What would the GRM hive do?

The Answer is in post #3.

In reply to BarryNorman :

You're guessing at problems. Drive the car (whatever car it ends up being) and see if those are actual problems. One of my best autocross students ever was in a V6 auto Camry. He usually tracked a 911 with his dad, but wanted to start autocross and the 911 was broken. He did great car did great. I've talked to him at track days and the Camry is his backup track car as well. Good fluid, decent pads and he hasn't had issues, though he runs on all seasons to keep grip/higher G issues down. He drives. Every chance he gets. He prefers the 911 but doesn't pass up track time. 

In reply to bentwrench :

I am not French.

And like being outside the box.

Even if it has to be in the most available box.

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

You are right of course.  Just wouldn't be reading along here for a dozen years and not ask how a car could be improved.

BarryNorman said:

In reply to captdownshift :  

 After the next model cycle the cars that are manufactured (under60k) will be a UV of some kind. And what's readily available isn't understood. Your solution is wax. 

Yes, taking a decent sporty car and making these mods is probably the best solution.  But can your average commuter be made into a GT3 Pcar? Floppy paddles, sequential shifting, and left foot trail braking weekend warrior?

Let's not confuse "flappy pedals" with a dual-clutch box like the DSG/DCT/PDK boxes. 

You can get flappy paddles on a Jeep Grand Cherokee and most minivans, it's just a different button to press vs the completely different gearboxes that shift much more quickly.

In reply to z31maniac :

I fully appreciate the specialized component. But not having the skill behind the wheel to get the most from it . I was thinking more a poor man's pdk, dsg, etc. Take sensors from the shifter and move to the steering wheel. Keeping both hands there. For safety. 

Having spent 3 years driving GT3 P cars in anger, no, you cannot. You can take a highly skilled driver in a Tercel and have them hang with a shoebox in a P car, but it doesn't make the P car any less capable. 

BarryNorman said:

In reply to Javelin :

Thanks for the prevailing wisdom. And probably the most reasonable. But is there nothing more to be done? 

Not without metric tons of $$$$. Most "regular car" automatics have a near-zero aftermarket support base, to the point where you can't even rebuild them stock. It's a service trans from a major remanufacturer or nothing basically. There's always full custom parts like billet convertors, but at those prices you really should just consider buying any other car/platform.

If you are working with a common US RWD car you'll have a ton of options though, thanks to drag racing. You can turn a 4R70W into a fully-manual shifted, almost always-locked beast. No torque converter auto is ever going to shift like a dual-clutch though, *especially* on the downshifts. That said, you can definitely take some autos to really good places for track work, but that model range is super-narrow and almost all sporty cars. The better autos are at the track the worse they are for everyday driving though.

BarryNorman said:

In reply to z31maniac :

I fully appreciate the specialized component. But not having the skill behind the wheel to get the most from it . I was thinking more a poor man's pdk, dsg, etc. Take sensors from the shifter and move to the steering wheel. Keeping both hands there. For safety. 

Not going to work. PDK (Porschedopplekung - literally "Porsche Dual Clutch") is a MANUAL transmission with two clutches that are all computer controlled. Same thing with modern Ferrari, VW/Audi DSG, Lamborghini, BMW, etc. No torque convertor automatic will ever be like that, no matter how much money you throw at it, just ask Maserati. GM tried with "Tap Shift" in the V8 Grand Prix GXP and got laughed off of the track. 

In reply to Javelin :

Having said that, they 10spd in the Camaro is very very good. The Ring video of it is phenominal. Heat is a still a big enough problem that nobody would go racing with one, but for shorter "just for fun" track stuff they appear to be great. 

In reply to Javelin :

Thanks for your comments. I was looking to get off the fence and it seems the best way would be a cooler with good fluid and dedicated track wheels. Even if I were using c5 drive train At included.

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Could one take out enough weight to tip the balance?

mazdeuce - Seth said:

In reply to Javelin :

Having said that, they 10spd in the Camaro is very very good. The Ring video of it is phenominal. Heat is a still a big enough problem that nobody would go racing with one, but for shorter "just for fun" track stuff they appear to be great. 

Yep, same one is in the new Mustang GT as well. 

It's pretty crazy that nowadays you can spend $35k on a new car with a warranty that makes almost 500hp and will run 11s on drag radials.