I am in a dilemma

[Drakiv]

Want to improve your times? HPDE is a very good investment.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by ryoma

I just feel that I am in the mindset of always wanting to improve the car to suit my obsessive need of getting faster lap times. right now, I am looking at BBK's for later braking to get that marginal improvement on lap times lol. I feel that it's a never ending cycle of chasing the best lap times possible. but I also think that if I perhaps had a car other than the BRZ, it would be easier to chase these lap times without spending the money that I have currently spent on the BRZ. I am also closely monitoring the FI options for the BRZ as well which doesn't really help my wallet

You already spelled out what you are looking for.

If your goal is to get faster, you should dump money in either 1) as many track days as you can on your current setup, or 2) racing school with professional instruction.

I learned by dumping all my money into drift day events virtually every month from 2001 to 2004. Sure I screwed up here and there, but you don't learn if you don't fall or push the car past its limits.

-alex

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by shiumai

I'd ask CSG Mike to take your car out and see what lap time he gets. If his lap time is better than yours, then you don't need to spend anything on your car; just driving instruction.

That's actually a really good idea. I'm hard over in the professional instruction camp. It's a real game changer.

[dp1]

OP, how many track hours have you done to date? What's your skill level - are you close to/little loose in every corner? How much faster are pro drivers/instructors in your car or a car like yours? As others said, instruction and seat time help develop driving skills, regardless of car. What kind of track car do you think would make you happy today if money were no object?

[strat61caster]

+1 faster driver is better speed/$ than mawds

Hell, there's probably a good chance all the money you spent was actually counterproductive to building a faster car, it may feel great to you now, but a shift in driving style may reveal a weakness in the car, a setup that masks your mistakes hiding ultimate speed.

You wanna be badass on track? Sell the 86 and get a NA Miata and maximize seat time, be fast in that, be fast in everything. Learn how to set that car up and translate the knowledge and lessons to another platform later.

Edit:
Having someone who I know is fast drive my car is one of the best decisions I've ever made. At an autocross test and tune I thought I hit a wall, popped a hotshoe in there and he was ~2s faster the first time he ever touched the car. My next run I scrabbled 1s of that back and found tenths after that getting close to his time. I've done this several times now, I know that on a clean run I'm still hunting for at least 1s that's still on the table, no part is going to give me that second, just blood, sweat, and tears.

Looking forward to signing up for a school later in the year, it will cost more than my first set of sticky tires, but I bet it will be much more speed/$.

[ryoma]

for me, the track is more of a place to test my mods that I have done to make my car faster. I am not a professional driver nor have I had a pro drive my car so I have no idea whether or not I am heading in the right direction, but I have gotten faster every track day so far. whether it is my own driver skill improving or caused by my mods, I do not know. at my amateur level, I feel as if throwing money at this car would not make much as much of a difference than going for another platform. I haven't really set up my car for the track only since it is my DD as well, but I have tried to find a good balance between competitive track times and DD duties.

of course I have been content with what the BRZ provides, but with my paygrade increase, I start having many miscellaneous thoughts lol

[dp1]

Originally Posted by ryoma

for me, the track is more of a place to test my mods that I have done to make my car faster. I am not a professional driver nor have I had a pro drive my car so I have no idea whether or not I am heading in the right direction, but I have gotten faster every track day so far. whether it is my own driver skill improving or caused by my mods, I do not know. at my amateur level, I feel as if throwing money at this car would not make much as much of a difference than going for another platform. I haven't really set up my car for the track only since it is my DD as well, but I have tried to find a good balance between competitive track times and DD duties.

of course I have been content with what the BRZ provides, but with my paygrade increase, I start having many miscellaneous thoughts lol

You and many others, that's how a mind of a car enthusiast and explorer should work, I think

I wish that I could afford to buy a different track car every year, but I wish more that I was skilled enough to use each of them near their full potential, so I invest more in the latter. Many replies already confirmed that it's a good investment.

After 5 track seasons, over 35 track/ax days and a 3-day racing school, there are instructors and TT drivers with twins who still beat me by a few or more seconds on the same courses, and they don't have SC, BBK, fancy dampers, etc...I love when there is room for improvement, I keep going back to tracks, getting faster and feeling better about the high upfront costs and the low costs of consumables (compared to many other cars) and not needing a trailer and having a street legal car that I can take out on the weekends...

When I was in similar doubts about investing further, many times, the next time I drove this car on track/ax reconfirmed that I made the right emotional choice. I drove my car for 7 months without any mods to validate that connection, then went in deep into upgrades. There is a reason why Randy Pobst said that they should have made the twin a car of the year...and for the big grin on Top Gear...and for many other rave reviews by awesome drivers...and none of this matters if you don't emotionally connect to the car.

Most available mods are a waste of money for a person who doesn't make a living from racing. But it's a fun journey. I shouldn't have done most of the upgrades until I learned how to reach limits of a lesser car. But I'm happy that I did. It costs much less than what you've spent so far to upgrade this car for track use in a way that helps performance and avoids premature failures of parts that were not design for excessive track use, and well over double to fine tune it into a razor sharp track car...

