IROC-Z - need some answers - who's performance driven one of these?

[Powerslide]

I have this strange love for the Iroc, but I have never pushed one or seen how it can perform.
In its day, apparently it was a surprisingly well balanced and good handling machine. Perhaps even today?

Occasionally you see them as track cars. What I want to know is - what do they feel like to drive? How could they perform on a track? I know you can build up their motors and make them into a straight-line car, but drag racing doesnt really hold much interest to me.

I'd like to know what the experience is like to drive one of these cars hard. Hows the response? How does the balance feel? What kind of car could it compare to, and what kind of a car could it take in handling/balance/speed/etc

Curious to hear answers

[Rich Sandor]

I've driven them lots, but never had them on the track. I've seen LOTS of them racing at Seattle and Mission road course. They are very much capable cars - when set up properly. If you invest a bit of money into tires, suspension, and and frame/chassis, you can have a pretty good handling car with a lot of power from the stock motor - for very little money. And it's pretty cheap/easy to get power out of the cars.

The downsides are that it is a cheap domestic car, and the frame is not engineered all that well, and it will be on the heavy side once it's stiffened up. In the stock class racing it will be pretty heavy, but in the modified classes you can strip out the interior and lighten the car and add way more power to make it competitive.

What you should really do is head down to a race at Mission and talk to some of the guys that race these cars. They can give you some awesome input.

[Westcoast67]

Why not pick up an early C4 Corvette 1984-1991. They're at the bottom of the depreciation cycle. Could probably shop one for under 8k, they handle extremely well even stock.

[1990TSI]

The first of my sisters boyfriends that I actually liked had an IROC. It got me into cars really. He had pretty much everything done to it, and it scared the shit out of me everytime.

to this day I've never been in a better handling or more powerful car, and this was about 7 years ago.

I know he used to road race it at mission all the time with the BMW crew, and probably still does.
hey rich, you know a guy named martin with a sweet red IROC? if so PM me haha

[Powerslide]

interesting to suggest that an Iroc could compete with BMWs in terms of handling?

i find that hard to believe, but with the right suspension tweaks I guess it's possible

does the Iroc "feel" heavy? Like driving a boat around? Or does it feel taught, like most BMW coupes?

[1990TSI]

while I never got to drive this one, it felt better than any BMW I've been in!
like I said, everything had been done to this car, it was faaaaar from stock. it wasn't driven in the rain and wasn't even washed with water (it was from those days)

he drove me from squam to van one day and I can vividly remember going up the britannia hill southbound at 150k through the corners...I pushed my skyline to it's best and it would get squirly at 125ish, my fully suspenion tuned sentra would do a power limited 130 and the stock Gen Coupe will only do 125 before it starts to go out. on the same level a stock RSX will have trouble with 110 at the same uphill corner.

while I'd never own an IROC, I have more respect for their owners than a lot of cars

[Johnrb]

he wasn't getting stellar lap times but not bad for an old redneck car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Af6GmA7B9k

[Powerslide]

sweet
i took a look at their website and found some sweet videos of them taking that thing around the tracks
http://www.primeworks.co.jp/EVENT/SO...FUJI/index.htm

there are a couple cool videos there plus one of him driving to the track :P

[Iceman-19]

I find your comments about a Camaro keeping up with BMWs on a track to be hard to believe hilarious. Are you and others on this site so closed minded and brainwashed about american cars that you think they spin out anytime a corner comes up? The IROC Camaro would push higher 80s g's on the skidpad when it was released, and that was with the mass produced factory parts. Tons of parts available for them, mind you, I think it was Rich that said you can make a ton of power with the stock engine, eh, not really, unless you do a 5 spd swap on a 350, and even then, a stock 2 bolt main 350 will need major work once you get into higher power levels, but extremely torquey! 3rd gen Camaros arent the only cars that can handle with suspension upgrades, check out the 87-93 5.0 as well. Stock engines will handle about 500-525hp before you run into problems, and that is usually where the block will split (not always). Quote from the Maximum Motorsports website (one of the best suspension parts producers for the Mustang) Lawrence, James. "Grip In A Box". 5.0 Mustang, December 1998, p.24-28
Maximum Motorsports offers a mail-order "Vette-killing" street suspension for $2,000. The published slalom time (72.5 mph) tied for the third fastest slalom time ever recorded by Motor Trend. Heres a link: http://www.maximummotorsports.com/co...pdf/Slalom.pdf

I think that says it all about what it can beat!

[some_punk]

Originally Posted by Iceman-19

I find your comments about a Camaro keeping up with BMWs on a track to be hard to believe hilarious. Are you and others on this site so closed minded and brainwashed about american cars that you think they spin out anytime a corner comes up? Quote from the Maximum Motorsports website (one of the best suspension parts producers for the Mustang) Lawrence, James. "Grip In A Box". 5.0 Mustang, December 1998, p.24-28
Maximum Motorsports offers a mail-order "Vette-killing" street suspension for $2,000. The published slalom time (72.5 mph) tied for the third fastest slalom time ever recorded by Motor Trend. Heres a link: http://www.maximummotorsports.com/co...pdf/Slalom.pdf

I think that says it all about what it can beat!

The thing you said about being close minded and brainwashed quite true about revscene and the general public.

And if I remember correctly, mustangs and camaros have beaten cars like porsches and corvette in trans am racing series quite a few times. And the IROCs were called IROCs for a reason.


Some of the must mods are: subframe connectors, torque arm relocation, good set of shocks, springs and sway bars, control arm bushings and a steering brace. But there are more.

[Iceman-19]

Post up some pics of your car, it sounds fun, 6 spd?

[Powerslide]

i didnt mean to come off as an american car basher, although I am generally in the dark about american car performance.
as far as performance, i am learning more and more that a lot of the american cars such as the vette and iroc can easily compete with the europeans and the japanese imports.

When I was asking if they could hang with BMWs, perhaps I didnt properly phrase the question I had. My real question is more about driving feel - most BMWs have a hallmark handling feel to them that they are famous for - precise and well balanced. The American cars that I have driven tend to feel bulkier and loose. Mind you, in my comparisons none of the cars are made up for racing or performance. Which is why I was curious, once a car like an IROC is tuned up and ready to make the impressive numbers, how does it feel to drive it?
One thing that sounds super awesome is that Iceman-19 mentioned these things have a ton of TORQUE - the feel of an American V8 is pretty unbeatable I'll agree with that

[Rich Sandor]

I think a modded up BMW platform will always be superior to a modded up F-body platform of the same era. In the past, the suspension and frame design have always been superior in German cars compared to domestics of the same era.

However, these days, Chassis and suspension design is very important across ALL the brands. All you have to do is look at the newest Corvettes and Mustangs that are killing Porsches in the same class. It used to be true that domestics had shitty frames, but NOT anymore.

By the way, two 2010 mustangs were dropped off last night (a v6 and a v8) and OMFG I am in LOVE with the V8. The rumble and exhaust gurgle is legendary.

[Iceman-19]

I agree with the chassis comment. To make an older car like that feel solid, you are going to be putting money into all new bushings, etc, and replacing all the crappy factory stamped suspension pieces with solid and/or tubular pieces.

[kumbo1]

If anything, see if you can get your hands on a 1LE Z28. IROC-Z x10.