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Nope, I don't know him. I just reached out 20 minutes after it was posted and just decided I didn't want a z but then 1 month later decided I wanted one. Looks very nice love the red! Il
I'm one of "those people" who said it wasn't worth running unless you have 335 Rivals on all 4 corners and 1000 hp on tap, but good job on getting in without those things.
I'm one of "those people" who said it wasn't worth running unless you have 335 Rivals on all 4 corners and 1000 hp on tap, but good job on getting in without those things.
Thanks!
I certainly think its going to take some of the above tires and a bit more power than I have now to win the overall OUSCI but I'm not ready to step up to that level just yet
Great post! What are you currently doing for brakes and do you plan on any changes for Vegas?
Currently I'm using factory z06 pads with stoptech hi carbon rotors (non cryo treated) the rotors have held up awesome all summer (3 track days 2 USCA events and a handful of autox events) however I have to replace pads every 2 track events because they wear so quickly.
For Vegas I'm switching up the brake setup quite a bit ill have an update with pictures of the changes tomorrow morning! I'm not really going bigger but I'm hoping the switch to wilwood calipers with much thicker pads will help cut down on the frequency of pad changes/brake service intervals. Even going 3 events between pad changes would be beneficial
Looking forward to your brake input. I had a front C5 kit on my former 02 camaro using stock rotors but upgraded track pads and also a hydraboost kit. It would haul the car down from 145+ very well and provided a firm pedal that inspired confidence in my braking.
I am using the same track pads now on my 04 Z and although it works ok, without the hydraboost I don't have near the confidence in the braking of this car despite its 400 lb less weight.
Alright! so for a pre-SEMA update I'm moving forward with a few modifications to help get the car even lighter and hopefully address a couple of the common c5 complaints.
1st, I scored a K&N FIPK2 intake setup off the forums extremely cheap, I'm always skeptical of these as price per hp I think they're impractical. But this one was cheap enough to make me take the leap, plus K&N is a sponsor of the USCA events so maybe at the very least it'll be worth another fraction of a point in the Design/Engineering portion of the events.
Upon installation I have to admit I was pretty impressed with the quality of fit and also this trick little mod/detail to the radiator shroud which allows the filter to scoop in a bit of extra cool air.
The final added bonus of the K&N system was a 1.2lb weight savings! (don't laugh it adds up)
Next up in preparation for SEMA I borrowed a matching Pole Position seat for the passenger side. It always bothered me having 1 stock seat and 1 Recaro so I figured it probably bothered the judges too. The Design and Engineering portion of the USCA events is always my worst of the 5 categories so hopefully this helps with that as well. added bonus? I saved another 3 lbs!
I also added my Brey Krause Harness Bar and a pair of harnesses to the car, this added 18lbs back to the car but again show/shine points plus holding the driver in a bit better is worth it to me for this event, especially as there are no classes its just a run what ya brung event with 120 wicked fast cars/drivers.
Last up! the big upgrade before SEMA. I met Joe from Wilwood Brakes at the Pittsburgh USCA event, after talking with him for a bit about my car, the current setup and what my goals are for the car he convinced me that the Forge Narrow Superlite 6 piston 13.06" setup would be perfect for my needs, He also recommended the BP-20 Pad compound. I really have to hand it to Wilwood and their customer service, Joe took the time and probably spent an hour and a half on the phone with me over multiple phone calls making suggestions and recommendations then letting me research and call back with more questions, we repeated the process several times before I pulled the trigger. Joe also mentioned that this setup would save me a significant amount of weight over the stock setup but he wasn't sure exactly how much.
First up! all the parts laid out nicely on the table and accounted for:
Enter my trusty postal scale!
I know its damn near impossible to see now that I've joined/uploaded the photos together but the stock setup line/caliper/bracket/pads/rotor weighed in at 29.2lbs the Wilwood line/caliper/bracket/pads/rotor weighed in at 21.9lbs!!! a whopping 7.3lbs per corner! had I realized there was that much weight to pull out of the brakes I would've moved to this upgrade and given myself the extra under 3k lb breathing room a long time ago!
The system installed quite easily and looks gorgeous! I don't have any real driving update for the setup yet so I'll let pictures do the talking while I wait on my PCM to return from Doug at ECS to optimize the car for the intake and long tubes. I'll be bedding in the system tonight and then loading it into a Semi and won't see my baby again until November 6th! If you attend SEMA make sure to stop by Optima Alley and you can see my car in person.
Installed!
Old vs New, the SL6 pad is smaller than stock but its a bit thicker so hopefully I can get some more life out of the pads in between each pad change compared to my current change every 2 event cycle.
Old Brake Setup:
New Brake Setup:
And one final shot of my car before the brake swap after giving it the first proper detailing it's had since Pittsburgh, I removed all the stickers so that we could clean the whole car thoroughly and we're in the process of re-installing them at the time of this photo:
pedal feel is much improved, even during bed in/break in process I noticed the pedal was a touch firmer and had much more feel, prior to installing this kit especially during the speed stop or other mash the brake panic stop type scenarios I always felt I was putting the pedal to the floor and letting the ABS sort out the stopping, the pedal travel/brake engagement is much more linear now and I could more easily teeter on the line between ABS engaged and no ABS engagement.
I'll have a better report of their track performance after the weekend of November 8-9.
That kind of trailer unloading would probably make me pee my pants just backing it up. Just the thought of not stopping in time puts a pit in my stomach!!!
GOOD LUCK!!!