[ZionsWrath]

OP, why not get into some competition?

Are you putting up competitive numbers in time trials? If not that may be something to try and rekindle your passion for the car.

[Summerwolf]

Yes. You can get a low mileage C5Z for less than a nice BRZ limited.


I am willing to bet if you spreadsheet that car you'd be much faster.....

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ryoma

for me, the track is more of a place to test my mods that I have done to make my car faster. I am not a professional driver nor have I had a pro drive my car so I have no idea whether or not I am heading in the right direction, but I have gotten faster every track day so far. whether it is my own driver skill improving or caused by my mods, I do not know. at my amateur level, I feel as if throwing money at this car would not make much as much of a difference than going for another platform. I haven't really set up my car for the track only since it is my DD as well, but I have tried to find a good balance between competitive track times and DD duties.

of course I have been content with what the BRZ provides, but with my paygrade increase, I start having many miscellaneous thoughts lol

Below is not a criticism nor a slam but simply an observation based upon what you have said here.


You readily admit that you are not driving the car to it's potential and have been modding it for a while with the goal of "going faster". All the mods in the world will not give you better times if you don't know how to drive. It would appear that you may have bought this car on a settled for basis back when it was all you could afford and now that you have some money burning a hole in your pocket you want something better. As I said before there is not necessarily anything better just different. There will be a trade off in some aspect no matter what you go for. If you go with some you may pick up more straight line speed but lose some turning. Others may give you everything you think you need but will cost a fortune to maintain or repair. Some may be great track cars but be a total pain in the ass for daily driving.


You really need to dig deep into your thoughts and decide what is the true motivation behind why you want to switch. I doubt you will find that it is to get faster track times but more likely you just want a change or something to respark your interest. Once somebody becomes bored with a car (for legit reasons or not) then there is little that can be done to make it exciting again. I have said many times that sometimes it is not the owning of a car that creates the passion but it is the desire for one, the actual search, the mental playing with options or even the perception of what others think that can be the driving force. Just remember that although you have an increase in income now the habit of changing cars every time you get bored will get very costly.

[DarkSunrise]

It comes down to what your goals are. If you just want the fastest laptimes for the least amount of money, I'll second the used C5 Z06 idea. Sell your car, buy one of those, throw some R7's and upgraded pads on, and you're pretty much done. With a good driver you'll be faster than most of the cars you see out there.

That reminds me of one of my good track buddies. He just wants to build the fastest track car possible. It doesn't matter to him if he's only driving his car at 60% of its potential, as long as he's faster than 99% of the cars out there. It's interesting how there are so many varied mentalities when it comes to track - everyone's got different things that make them happy.

[soulreapersteve]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

+1 faster driver is better speed/$ than mawds

Hell, there's probably a good chance all the money you spent was actually counterproductive to building a faster car, it may feel great to you now, but a shift in driving style may reveal a weakness in the car, a setup that masks your mistakes hiding ultimate speed.

You wanna be badass on track? Sell the 86 and get a NA Miata and maximize seat time, be fast in that, be fast in everything. Learn how to set that car up and translate the knowledge and lessons to another platform later.

Edit:
Having someone who I know is fast drive my car is one of the best decisions I've ever made. At an autocross test and tune I thought I hit a wall, popped a hotshoe in there and he was ~2s faster the first time he ever touched the car. My next run I scrabbled 1s of that back and found tenths after that getting close to his time. I've done this several times now, I know that on a clean run I'm still hunting for at least 1s that's still on the table, no part is going to give me that second, just blood, sweat, and tears.

Looking forward to signing up for a school later in the year, it will cost more than my first set of sticky tires, but I bet it will be much more speed/$.

This is what I did just this past weekend! Was at an SCCA Novice School event. 1st run, just went out and did my thing while instructor sat back and observed. 2nd run, we switched and he was ripping through the course so fast, I didn't know what happened. We discussed what all my faults were and I hopped back in the driver's seat.

By the end of the 6th run, I shaved off almost 8 seconds from 1st run! I was angry at myself for not getting 10 seconds but it was only my 4th auto-x event haha.. Can definitely say people are correct when recommending driver mod and leaving the car stock Glad I listened to more experienced minds when I joined this forum.

[mixtape]

Somehow, I feel like my mind works in the other direction. Constantly having something to improve, whether it is in my driving habits or ability or in the car itself, is what makes having this car so enjoyable. I do not view it as an obsession or something that has a negative effect on how much I love this car.

[krayzie]

All the nice people giving sound advice of wise money and faster lap times to the OP, yet I read the OP's comments I think he's dead set on modding just for the sake of modding because it makes him happy, spending money to be Batman instead of trying to be Superman to achieve a similar goal.

Selling the BRZ and buy that used C5 Z06 won't make him happy imo if it stays stock. The devil's circle, he'll be asking the same question again afterwards.