phantomjock
Well-known member
Congratulations! Its a beauty.
Awaiting your track experience (details) compared to the Viper.
Cheers - Jim
Awaiting your track experience (details) compared to the Viper.
Cheers - Jim
C8 Z06
- Thread starter mfain
- Start date
Vert nice collection!
mfain
Well-known member
Got to the track yesterday with both the C8Z and ACR. Here is the writeup I put on the Corvette Forum:Congratulations! Its a beauty.
Awaiting your track experience (details) compared to the Viper.
Cheers - Jim
Took my 1800 mile 1LZ Z07 to a track day today with the Phoenix Viper Club. It was 100 degrees at Attesa (Podium Club) in Casa Grande AZ. I also took my ACR for a little comparison. The Viper was on slicks and the Corvette on MPSC 2Rs. Interesting, but no real surprises. The Corvette ran great! Plenty of power and excelled in turn-in in 60-90 mph corners. The Viper was more sure footed in the higher speed sweepers, probably due to the aero. I put a Viper track buddy of mine in the Corvette - he is a multiple Global Time Attach track record holder and has the track record at Attesa - and we did a couple of roll races from 40mph to 140 mph on the 2800' straight. The Viper was actually a little quicker - the Corvette gained a little on the quicker shifts, but still dropped back a car length or so. Pretty much equal speeds at 140 mph, but the Viper was slightly ahead due to an advantage at slower speeds. The top end wasn't high enough for aero drag to be a problem for either car. The Corvette had the edge in power, but was heavier. The brakes (both CCB) worked better on the Viper. I burnished the Corvette brakes, but they still took a little more pressure and didn't slow quite as quickly. I will reburnish. The Corvette was much easier to drive fast - positive up and down shifts in track mode auto without having to worry about maintaining optimum rpm. I ran good lap times even though I was wearing an eye patch to correct a healing eye injury that gives me significant double vision - just had to be cautious in braking zones and passing due to obvious depth perception implications. And yes, every one on track with me was aware of my overstated "limitation". LOL The Viper appeared to be more effected by the high IATs. I ran 100 octane in both cars, and the Corvette gobbled it up at a pretty fast rate. There wasn't a car out there that the Corvette could not run with. And the Corvette drove home - the Viper went in the trailer.
phantomjock
Well-known member
Pappy - Nice report.
Any video from the cars? (Gunz, gunz, gunz!)
Any data to show g-g or on-track differentials between the two?
There are some simple video comparison programs that can use the video to "best-guess" the data between 2 cars.
None the less - thanks for the report.
Hope the eye heals and you are back to 100 percent soon! Be well.
Cheers - Jim
Any video from the cars? (Gunz, gunz, gunz!)
Any data to show g-g or on-track differentials between the two?
There are some simple video comparison programs that can use the video to "best-guess" the data between 2 cars.
None the less - thanks for the report.
Hope the eye heals and you are back to 100 percent soon! Be well.
Cheers - Jim
mfain
Well-known member
This trip out was just to see how I would do as a one-eyed pirate, so I didn't prepare for video or hard core comparisons. But when I got on track, I found I could run hard without killing myself, so I got a little better feel for the differences between the cars. I was about a second a lap faster in the Viper, but I was more comfortable in it due to a lot of seat time over the last 7 years. I was more cautious in the Corvette because I had not taped up the headlights or put on any protective coatings for the paint. Still, I ended up passing a lot of cars and I had 2 cars, a Viper and a track Miata, spin off track in front of me, kicking up a lot of dirt and rocks. The cars accelerate about the same, the Viper brakes harder, and the lateral g's are a little different. The Corvette turns in so crisply in the low-medium speed corners that it has a pretty good, short-lived g spike. The Viper feels like it pulls a lot more g's in the long, sustained, high-speed sweepers because you can carry more speed with the massive aero. I will get videos next time out.
phantomjock
Well-known member
Tires? I found I gave up about 2 seconds (+) a lap at Sebring with the Toyos vs Hoosier/Goodyear slicks.
But Ohh, the $avings! But it rode on a trailer. Room in the box for a set of slicks for the C8?
It is pretty,
Cheers - Jim
But Ohh, the $avings! But it rode on a trailer. Room in the box for a set of slicks for the C8?
It is pretty,
Cheers - Jim
mfain
Well-known member
I had fresh Yokohama soft compound slicks on the Viper, and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2Rs on the C8. The Cup 2Rs are very soft and sticky (almost no tread like slicks), but they only last 5000 miles or so on the street (or a couple of track days), and they are very expensive. I am ordering a set of 19" Finspeeds for the C8 (18" wheels won't clear the CCBs and emergency brake caliper). Looks like I can run 300/680s on front and 330/710s on the rear. The Cup 2Rs are as good as, if not better than Hoosier R7s for a few laps, but don't last long. Wish I could run 18" wheels on the Corvette - then the C8, ACR, and 56 Corvette would all run the same size tires.
mfain
Well-known member
Got new tires and wheels for the C8Z. Forgeline GS1Rs 11.5X19 fronts and 13X19 rears. Yokohama slicks - 310/690 front and 330/710 rear. The 4 wheel/tire combination is 62.4# lighter than my OEM wheels with MPS Cup 2Rs and 20# lighter than the OEM CF wheels and Cup 2Rs. That aught to make it stick!!!
SuperBuickGuy
Well-known member
nice!
mfain
Well-known member
Need to get back to work on my '56, but dang, this thing is a lot of fun. With slicks i am pulling 1.7 lateral G's in some corners and braking at over 1.3 G's. One thing it did convince me of is that I will probably need ABS on the '56 to at least prevent an occasional flat spotted tire. So, i am installing a complete Bosch M5 ABS system in the car. It uses C6Z/ZR1 33 spline hubs (SKF) for the wheel speed sensors, which I already have on the car.
A friend of mine has one (not a Z06) and told me you can't break it loose.
mfain
Well-known member
Not necessarily true with the Z06 - on big slicks, no less. I was at the limit at 1.7 G's and got it to swap ends. Due to the heavy rear mass and all nannies off, once it snapped I could not recover it, even though I went counter steer and throttle within 1 second of the snap oversteer. Part of the problem was that i made massive front grip improvements with the 310mm front slicks (over the OEM 275 Pilot Sport Cup 2Rs), but did not really improve the rear grip. That made the car go from a very slight push (manufacturer's way of preventing a spin) to pretty loose. Needs more rear aero, since you can't get bigger slicks than I have on the rear.
Things looked good...
Until they didn't...
