^^^ what he said...

 

define extensive work.

you guys also have to take into account the day, the temp, elevation, air pressure, how warm the track is, how warm the tires are, how cool the air is, the skill of the driver, the fact that no driver is 100% consistant, and a million trillion bajillion other things that nobody can predict. its a lot more complicated than you're making it out to be.

and DCA, there is a line between the Elise and the Exige as you and kappa said...very fine...but i can understand where you're coming from with the exige. id say that if it was the Exige we were talking about, id be on your side.

 

yeah, i mean the elise is amazing in itself. but the exige. its just... i cant even put it into words..

i mean, just the way the car is stuctured for its downforce is just amazing

 

Ok by extensive I mean on top of the allready $2500 swap all the bolt ons(no F/I here guys) by bolt ons I mean good stuff like bisomoto header, full custom dyno tuned exhaust, maybe some ITB's, a set of fully adjustable TEIN coilovers(that go for $1000+/hell you would be lucky to get them for anywhere near $1000), weight reductions like a cf hood/trunk lid/light weight rims, a set of sticky tires. Ok with that I can see it but at what point to you draw a line and say hey it's cool I beat that car but I now have a 6/7/8+ year old civic with $6000+ in mods alone that I will never recoupe my money from. Not to mention in the end you did all that to beat a stock 1.8 liter toyota powered $38,000 to $45,000 car that if they decide to mod will do nothing but make you look like a joke again.

I am all for trying to build cars to hang with much more expensive cars but I also know my limits and where to draw a line. If you want to buy a cheap car to mod and get upto a Elise's performance all around then the last thing I would be doing is buying a civic. My sedan was setup for all around performance and I loved it to death. I had a nice suspension and a well thought out turbo setup that spooled very early and provided great low end along with pretty good top end and I would not dare try and touch an Elise. I was making at the wheels what a GSR makes at the crank hp wise and also laying around 155tq to the wheels and I was only a 14 second flat car and nearing 100mph traps. I am fairly sure I could pull around 1g in a turn also but I may be wrong.

 

i see what you're saying, but IMO you dont need all that money in weight reduction. just pulling all the seats except the driver, airbags, carpeting, spare tire, jack, will save the same amount of weight.

but you mean extensive as in 6k in mods? id have to agree with you on that one.