[Dreamin]

I am considering getting a Z06... it would be my daily driver, but I am planning on doing ~6 road race events per year. Not competitive events, "High-performance lapping events/driving schools". I do ~4 events per year in my current car (w/big brakes, coil-overs, hoosiers, the whole deal) and am completely addicted. But I was hoping not to have to upgrade everything on the Z06 - only brake pads, fluid, tires, basic stuff...

After reading a lot of archived posts on this site, my concerns:

1) Transmission over-heating... how bad is it really? Does it happen after 30 minutes or after a few laps? This alone could be a deal-breaker.

2) Brake rotor cracking... how bad is this? I saw one post claiming changing rotors every 2 events?!

3) Oversteer... Is the rear a handful like all the mags say? How much does it oversteer? Is it power-oversteer, lift-throttle oversteer or both?

Thanks

 

[IMA Z06]

Welcome

Dreamin

Welcome aboard, This is the place for your direct info. In all of your concerns I dont think any will hamper you unless raceing 7/24 really hard. Cant beat it for the weekend warrior machine.................
Good luck with your decision..........

:cheers:

 

[Gordy M]

I have not heard about the overheating of the transmission, just heat from the tunnel, especially if you put in an aftermarket shifter. For autocrossing and track events, the shifter is a great investment.

For brakes and rotors, I would suggest a separate set for the track days. I had an opportunity to talk to John Heinracy about it several months ago, and he said the stock rotors and pads were OK for autocrossing and time trials, but he used The GM hardened rotors and pads (Hawk Plus) for lapping and racing.

As for oversteer, that is a throttle/excitement problem. This is especially true in first and second gear. Tires and tire pressure can cure some of the problem, the remainder is you controlling your right foot.

A suggestion I received from a Car Guy (Z06 owner) instructor was to set the tire pressure at 34 lbs all around. This was for stock wheels on Hoosiers. When running at Putman Park, this dropped my lap times by almost 2 sec.

Hope this helps.

 

[BrianK]

Since you've clearly run a lot of track events, you already know that the care of any rotor is up the driver.. You have to bring'em up to temp slowly and give'em a cooldown..

For serious lapping, rotors are a consumable. So much depends on how demanding the tracks you run on are on brakes and your driving style. Where do you usually run?

As for tail happy, I'm still waiting for my car. But a lot of this may just be folks who aren't familiar with higher powered cars. Generally, you want to use what you've got. The Z06 has the big three: Big Torque, Big Brakes, Big Tires.

So like any car with power, you want to try and drive a line that allows you to use that power early. For me, that generally implies a later apex so you have room to track out under lots of throttle..

As far as the trans, I am worried about this as well. As I said in another thread, I would have traded the Titanium exhaust or the HUD for a trans and diff cooler from the factory.

In any case, recent discussions on the list suggest that wrapping the the exhaust back near the trans should make a big difference. Nobody has tried and reported on that yet.. Having wrapped mild steel headers with good results in the past, I won't hesitate to wrap the titanium (in salt water tests, it is 100X more corrosion resistant than stainless).

I think this would be a great question for Dave Hill.. Why no engine oil cooler like the ZR-1, and given the rear trans location, why no trans cooler?

 

[Spike Engr.]

Hey Dreamin,

Nice to see you over here! Although I'm considering the AMG, the Z06 is still a possibility. (My first post was regarding track video from Thunderhill http://www.z06vette.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5224).

BTW, Dreamin is typically the fastest at every event I've been at - he has incredible driving skills.

Spike

 

[IMA Z06]

Spike Engr.

Welcome to you also..........Enjoy the forum..........

 

[BLEUBYU]

During my recent conversations with Chuck Mallet, the issue of trans overheating came up. He claims that he provided some support to GM during Z06 development and that the original concept included a tranny cooler since transmission overheating frequently occurred with as little as 10 road racing laps. Mallet told me that he was really disappointed that GM released the car without the cooler. He also said that the ONLY way to fix this problem was to add a cooler....

FWIW....

 

[Zippy]

Dreamin:

Can't help you with the track questions as I do not have the experience to answer that, but I can welcome you to the forum so.........

W E L C OM E ! :cheers:

Zippy :z: :z: