Wooot. Cleaned my car today now it looks nice.

 

Yo chris hit me up 2..all da peeps in Vallejo died or something or i keep seein everyone head toward Fairfield, Vacaville area wtf...Ill do concord

 

Wow!!!! I couldn't agree more. I've been racing and riding motorcycles since I was a kid. When I bought a C5 Z06 a few years ago I got into cars. As soon as I started taking the car to the track (road racing track, not drag strip) I found out that the motorcycle racing translated almost 100% to the car. The problem for me was learning about the Z06 and high performance cars, even though it appeared I already knew how to drive. Luckily Corvettes are raced by lots of people and there is a wealth of credible information online. I have been extremely lucky to have met quite a few pro or semi-pro car racers and tuners. I have been even more lucky to have been invited to crew on a few car road racing teams. I'm also lucky to be a little older and have a little more disposable income so I can afford to take my car to the track fairly regularly along with my bike.

I recently bought my SS/TC as a commuter car replacement so I wouldn't have to leave the Z06 parked out in public areas everyday.

To gain information on the Cobalt I joined this forum and two other Cobalt forums. What a disappointment!!!! I understand that Cobalts are inexpensive cars and are probably purchased by younger drivers, but come on, there is almost no good credible information on any of these websites. It's like everyone who owns a Cobalt is 17 years old and doesn't know anything about, well, anything. Mostly it's a big social club where everyone talks about all the cool parts they want to get and how those parts will make them go 1/2 second quicker in the quarter mile. So far with all I've read on all 3 forums I think I can recall two good posts about driving skill or taking a Cobalt to an HPDE or road race.

I'm shocked that younger drivers on the Cobalt forums, even with an inexpensive high performance car, don't seem to place any value on driving skill or improving driving skill.

I wonder if any software company sells a filter so I don't have to wade through 50,000 bullshit posts just to find one or two nuggets of potentially useful information.

Yea, I'm an old out of touch fat fart. Someone from one of these forums should come out to Lemans karting in Fremont and kick my ass in the karts to prove that I don't know what I'm talking about. Until they do I'll keep on talking, and being disappointed with the crowd on the Cobalt forums.

Dog

 

dam what the hell is ur problem jeez... what info are you looking for lol thats one thing you didn't mention in that essay you just wrote

 

How about anything concerning improvement of the handling or braking of the vehicle, or if it's even needed? How about weight savings? How about actual before and after dyno charts associated with engine mods, and how much those mods cost? How about different brake pads and how they have worked for people at the track? How about at least one post talking about headlights that actually mentions or compares the brightness and quality of the light rather than just how the headlights look on the car? How about any possible need for cooling upgrades if the car is run at T-Hill or Buttonwillow during the summer when it's 105? How about something on DOT- R tires and whether any particular brand has improved lap times? How about seat or race harness info? How about anything on ride heights and suspension set ups other than the retarded posts about "how low can I go"? Etc, etc, etc.....

Is that what you're looking for?


Dog

 

Rear sway bar, sub frame bar, springs (i like h&r), engine and tranny mounts for suspension and handling

cooling i would go with a meth kit and bigger IC.

intake, exhaust, charge piping, tune

 

theres tons of threads about suspension and weight savings......

for suspension/brakes get pedders, ottp time attack rear sway bar, control arm bushings, sticky tires, hawk hps pads, dot4 brake fluid, and r1 rotors.
weight savings take out the back seat, back seat bar, spare, jack, and carpet saved me 110lbs my car weighed 2800lbs.
pretty much the exact setup i had and my car handled really good



and yes we know ethan i ran 14.5 with all that weight reduction since i know ur gonna mention that lol

 

those are the 2 biggest must right there...weight reduction has always been drews thing...but pedders and rear sway...stay away from ttr sway bar its a lower grade of metal that warps

you know i wouldnt mention the 14.5 if i did at all it would have been the 15's lol...we luv you drew

 

ya those were the best mods i did to my suspension. huge difference over the ttr sway i had before and ssc springs.

lol ur right 15.0

 

Haha, google does make the software. In the search box of Google, use and it does yield info if you sift. Also, there are a small few of us in the Autocross and Road Racing section that try to be active and discuss tracking the SS/TC. Come join us in that forum, we need all the members we can get in to share their knowledge.

As for whopping ass on track , I'm signed up for an HPDE May 31st @ Laguna Seca with Track Masters Racing(link) (really good group, decent prices, low car count on track, atleast 6 20 min sessions on track) - I'd be ecstatic to see another SS/TC there, in fact, you should register Never been to Lemons myself, all my friends are broke and never want to go. I'm down to go do some karting. Sounds like a ton of fun. It might even be inexpensive enough to have a small get together of Cobalt enthusiasts and friends.

The few of us that do track days in these things are kind of being a pioneer of the frontier. The SS/TC has been out for all of 3 years, and even only just now are brake pad manufactures starting to produce higher performance pads, and with production of the Cobalt stopping, I don't see a lot of after market support catering to the track day crowd because we will be a low volume bunch. Tire pressures and ride height settings? I think a lot of us are still getting the butt dyno baseline on how the car handles stock. Corvettes are lucky because the C5 crowd have had the opportunity to track their cars for 13 years. I'm sure in the C5's early years, there wasn't a whole wealth of information on tracking these cars, especially 13 years ago. Give us 5 more years, and you'll start seeing a lot of hard and factual data like the Corvette boards (or, at least, I hope!), not just posts of what people think works.

Nobody in the NorCal Cobalt area really does track days, because for the most part, they're all a bunch of broke college kids (no offense to them of course, get that education!), and drag racing has a low attendance price, and if that's their area of interest, more power to them. At least they're enjoying the car in a safe manner.

 

Too much reading for me. What the address for the hang out spot?

 

I got some great info on car set up from Andre at Malspeed racing in FL. They race a Cobalt in World Challenge touring class. Even that Cobalt is the supercharged version because as you articulated, there just isn't that much market out there for real go fast stuff. I'm sure brake pad selection should be reasonable since many calipers use the same pad. My Stoptech 4 pistons use the same pad as some Porsches.

How about karting this weekend? I'm always up for it. Anyone have a suggestion for a time on Saturday or Sunday? Maybe someone can come out and show me a thing or two.

Dog

 

Tony & 707 I'll PM you the info for the meet tonight! Hope to see you both out there....

Joe AMEN on the "broke college kid" comment hahaha.. I'm guilty on that..

Meldog pay for my entrance and I'll do my best to out-drive you w/ the karts! Haha I'll give you a run for your money! I love driving of all kinds....

I know you're not paying my entrance so I was just kidding.. Just pointing out that I'm saving all I can since I'm a full-time college student working 2 part time jobs and school debt sucks ass.

 

talk to quikredline rallyracer and northvibe for info on handling...is Maven still active? If he is, him as well.
Rear swaybar makes a huge difference.

 

JL-KA how come I've never seen you?? Where you at?

 

Was in Sunnyvale...now NE San Jose

 

Dude.. I live in SJ.. fail

 

maven started his own forum...www.gmsportscompact.net

 

Link didn't work for me?

Dog

 

**** my life. Speeding ticket in Mtn. View...radar detector is going back up.
53 in a 35.
Anyone have an idea of what that's gonna set me back?

Thought you were in Concord?

 

probly right around 300

 

wonderful. i've been trying to slow down too and sped up for a merge just for a few seconds...just my luck.
i've never had a cop not lower the speed at all before

 

Anyone available to go to Lemans Karting this afternoon? I plan on getting some chores done then doing a little driving later today.

Dog

 

I'm busy all day :\

 

I had to work. How much does it cost to go kart there anyway?