cheapest way to go fast

Cars are for wimps.

If you want cheap speed, buy a sportbike.

Also, practice getting your point across in less words.

I think that if you title a thread "cheapest way to go fast" and don't say "buy a shifter kart" you should have to re-name your thread.

I totally agree with the sentiment that morphing your street car into a race car is a compromised process and with the hindsight of having gone racing via successively more aggressive builds leading me to a home made silly fast mostly tube chassis tin top - I would suggest skipping versions of pedestrian cars altogether and buying a real race car.

Why buy a Corvette when a Lola or a March costs the same money? Why spring for a Viper when you can lap it's lumbering ass in a Radical Sports Racer? That is where scary fast lives. In purpose built race machines with only one seat.

z31maniac wrote: Cars are for wimps. If you want cheap speed, buy a sportbike.

QFT

Cheapest way to go fast? Skydiving.

z31maniac wrote: Cars are for wimps. If you want cheap speed, buy a sportbike. Also, practice getting your point across in less words.

Cheap Speed? Hard to beat a Hayabusa or ZX-14 for under $15K. $5k in performance parts puts you well above 200mph capability.

Someone has never built a Honda...

And yes, I've worked on C4s. Never again.

Derick Freese wrote: Someone has never built a Honda... And yes, I've worked on C4s. Never again.

+100.

Drewsifer wrote: Cheapest way to go fast? Skydiving.

ya can go faster w/ o the drag of the chute... but the landing might be a bitch

And before I get a reaming over "stock" C4s, it wasn't stock, it was a race car. Those cars are like meth.

C4 Corvette. Not even once.

fasted58 wrote:

Drewsifer wrote: Cheapest way to go fast? Skydiving.

ya can go faster w/ o the drag of the chute... but the landing might be a bitch

Actually, terminal velocity for a human is about 120 mph, so you're not going all that fast, though the price is probably right.

Terminal velocity in what position? I haven't clocked many falling people, and this is information that's easier to look up than remember, so I never bothered to remember it.

Lol this thread....

Derick Freese wrote: Terminal velocity in what position? I haven't clocked many falling people, and this is information that's easier to look up than remember, so I never bothered to remember it.

In the "flailing around in terror" position. If you're a pro (and the odds of that are unlikely, since you only get one shot at it) you can go all Point Break and maybe get to 200. But I can't see many people having Keanu's nerves of steel.

And you thought he just couldn't act.

Strike_Zero wrote:

z31maniac wrote: Cars are for wimps. If you want cheap speed, buy a sportbike.

QFT

The front of the WERA National guys run 1:13s at Summit Point on open class litre bikes and 15-17s on 600s. These are pro riders on top notch national winning race bikes.

SCCA CSR club racers in 20 year old Lolas, Van Diemans and RALTs costing less than $20k run 1:06-1:10s. An SCCA GT2 350z will run 1:16s there.

4 tires > 2 tires when there are turns in a lap.

Duke wrote:

fasted58 wrote:

Drewsifer wrote: Cheapest way to go fast? Skydiving.

ya can go faster w/ o the drag of the chute... but the landing might be a bitch

Actually, terminal velocity for a human is about 120 mph, so you're not going all that fast, though the price is probably right.

What about a human strapped to a JATO nosed toward the ground... that would be a pretty fast way to get down from the sky.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Duke wrote:

fasted58 wrote:

Drewsifer wrote: Cheapest way to go fast? Skydiving.

ya can go faster w/ o the drag of the chute... but the landing might be a bitch

Actually, terminal velocity for a human is about 120 mph, so you're not going all that fast, though the price is probably right.

What about a human strapped to a JATO nosed toward the ground... that would be a pretty fast way to get down from the sky.

Why did the song 'Rocket Man' just start playing in my head...

Honestly though, this is a great subject and something I've been working on with a friend and business partner for years. Building an inexpensive race car for the budget minded racer. We're nearing the completion of the first production run of the cars and will enter the testing phase and know all the results of that testing by July. I'm not going to hijack the thread any more, though. I need to pay to advertise here first before I start with more details...

/thread

Javelin wrote: /thread

A good condition used Honda motorcycle with a model designation ending in "RR" should do just fine. There's a number of other options but the parts supply for these bikes is pretty decent so they'd probably be my first choice.

I was going to say train, but what do I know?

mguar wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: Good question. I think the reason people start with street vehicles over pure race cars is because street stuff starts out so cheap compared to pure race stuff.. The race cars I've raced started out as a cash layout (typically less than $500.) and payments over time. That is I bought stuff when I had money not when the bank demanded payment.. That way I felt if I should happen to wreck it I could either fix it or start over.. Yes a car designed as a race car from the start will be faster than a converted street car. but I'm thinking more of the guy with a few bucks left over from his paycheck not a trust fund baby.. Or someone with the means to lay out the money purpose built race cars cost.. As far as shifter cart, well One could make a case for motorcycles and other sorts of motorsports as well. I just happen to be a sportscar guy..

I get more racing done if i start with a cheap car. If i have to wait to buy a ready to go race car, then i don't race as much.

Also, if we all start doing this, who will build the cars?

Dumb discussion. There's no right or wrong answer, not everyone wants the same thing

I'll take a Honda to go racing with. Preferably starting with a bone stock one.

Alternatively, take a gander at my Escort build.

mguar wrote: In reply to Javelin: Nitrous? really? Not for sports car racing.. How big a tank would you need for the 4 mile long Elkart Lake track with a Corvette/Mustang? Say a 20 minute race or so? Besides we're talking about which car to go racing with not how to modify it..

Your post title said "cheapest way to go fast". Nitrous is the cheapest way to go fast (ie - MPH). Be it 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, or 1 mile racing, it's legal for all of it. It's also cheap to buy the initial parts and refill the tanks.

Now if you insist on quantifying "fastest lap", then I'm going to echo everybody else with shifterkart/sportbike. But if you want to artificially restrict your statements again to just 4-wheeled, car-like vehicles, then I will change my answer to:

Be exceptionally talented, lucky, marketable or connected - then people pay you to go fast and provide you with purpose-built cars to go fast in. That would be the cheapest way.

Rentals (cheaper than a whole car if you only need to do it once or twice) or buy someone's depreciated racer. Used is cheaper than building from scratch. Shared ownership?

Base jumping - no airplane fees involved - chute optional if you only need to do it once.