THSCC Forums

We took a little trip to knowledge performance this past weekend on saturday and dynoed and aligned miranda's STi. I was positively surprised by the power the thing made! With just a straightpipe and a K&N filter, she put down 269.5 whp and 265 wtorque! Holy schmoley

Also did the alignment and with some help from mr crowbar we got -1.4 camber in the front with 5 degrees caster and -1.3 camber in the rear. I can't wait for the R compounds to get here

-Tom

Looks like alot, but don't the Vettes in AS have like 320 hp at the wheels. Do you have enough handling to beat them.

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2006 Civic Si - #24 HS for 2015

2005 GMC Sierra
1991 318is Garage Ornament

Take a look at the Nationals winners this year. 1st place was a 93 LT1 with 300hp/330ftlb. They typically dyno around 240-260hp at the wheels. The 2nd and 4th place guys had 89s. Those are L98s. Only about 250hp but 350ftlb. On a dyno it still knocks out over 300 ft lbs. And the L98 brings on all the torque from off idle to 4Krpm. They're great for the low speed stuff. With a Z51 suspension they're tight. Or get a 91-L98 with Z07 option package (in white). I seem to recall seeing one of those this year

The C5's that have more hp/tq and better handling got beat up by the C4's. Why? Maybe horsepower isn't everything... But it sure is fun to have when you hit the go peddle

Graham

I thought the LT1 was one of the famously 'underated motors' from GM. No I'm not confusing this with the LS-1 either. You know more about Vettes than I do though.

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2006 Civic Si - #24 HS for 2015

2005 GMC Sierra
1991 318is Garage Ornament

Rob you hit the nail on the head! GM underated the LT1 and the LT4 on purpose. They are very strong engines. The thing is the LT1 runs best between 3000-5000rpm. The L98 more like 2000-4000rpm. It's one of the best low end torque small block chevy engines. The LS1 takes the LT1 to the next generation and removed some design issues with the LT1 that people had lots of troubles with, like the Optispark distributor... If it wasn't for that butt ugly (pun intended) back end of the C5 I would have looked for one of those. But I'll stick with my C4 for now.

I'm surprised that the C5's (excluding Z06) do not appear to be competing with the C4's at the top levels. The 04 Sti seems to be making headway in A-stock so I think the handling capabilities are there. An Evo showed up in the top pile too. Ultimately you need an awesome driver to win at that level. A well prepped car appears to me to be secondary to driver skill. Then again I'm just a rookie autoxr so what do I know

Graham

The AS winner Matthew Braun is a step above the rest in driving ability.
IMHO the Sti will shine brightest in the shorter tighter prosolo courses where it's 4WD accelleration and turning will be a decided advantage. It will give up some of that advantage on the larger more open national tour and championship courses where HP and torque can be put to the ground. PS, don't count the Boxster S out either, especially when driven by that jolly little guy from SC.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

That's because there are none competing at the top levels. If you can afford a C5 you can probably afford a Z06, so why on earth would you bring a "regular" C5 to a national event. At this point there is only one car to have in SS and that is the Z06. If there are others, they probably cost 30-100% more, so why bother.

Scott

Scott,

Z06's are in SS. So yes you would bring one for that class. I agree with you that if you're shopping for a new C5 or relatively new that a Z06 would be the one I would choose.

But we are talking about AS. So a Z06 is out. I think a 99 FRC w/Z51 suspension would work. I'm guessing that the cost of a used C5 is still too high for most folks.

The C4's are at about their lowest price now. So a C4 can be had for half the cost of a C5 and obviously be very competetive. Once the C6 comes out and C5 prices start to fall I expect to see more of them showing up.

Sorry to hijack your thread Tom

Graham

Yes, the Z06 is SS, but so is a regular C5, that means a regular C5 is bringing a knife to a gun fight. No need to autocross a C5 at all.

It seems people were comparing the C5 to the C4, but it isn't a fair comparison since they run different classes. My understanding is that the C5 is a much better car than a C4...

Scott

Ok but where does the Evo fall into place. It's my understanding the Evo is a bit more light on it's feet but a bit less powerful. Have any of these cars run head to head yet. Looking at all of them if I were buying an AS car I'd probably go with the Boxter. Clearly for some AWD can be a big advantage though.

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2006 Civic Si - #24 HS for 2015

2005 GMC Sierra
1991 318is Garage Ornament

The Evo and STi haven't been developed enough to really comment on the true autocross performance.

Just because the EVO has done better (marginally at best) in the magazine testing doesn't mean that it is better on an autocross course after a good alignment and race tires are added to the equation.

In the rain, a good driver in an EVO or STi will probably win, but if it's dry the Corvette gets my vote, between the equal or better power and the lower weight/better handling, I think they can make up the difference that the AWD cars get on the launch. It will be much closer in a ProSolo setting though.

Scott

Ah! My mistake. I thought the C5 was in AS and that only the Z06 went to SS. You're right. Wrong weapon for that fight.

Graham

I guess the difference is that I am putting down 260 hp to 4 wheels and with the active center diff and 275 race tires I can always be full throttle.

We'll see what kind of a difference that and the launch makes

-Tom

Tom, is the active diff good enough to make the STi 'almost RWD' exiting corners. What's it's intended function?? I'd imagine having that adjustability would be nice to help prevent on throttle understeer.

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2006 Civic Si - #24 HS for 2015

2005 GMC Sierra
1991 318is Garage Ornament

After driving Dan's car and driving with him, the ACD can make it handle like a traditional RWD car, or more like and AWD car. It really is amazing how much adjustment it does to the handling. - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
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