I had a base hardtop 1998 Camaro a while back and did some improvements to better suit it for the reason I purchased it:
Lightweight Kirkey aluminum racing seats (8lbs) with Autopower 4-point rollbar to provide seat mounting and driver restraint and safety. Was able to get the driver seating position absolutely perfect...felt absolutely great behind the wheel once you contorted yourself getting in.
Adjustable hollow control arms and Panhard bar with spherical bearings, Koni Sport dampers (with stock springs) and Hotchkiss Sport Hollow Antirollbar setup, along with a strengthened rear diff cover that you could actually drain by removing a plug instead of unbolting the whole cover...
The Hurst Shifter kit made a huge improvement as well - stock unit was just horrible to get into gear and vague feeling...
It was a very nice handling car with the proper changes (equally adept at autocross and track days), but a pain to work on and consumables were just too expensive for a track car... $200 for brake pads and $700 for tires that will last a little over 3 weekends. I really liked how it handled (phenomenal brakes with upgraded pads and R-compound tires, and rotated and cornered very neutral dry or wet) but everything else I could do without...was not too sad when she sold. I really don't like heavy cars...and that car was just way too heavy.
I much prefer 1,000lb lighter and quicker responding cars, specifically this one:
Parts and consumables are easily available and relatively inexpensive, and the handling is out of this world... gives no ground to a Corvette Z06 or a Lotus Elise in the corners.
