Just got back from autocrossing the Z with the SCCA Solo II. It was my first time autoX'ing and I ended up with the best time for Novice drivers by about 4 seconds! My best 51.5 second run was only 3 seconds away from the best time of the day of 48.5 seconds (Honda S2000 with a VERY experienced driver)
I had 6 runs, with my first run of the day a lousy 60 seconds, and I steadily improved to my best time and last run of the day of 51.5 seconds. The Z was tremendously fun on the course - it opened up a whole new side of the car that I've never experienced before. The brakes, handling, and power are just wild. The brakes were what struck me as the most impressive out of the three for this course. This was a small, tight autocross course mind you, which is not the Z's favorite environs (a road course/track is).
I was the only Z06 there as well as the only C5 there (there were only 5 Corvettes total out of 90 cars). I was very surprised at the lack of Corvettes showing. Needless to say, the car got plenty of attention. There were some other expensive metal there too including an '02 M3, '00 Boxster S, and an '01 M Coupe.
Great group of people at the SCCA. I highly recommend giving Solo II a try with your local SCCA club. Its tons of fun, safe, and lets you explore some of your Z06s limits (or your own) LEGALLY. As for beating up the car, yeah its tough on it, but then again its a tough car and it was built with this kind of racing in mind. After 6 runs, my car was no worse for the wear than when I started. Not even a single rock chip or scratch. It's not tough on the clutch, because you never leave 2nd gear. I'm sure I shaved some mileage off my brake pads and tires, but hey that's part of the cost of having fun. And believe me, this is about as much fun as you can have with your pants on! Besides those brake pads and the Eagle F1s weren't designed to drive in traffic - they were designed for racing.
Good write up!
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