Looking forward to a full report. I made it there last year, but this year I went and ran the Tx mile, so no budget left for Optimas shoot out.
Congrats on earning a spot in Vegas! Hope to meet you at the event. I'm spectating again this year, but I always thought a C5 Z06 in the hands of a capable driver could make a strong contender. As a fellow C5 Z06 owner, I'll be rooting for you!
Congrats on earning a spot in Vegas! Hope to meet you at the event. I'm spectating again this year, but I always thought a C5 Z06 in the hands of a capable driver could make a strong contender. As a fellow C5 Z06 owner, I'll be rooting for you!
Awesome thanks! Definitely stop by and introduce yourself
There's still another 48 hours before I arrive in Vegas but my car is there and I felt the need to make a quick post to recognize all the hard work that the guys from downscars.com have done for me. Yesterday they spent over 8 hours sitting in line to get my Z06 into position for SEMA, I was told they'd just need to show up, drop it off and then somebody else from the OUSCI would be able to handle if from there, that didn't happen so the guys 20 minute drop off turned into an all evening/night task and I really can't thank them enough for sticking it out so that I can race this weekend.
Alrighty!
Post Vegas update: if you want results I'll spare you reading the whole thread, overall I placed 41st out of 92 timed cars, I'm happy to have finished top half but disappointed I didn't place in the top 25, individually I placed: 27th in the road course, 36th in the Autocross, 54th in the speed stop and 89th in the design and engineering (judges really don't like stock cars lol)
Now I'll get into the actual details:
Friday was the closing day of SEMA and the start of the OUSCI, the road rally portion of the event kicked off by leading the SEMA parade to the link, this was a pretty cool opportunity and it was neat seeing how many people turn up to watch. The parade ended at the Linq:
Saturday we had the Autocross and Speed Stop events, I was hoping to get speed stop first which would allow the auto-x course to get cleared off, in hind sight this was actually poor hoping on my part as I underestimated how much the wilwood brakes would effect me. The LVMS track has no real run off, you're either on pavement or in the gravel, as such the course is very very dusty and slick if you are off line or off track from where others went, this is tough to manage on its own but throw in new brakes and I never could quite piece together a good run/time, I spent every run either stopping far early of the box or blowing through it completely looking for the balance of fast yet clean time, in the end I settled for a run that was .3 seconds slower than my best dirty run, for reference if I had actually gotten the .3 faster run I would've moved up 22 spots! so to say competition was close would be an understatment.
Lined up waiting for speed stop:
Next up was the auto-x this proved to be a lot of fun even though I never quite felt I got the hang of these particular courses. The basic format was 2 mirrored courses that were effectively down and back, cars lined up side by side and were started at the same time for the audience this made it a lot of fun to watch as you could pick which car you hoped would win etc. we got 5 runs on each course and it wound up running a bit late, like......headlights on late, which just made it more fun, I know some of the competitors were unhappy with this but I didn't go expecting to win and really enjoyed it.
on the way into the finish line trying to catch back up to Duke Langleys supercharged grand sport:
Dusty Course + Dirty tires = backwards
Hard to see cones!
Saturday wrapped up with the 2nd portion of the road rally which required us to drive down the Las Vegas strip and end with dinner at the Shelby Museum, people loved seeing the "racecars" out on the street:
Moving onto Sunday and the road course, the track was lots of fun and having done somewhat poorly in the auto-x/speed stop I had no real expectations or pressure on myself to do well here, which of course resulted in me doing better than expected, I loved the course and while the speedstop/auto-x had been frustrating trying to learn the modulation of the wilwoods out here they absolutely SHINED! no fade, a nice firm pedal and lots of confidence, I was pushing braking zones much deeper than I would've otherwise and that lead to me catching/passing/beating some cars that should've been much faster, it was interesting spending lap time behind a 1000hp GTR, a 1600hp Lamborghini and a Porsche 911 GT3. All cars I had no trouble keeping up with through the corners but on straights they walked away from me like I wasn't moving! a very unique feel when I'm driving what is the fastest car I've ever owned. Regardless I still turned faster laps than them and thats all that really matters
And now the last final part of the trip, and what really made it a sucess for me is that after spending all weekend thrashing the car, after the winners were announced and awards were over we packed up a track weekends worth of tools/spares/clothes/food and hit the road to drive the 2100 miles home!
we made it about 4 hours into flagstaff AZ before needing to stop for some sleep, after that my brother in law and I drove straight through and we made it back to Michigan 40 hours after the race ended and we departed for home.
Along the way home I also rolled over 25k miles with the car! for a total of 6,000 street/track miles driven since I acquired the car in July:
The car is now tucked safely away for winter hibernation, I intend to compete in the USCA series next year as well as a new local time attack group called Gridlife that is starting here in MI this year. The car likely won't see much modification other than optimizing the power I already have and some suspension tweaks.
Speaking of suspension tweaks I have to give a huge shoutout to Sam Strano at StranoParts (and also a forum sponsor) after I got home from Vegas I shot Sam a message and told him I was mulling over some suspension upgrades for next year but wouldn't be ready to purchase in the spring, he called me in person the next day and spent an hour on the phone walking me through various setups/options! now thats some real customer service! moving forward I'll definitely be recommending him to others even just for the invaluable setup advice!
and that concludes my last major post of the year, I'll be posting little bits and pieces and upgrade parts selection begins and I start moving toward next year but I won't be physically installing anything or attending any events until March '15 at the earliest.
03-06-2015, 02:50 PM
