5 Cheap Mods that Make Big Difference
Slideshow: Starting with the nut behind the wheel.
instruction
As a private driving coach, I get the opportunity to spend time in cars with people of varying degrees of skill and ability. One thing that is common across all racers is that the proper instruction can be worth much more than any part. Many drivers are shocked to find their vehicle can go 1 or 2 seconds faster than they thought without touching a thing. Good instruction can be expensive, but compared to a turbocharger or Hoosiers it’s cheap.
PRO TIP: You can’t buy raw talent, but you can buy a lot of time from having the right person to work with you on your technique and lines.
image courtesy of kinja-img.net
Weight Reduction (keep weight distribution)
Chucking out your radio and passenger seat is all well and good as long as you take care to preserve weight distribution. Stripping things out of your vehicle is probably the single best modification you can make and is a favorite of many because it’s free. Cornering weighting the car ensures that the cross weights are on the money as well which will give the car equal turning power in both left and right-hand corners.
PRO TIP: Nothing can replace low weight. Simply gutting a Corvette and knowing how to drive it is a weapon all in itself. Make sure you preserve weight distribution during the process.
image courtesy of kinja-img.net
Alignment
If you’re looking for another cheap gain you can literally learn to align your own car using the old school string method or you can study alignment and tire wear and get it done at the shop of your preference. You might laugh, but I have friends who have won national championships against some of the biggest names in racing using nothing but a level and yarn. Understanding how your wheels are coming in contact with the ground does require a probe-type pyrometer for pinpoint true accuracy, but aligning a car in and of itself is pretty inexpensive if you know what you’re trying to accomplish.
PRO TIP: if you’re going to take tire temps to make sure you use a probe type pyrometer. Lasers aren’t used by any professional racers who take the sport seriously.
image courtesy of flickr.com
Correctly Sized Sway Bars and End Links
Sway bars are one part that contributes to big improvements in handling for cheap, but here’s a tip. If you’re going to get them, make sure you use adjustable end links. Many sway bars experience uneven loading from left to right which can cause minor fluctuations in handling balance. Neither of these parts are ludicrously expensive which is why they make the list. Properly sized bars work in tandem with each other to create a neutral balance when you start to push the car. Many aftermarket bars are adjustable which allows for further fine tuning if necessary.
PRO TIP: Depending on your setup you may find it beneficial to run without a rear bar. Consulting with a specialized racing shop is one of the fastest ways to figure it out quickly.
image courtesy of topspeed.com
Brake Pads
One of the cheapest modifications you can buy is also one of the most important: brake pads. It can also be one of the most confusing with pad compounds that vary front to rear and internet searches that yield more headaches than real-world answers. Realistically for most people a matched set from Hawk or Porterfield will be more than enough and can be found for a few hundred dollars. If you step up to a racing oriented pad you can expect a bit more, but remember that we are still talking about a car part that is under $500 to $600 and will net seconds on the right race track.
PRO TIP: Brake pads that are meant strictly as race pads should not be used on the street “because race car.” They take excessive heat to get up to temperature and can be sketchy on the street. Know what your car does and buy the appropriate equipment for the environment you drive it in.
image courtesy of tinypic.com
Final Thoughts
A driver that has taken time to get instruction on track, practices good technique in the car and follows all of these mods can have a track day weapon that will post some of the quickest times at any HPDE event for a fraction of the cost you might think. Corvettes are incredibly capable cars which don’t need a lot of mods to be taken seriously. Utilizing these as an early foundation can be the best way to learn this truly rewarding platform. Hope you enjoyed reading and hit the track soon.
image courtesy of flickr.com
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