R32 For The Track

[Mr Corduroy]

Hi,

I have a WRX and am an active motorsport competitor. You guys usually shoot past me on track days, so I am wondering whether to buy an R32, especially now that they are less than $ 20,000.

Is this a good idea?

What should I look out for?

How slow are they stock(ish)?

[Roy]

GTR or GTSt?

Buy the right example with some nice mods to start with, maybe even a rebuilt motor and some babay repalcement turbos and you have a good platform for a fun car...they can be quick...just parhaps speak to the guys at track days to get an idea of exactly how much they have spent.

[Mr Corduroy]

GTR or GTSt?

I was thinking GTR. They seem to be the fastest!

...they can be quick...just parhaps speak to the guys at track days to get an idea of exactly how much they have spent.

Very good point - the cars that shoot past me might well have $ 10,000 of engine, turbo and brake modifications.

Edited October 13, 2007 by Mr Corduroy

[Roy]

Um, depends on the colour of the ones shooting past? In Vic...

Im guessing as i dont know...but the quick ones

$10,000 on engine rebuild alone with nice sump and oil cooler

$6,000 on turbos, injectors, ecu, afms, dump pipes and exhaust

$3,000 on shocks, bushes/arms, swaybars

$1,600 on tyres

Normally between $1500 and $8000 on brakes

say $1,500 on clutch and flywheel, perhaps up to $2,500 if they have modified transfer case.

Thats ballpark, some of them are running std motors so scrap the 10k engine rebuild...they are still relatively cheap considering they hand exotic cars their asses. I have given up chasing these guys...lol its now my aim to beat all 2Ls including the quick WRXs

[Mr Corduroy]

Um, depends on the colour of the ones shooting past? In Vic...

Im guessing as i dont know...but the quick ones

$10,000 on engine rebuild alone with nice sump and oil cooler

$6,000 on turbos, injectors, ecu, afms, dump pipes and exhaust

$3,000 on shocks, bushes/arms, swaybars

$1,600 on tyres

Normally between $1500 and $8000 on brakes

say $1,500 on clutch and flywheel, perhaps up to $2,500 if they have modified transfer case.

Thats ballpark, some of them are running std motors so scrap the 10k engine rebuild...they are still relatively cheap considering they hand exotic cars their asses. I have given up chasing these guys...lol its now my aim to beat all 2Ls including the quick WRXs

sounds a bit exxy . . .

Looking around I noticed that 180SX's are soooo cheap.

Maybe I should content myself in going slow but having fun doing it.

[Green_s13]

all depends on what you want to do, at QR there are some quick wrx's but they have spent some good $$$ on their car.

a properly setup gtst can make a quick track car and dare i say i think they are faster than the s13 in standard forms i think the skyline has the better chasis. the 32 gtr's are quick but ask anyone who ownes one and races it and i'm sure they will tell you they are expensive to run.

you can get a nicley modded 32 gtst for around the 11-12 mark.

[Mr Corduroy]

all depends on what you want to do, at QR there are some quick wrx's but they have spent some good $$$ on their car.

As a (Victorian) WRX club member I mingle with these guys and have a fair idea of what they have spent. In summary, the early model lighter cars need less $$ to go fast. If you want to track a later model, it is best to start with an STi. They are several seconds a lap faster out of the box.

a properly setup gtst can make a quick track car and dare i say i think they are faster than the s13 in standard forms i think the skyline has the better chasis. the 32 gtr's are quick but ask anyone who ownes one and races it and i'm sure they will tell you they are expensive to run.

you can get a nicley modded 32 gtst for around the 11-12 mark.

Is the GTSt faster on the track? The GTSt is heavier than an S13. Weight isn't good on the track. My 2005 WRX weighs ~ 1490 kgs, and it gives its brakes a hammering.

I notice you own both a Skyline and an S14. What can you say about the differences between the two cars?

