I'm someone who started out in a car that wasn't designed for track use. Tires, brake pads and fluid can be swapped easily but the engine/trans/diff cooling is the big deal. Once you're a little bit faster, consistently going into limp mode will ruin expensive track weekends (this was what led me to the Camaro and it may not happen on your first few weekends, but it will eventually). Swapping those cooling systems are harder to stomach because it's more work and you may be voiding warranties on a brand new car. There are probably tons of additional unexpected annoyances/costs to deal with, all to end up where a 1LE would have put you out of the box. BTW, on my ZLE I received a $11k repair for free due to the warranty (just mentioning it because you say you saved $15k by going with the cheaper model).
My advice would be to get 1LE wheels (can sell them easily if desired) and sticky tires, high temp brake fluid, and just go have fun autocrossing and tracking. If you decide you want to do more track days, consider just keeping your brand new LT1 in good condition for a sale, and look for a used 1LE with all the cooling/suspension/brake stuff taken care of. If you decide you just want to autocross, cooling isn't nearly as important and suspension/tire upgrades are pretty easy without big downsides so it probably makes sense to stick with the LT1. I do both, but all my upgrade choices have veered toward road course fun rather than AutoX competitiveness, so everyone sort of ends up with different goals once they're into it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Msquared
With open-ended lug nuts the length of the stud doesn't matter.
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This gave me a chuckle because I just swapped the fronts and the studs are too long for my regular deep socket to get the street wheels back on without a spacer. So I'm waiting on a super deep socket from amazon as we speak, with the car's front/rear wheels swapped. Thankfully have 305 tires all around so it's still sort of driveable
