Thanks for all the replies. I'm not looking to build a full blown race car, just curious if these cars could occasionally handle a little road course duty. I really don't get to the track as much as I would like. If I do wind up buying another T-Type I think it would be hard for me to not upgrade the suspension for handling. I don't fix things that aren't broke. But when they're broke or worn, I like to upgrade.
Get rid of the powermaster for something reliable and put bigger brakes on the front.
Little things tall ball joints, stiffer, lower springs and better control arm bushings will help a lot, as will a large rear swaybar.
Build a car that is stable and predictable and you will be faster on track days than the guy with Viper that is scared to death of it.
Attached is the Results of a leg of one of the races we have run in and the cars we run against. For this race, the rules are you can't exceed 140 mph (there are radars on the course as 2 cars found out) and in my class, you try to average 115 for the entire race. Kind of like a Bracket road race. Since the second leg is harder, everyone goes flat out for the first leg so its a pretty good comparison of what a car is capable of. Generally, If a car runs over 115, they can probably go faster. If they can't run at least 115, that's about as fast as they'll go on that road with that guy behind the wheel. Remember, the road is narrow, twisty and rough.
None of the Viper guys believed me when I told them how fast I went, until they saw the official results. Friends of mine said they were talking crap about it at the bar after the race (and before the results were posted)
Before the race another Viper DH with an ACR tried to pull in front of me in the staging lanes (fastest cars go first). When I asked him what class he was in, he made some crack that he just figured he was faster than me. I told him the slow cars were about 25 cars back.
Handling mods to the car were pretty minimal in '04. I'm pretty sure we had stock front suspension arms /swaybar with 12" baer brakes, polygraphite uppers/ub machine solid lowers, GTA's with dunlop street tires (255/50), eibach springs and a Universal joint replacing the rag joint. Camber was set at -2 degrees.
In back, we had aftermarket control arms, disc brake 9" ford, Herb Adams 1.5" rear bar and Koni shocks. Pretty mild compared to what is available today if you have money to spend.