Edited October 13, 2007 by Mr Corduroy

[Green_s13]

the r32 is heavier but it isn't by a huge amount i know my 32 was 1320kg wet and an s13 that i had was 1260 wet. so not s huge amount, where the skyline makes it up is the suspension setup and for me over all balance. to compare my s14 and 32 isn't fair the s14 has king springs and koni shocks and some sway bars vs the skyline that is coilovers adjustable bushes and most bushes have been replaces vs the 11 year old bushes in the s14. just looking at lap times and mods it seems on average that the skyline is slightly quicker, i'm sure there are plenty of s13 owners out there that will say otherwise.

also not wanting to start another sr v rb thread but personally i think the rb20 will cop much more abuse on the track than an sr.

as for brakes on my car i run r33 gtst fronts with slotted rotors all round and tsw pads i dont hve issues with brake fade.

[Mr Corduroy]

the r32 is heavier but it isn't by a huge amount i know my 32 was 1320kg wet and an s13 that i had was 1260 wet. so not s huge amount, where the skyline makes it up is the suspension setup and for me over all balance. to compare my s14 and 32 isn't fair the s14 has king springs and koni shocks and some sway bars vs the skyline that is coilovers adjustable bushes and most bushes have been replaces vs the 11 year old bushes in the s14. just looking at lap times and mods it seems on average that the skyline is slightly quicker, i'm sure there are plenty of s13 owners out there that will say otherwise.

So you once owned an S13?

Is the S14 better?

Would you say it is a mistake to buy anS13 when you can get a GTSt for only a little more?

as for brakes on my car i run r33 gtst fronts with slotted rotors all round and tsw pads i dont hve issues with brake fade.

I spend enough on high quality brake pads to make sure I don't have brake fade either, but my glowing rotors spit bits of molten metal onto the inside of my wheels!

Are there bolt on upgrades for the S13 brakes too?

Edited October 13, 2007 by Mr Corduroy

[swanny180]

Basically youll need a 5 stud conversion and some skyline brakes on an S13/180

[Mr Corduroy]

Basically youll need a 5 stud conversion and some skyline brakes on an S13/180

Does that mean you end up with 5 stud fronts and 4 stud rears, or can you easily upgrade the rears too?

[Green_s13]

i wouldn't say it is a mistake to buy one they are still quick cars with heaps of aftermarket parts, and they are still turing good lap times. just for my personal preference i prefer the skyline and from looking over the forums they seem to be quicker round the track not sure if this is driver related or not. what i will say is go and drive both of them and see which one you like to me the skyline seems to have more front end grip than the s13.

also as swanny said you need to change the brakes on them the standard brakes on an s13 aren't that good, if you where going to spend a little more and wanted to get an s series nissan i would get an s14 they have a wider track, already have bigger brakes and there are plenty of parts for them.

[Roy]

For whatever reason R32 GTSt Skylines seem to have better power down then S13s??? Especially off the line. Well today was a disaster for my brakes as well, cracked 2nd set of rotors in as many events, only this time its was the near new rears that died...they just dont like running at the temp that a track like Calder or Sandown requires

[Mr Corduroy]

For whatever reason R32 GTSt Skylines seem to have better power down then S13s??? Especially off the line. Well today was a disaster for my brakes as well, cracked 2nd set of rotors in as many events, only this time its was the near new rears that died...they just dont like running at the temp that a track like Calder or Sandown requires

As per the damage you can see from my pictures, inadequate brakes for the mass of the car is one of the reasons I am looking to have a race car. This is why I am looking a a light car such as an S13.

The earlier model WRXs are lighter than mine, and so they are also an alternative for me.

Some of the other posts elsewhere on your forum suggest that highly modified WRXs cause stiff competition for R32s at QR, which I presume stands for Queensland Raceway?

[hrd-hr30]

I bought an R32 GTR mainly for track use. Had it for a couple of years and did a few hillclimbs, sprints, an autocross and a tarmac rally. It was stock apart from HKS exhaust, Mines chipped ECU and Buddy Club coilovers. I only ran 225/50*16 RE55S on the standard GTR wheels - you can fit much larger tyres under there - 255 or 265 are common. Even so, I only ever got beaten by 1 WRX on bitumen - Michael Collins at Mt Cotton - if you know some of the WRXs in motorsport up here you'll more than likely have heard of him I'd say.

From my experience, a well driven relatively standard GTR will leave all but the most highly developed WRXs for dead at any race track. I wouldn't pay too much attention to times from QR though. without trying to offend anyone, alot of the people who go there aren't very experienced and probably aren't getting the best out of their cars.

