A-Body Autocross?
. Coil overs aren't inherently a better design at all.
lmfao! you seriously said that! i have run MY car BOTH ways for 4 years now,and there is no way a stock suspension car can keep on an autocross or road track with a car with the suspension i have now. i jumped up like 15 spots at least the first time out with bad tires and no tuning and the first time out driving the car with the new suspension. why do you think DSE camaro's are so hard to touch? just the difference in ride is worth the money!
Yes, I seriously said that, and I seriously mean it too. Just because your car runs faster now doesn't mean its running a better design, it just means it wasn't set up properly with torsion bars.
A torsion bar design is not inherently worse than a coil over set up. The MII design that is so common with coilover set ups is not the end all be all of suspension designs. It is extremely common, and it is easily adapted to multiple platforms, which makes it popular. Now, the biggest advantage of the coilover set ups out there is that they're more easily tuned because there are more options available in the form of aftermarket coilovers. Which is a
big advantage, because it makes it easier to tune the car for the proper set up. The range of spring rates and shock valving out there is much better for a coilover car, which makes tuning easier.
But, there's absolutely
no reason why a well tuned torsion bar equipped car can't be just as fast, or faster, than one that's been converted to coilovers. None. That's not to say that it wouldn't be harder to get the torsion bar car tuned to that level with the parts that are out there. The range of torsion bar spring rates is limited, and so is the number of shocks out there. On the other hand, $7k buys a lot of different sized torsion bars, and a custom valved set of shocks is well in that price range.
But honestly, it is not a design issue. If there were a few dozen torsion bar spring rates available and more custom valved shock options, it would be just as easy to get a torsion bar car to go fast as it is a coilover car. Its just physics, plain and simple.
Besides that, its ridiculous to suggest that you have to spend $7k and completely swap your suspension over to have fun autocrossing one of these cars, which is what the OP was asking about. Are you going to be the fastest car on the track with the set up I suggested? Probably not. But you don't have to write RMS a $7k check to be competitive either.