Question for the roadracers.

Salvisol82 · 02-13-2004, 03:32 PM

What would be better for a mostly street/Occasional road race car? NA or Turbo. I'm debating whether to go DE+T or SR20ve. I've never driven on a road course but its something I really want to do one day. I want to build up my skills as a driver, dragging is not enough for me.

Which car is easier to drive on a road course NA or Turbo? What do you guys use for cooling so your sr20's won't overheat? I figure it would be harder to keep the turbo cars cool, if so do any of you have overheating problems with your turbo Sr20's?

I'm not a wealthy guy so reliability would be very important. The least I have to spend for a worthy setup for track racing the better. All I really want to do right now is have a lot of fun and build up my skills as a driver. Once I can handle my SE-R on a roadcourse I'll step up to something with more potential(240sx, AWD DSM).

Any input from you guys would be very helpful. If there are guys who have driven both a turbo and NA SE-R on a racetrack please tell me which one you preferred and why. Thanks.

spdracerUT · 02-13-2004, 05:45 PM

I would say stick to NA. I've road raced my car NA at Texas World Speedway and it was an absolute blast. I'm turbo now but I won't take my car out on a big road course. When you go turbo, you basically need more of EVERYTHING! More cooling, more brakes, more tire, more clutch, etc. Plus, if you're just looking to improve your skills, more power won't help you; it'll probably make it harder actually. When you start out, you just need to concentrate on driving the correct line, hitting you marks and braking points, work on the downshifting, and consistency. Oh yeah, my LSD has gone to crap, I'm sure the turbo didn't help that

If you need max reliability, stay away from the turbo. More power = more stress = things break faster (well, axles and trannies at least)!

I'm actually thinking of converting my car back to NA once I retire it from daily driver to road course slut

scmser · 02-13-2004, 07:16 PM

The costs of tires, brake pads, etc. are enough. Don't complicate matters. Buy a JDM NA SR20, throw in some s4 cams, bolt ons and call it a day. You cook the motor, you just buy another, swap the cams and your back in action.
Learn on a slow car. Address the braking, cooling and suspension issues first.

gottabfast · 02-14-2004, 02:49 AM

A turbo will definitely accelerate wear on the car. You won't be fast and you won't be able to fully use all of the power until you have more experience anyway. Concentrate on the basics as mentioned, braking points, the line, shifting points, late/early apexes, trail braking, and properly setting up the car. Once you become a better driver the turbo will be faster. With the turbo you'll have to do all of your shifting to stay in boost to be fast. With a NA car you own't have to worry about that and you can focus on driving the course.

98sr20ve · 02-14-2004, 09:14 AM

Build it up NA. If you want to roadcourse a turbo a lot get a RWD car.

Peanuthead · 02-14-2004, 05:59 PM

I went thorough the same questions over and over again in my head as you are and the answer is to stay NA. Things are easier to fix and diagnose what is wrong with them when they are acting up. The car more so is easier to drive.