Brakes - The standard brakes are OK (for standard power levels) with 600deg fluid and decent pads at QR (btw, you're right - that's QLD Raceway) which is reknowned for being very hard on brakes. If you start making more power than standard, you'll need to look at upgrading the fronts.

Reliability - I never had to do anything to the car except change the oil. but you always hear stories about how expensive they are to own from people who don't own them... just take your time and find a good one. I paid $22K for mine just over 2 years ago. You could get the same car now for about $20K.

I sold it because I wanted to get back into another race car - I previously had an U2L IPRA Datsun 1200 coupe. And like you I wanted something lighter. I now have a 230rwkw Datsun 1200 coupe racecar that weighs about 950kg, but I do regret selling the GTR. I haven't gone as fast as the GTR at Mt Cotton yet. Light and rwd is good on fast open tracks, but in slower speed tracks lightweight rwd cars = ordinary traction and very difficult to match the heavier GTR. From this experience, if I could go back, I would not have sold the GTR for the lighter race car.

HTH

Harry

[Mr Corduroy]

Harry,

Thank you for your comments.

They are precisely the sort of comments I was hoping to see.

Much appreciated.

Andrew

[R31Nismoid]

I see Andrew you frequent the WRX sprints, if you've noticed the GTR's are fast.

One key thing to remember is most of them have seen nothing shy of 30k spent on them as a baseline, and each second is a thick wad more

Basically set a budget and go from there. Without having one you cant really workout what would best fit into that.

[BBGTR]

Hi,

I have a WRX and am an active motorsport competitor. You guys usually shoot past me on track days, so I am wondering whether to buy an R32, especially now that they are less than $ 20,000.

Is this a good idea?

What should I look out for?

How slow are they stock(ish)?

Hi Andrew,

I think I'm qualified to speak on this having owned a heavily modified Sti and now an R32 GT-R. My only regret is that I binned the STi and would have liked to race that for a couple more years as it was only recently fully developed.

My view is that having tried both, it is far easier to make reliable horsepower with a GT-R, everything is off the shelf and of high quality.

WRX's often need a bit of trial and error as there are very few that are highly developed for club sprints. I can think of maybe 3 here in the Vic WRX Club. They are hit and miss to get right, it took me two years to get it where I wanted it.

The GT-R I have ran with a standard engine in club sporints for 2 years at 318 RWKW until it was rebuilt, mightly impressive considering it is 13 years old.

What I have found to be a good path to follow is buy a car that is not crash damaged and has sound suspension and gearbox, trim etc. If you want a cheap one, buy one with the crappiest engine you can find, as long as everything else is mickey mouse. Rebuild the engine and anciliaries for $15k - $20k. A $20k car plus a rebuild of $20k based on this theory will get you a brilliant road and track car and you are still at the price of a new WRX, with something that will have 350 RWKW and kill just about everthing on the track.

Come and have a chat to me at the next WRX track day if you want.

Regards

Andrew

[snapdragon]

Hi,

I have a WRX and am an active motorsport competitor. You guys usually shoot past me on track days, so I am wondering whether to buy an R32, especially now that they are less than $ 20,000.

Is this a good idea?

What should I look out for?

How slow are they stock(ish)?

G'day Mr Corduroy, I've just bought an R32 GTR for 20k, its standard apart from a 3 and a half inch from the cat back. I've had the timing belt and water pump changed ($550) and put some decent quality pads in the front calipers. ($240) I havent taken it out to Mallala yet but I've thrashed the crap out of it through the Adelaide Hills (I also ride sports bikes so i know all the good roads!). I dont know how it would compare to a WRX on the track but i can without a doubt it is the best car I've ever driven hard. I reckon if you find a good one, take it out without all the modifications and see how you go. They are fantastic in standard trim and I think most drivers are getting a bit beyond themselves aiming for more power. I reckon the weakest link are the brakes. Still investigating what to do on that one...

But make sure you do the timing belt - or have confirmation of how old it is!

[T04GTR]

yeah. just like anthing. it cost money to go fast. and to do it proppely in a gtr is expencive. particlary brakes and suspension. a lighter car will be cheaper to quick round a track, but lets face it just not as fun