550 with the 455, probably 33xx with the LS series engine, not bad
on consumables
Cons - I have the numbers matching 400 engine on a stand and it has the
numbers matching 4 speed in the car (one of 1490 made in 1972 - it was a
strike year) and it would be a shame to tear it apart and at high speed
those cars tend to be floaty due to aerodynamics - kind of scary braking
from 120mph

Option 5: Sell the '72 Firebird and get a Noble GTO-3R - Net outlay of about
$20k (40k for Noble minus 20k for Firebird sale)
Pros - It's a Noble and comes way faster than any of the other options out
of the box - basically already built for the track, not too bad on
consumables due to the lightweight and pretty easy to work on
Cons - Having to sell the Firebird *sniff sniff* and the higher cost
compared to the other options

Option 6: Sell the Firebird and get a RadicalSport SR3 - net outlay of about
15k
Pros - fastest option of them all and has the lowest consumable cost due to
light weight and small tires and brakes
Cons - not easily driven on the street with no windshield, and cash outlay,
and would have to take up another spot in the garage vs. sit on my concrete
pad like the Urs and Audi 90 options under a car cover through the winter.

Thanks for all the input guys.

--Calvin

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of qshipq at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2010 9:34 AM
To: tmullane at gmail.com
Cc: S-CAR-List at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] UrS as a Purpose Built Track Car?



 Let's not forget the original post Tom.  Calvin has a S4 that he already
owns.  Can it be cheap to drive at the track without spending much?  You
bet, and given he already owns it, "far better choices" would be relative to
the exchange costs.  With prices at ~$2k for a running S4, with tons of
cheap spares available, an S4 sure could make even a miata seem expensive.

I see this as the 'other' side to the Hapersize model.  You can put 675hp to
the wheels, and blow away a lot of more expensive machines with a 4 door
family sedan - laughing your butt off.  You can also take a well worn
D2/44/C4, strip it down, and blow away a lot of more expensive machines at
the track with a 4 door family sedan.  Far better choices?  I like quattros
at the track, especially in the rain.  And knowing first hand what can be
done with a 44tq sedan with 12psi of boost, sure makes me argue that "far
better" is very relative.

I also sat in Petar's Coupe Q track car at the track just this past summer,
the day after he put exactly 138hp at the wheels down at the Dyno.  He was
in the fastest run group, pulling down lotus exiges, porsches and many 'far
better choices' with ease.  No doubt in my mind, that unless you've given a
miss piggy-q a diet and a romp, it's hard to grasp the concept.

I say Calvin goes for it, as it's not only possible, it's damn fun, which
puts all the better choices in perspective.

Scott J



-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Mullane <tmullane at gmail.com>
To: qshipq at aol.com <qshipq at aol.com>
Cc: p.schulz at verizon.net <p.schulz at verizon.net>; S-CAR-List at audifans.com
<S-CAR-List at audifans.com>
Sent: Wed, Nov 17, 2010 9:34 am
Subject: Re: [s-cars] UrS as a Purpose Built Track Car?


Yeah, the Miata is an ok track car too.  Just add a roll bar, no other mods
required. Use the money you save on cheaper consumables for more track time.


Scott, no one is saying that a quattro can't be fun on the track, but if you
are going to spend some money and effort to have something that is cheap,
reliable and fun, there are far better choices.


Tom

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