Supercharge or build my track S2k or buy a C6 Z06
 

i have spent the past 4 years tracking my S2k and have put in a great deal of effort in brakes/suspension and safety. The car really is a part of me and I drive it fairly well most of the time. The car has 150k miles and the tranny is rough and engine consumes a decent amount of oil, but runs strong Recently though I developed a major itch for something “different” and am considering:

1) Supercharging my S2k and running it till it blows up (budget $5k after tuning)
2) Rebuilding my motor but building it a bit to make more power (budget $7k)
3) buying a C6 Z06 (budget $35k)

The supercharger would give me the power I am looking for although IDK how long the engine will make it. Rebuilding for power won’t be what a supercharger would give, but hopefully I would have a fresh long lasting motor.

The C6 would give me the power and be something I could drive to work and on weekends, except I don’t know the platform well and I would rely on stock safety. That said it would be different and may “scratch that itch”. I have never tracked one and am curious for feedback from those who have. The minus is I am going to loose my ass on the S2k and I have a bunch of spare parts collected for the car.

Here's what I love about tracking a relatively stock S2000 - Blow something up and you're $5k away from being back on the road, and there are very few things that just fail for no reason. Screw up and stuff it into a wall, and you're probably no more than $20k away from getting back on the track.

C6 Z06, when I was looking into them a few years ago, they like to occasionally drop a valve into the engine, a new replacement is $20k, not sure about used. There was no preventative maintenance for it, just wait and see if it happens to you. If you stuff one into a wall, you're probably looking at $35k replacement again.

Tires are twice the cost of the S2 at least.

I'm not saying don't do it, just that those are the factors that went through my head.

Supercharged S2000 would be nice...

I contemplated similar. Building my S2000 to get to that next level of capabiliy vs. just buying a Z06 which comes ready made.

Ultimately I decided to keep my S2000 as-is until I'm running more consistent / relatively fast lap times at tracks I frequent, i.e. keep work on myself vs. the car. Also after taking the S out of storage I remembered how much I liked it.

Once I reach the point where I'm bored of the S and/or ready to move to the next level platform however, I'd have a real tough time sinking money into the S2000, especially would if it was in the condition you describe your car.

I would do some research, it's possible a pattern was established so you can know which ones to avoid, or there is a fix or something to check now. It was several years ago that I was looking.

C6Z's are beasts, 505hp is crazy fast. You'll spend a good few years learning how to drive it fast. I just think it'll take deeper pockets than an S2 to keep consumables on it and if anything major happens.

If you plan on tracking the Z06 hard, you'll need to upgrade oiling system. They've had issues with the right bank getting oil starvation...

Buy the Z06. Sell me your parts.

I just picked up a C5 Z06 with 32k miles and most of the reliable stuff done for track already ..... talk about bang for the buck. It badly needed brakes and a seat (of which i did). Gonna run it in SCCA Time trail nationals and sell one of my 2 track cars after that. But this thing sucks to drive on the street but hot damn it's good once you close the visor on the helmet. It's not a precision tool like the S2000. It's more like a sledge hammer. But it's really enjoyable and puts in similar lap times to a K swapped S2000 with Huge wheels and tons of aero.... but the Z06 is stock. something to be said for that. It's also stupid easy to work on for the few things I've had to do.

I had the 2006 C6 Z06 listed below for about 6 months and the previous owner did all the reliability upgrades (including the oiling system and valves/springs). They are listed in the post.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...mans-blue.html

It was fast as f**k and a blast to drive but like Ian said it is not a precision tool. I've raced an S2k for 7 years and picked up a stock 2009 Cayman S in middle of 2017. Despite the power deficit and smaller tires I was faster around any autoX track in the Cayman. It has much better feedback and a more predictable breakaway characteristic even after I corner balanced the vette.

For sure there are ppl out there that know how to tune the suspension on a Z06 to demolish a turbo S2k (or a Cayman S) but I wasn't interested in doing that work. Plus the seats are crap, the shifter is meh, the interior rattles, etc.