FAST ZR1

It has been over seventeen years since I have been to the drag strip and I have only made, in my lifetime, five passes. I would consider myself an amateur. On Tuesday I had one of the best experiences of my life. Combine these three things and it makes for a great adventure: The Ranger, my 09 ZR1 and the Great Lakes drag strip in Wisconsin. I have to say the Corvette Forum is a fantastic area for us Corvette enthusiasts because John AKA Ranger said he was at Route 66 and looking for a ZR1 to take to the track. I said I would be there and in turn we had between and 8 and 10 people show up on a Tuesday night. Everyone was really friendly and we had a great evening.

Now lets talk about why we went there. John and I were one of the first to get to the drag strip and also the last to leave. John taught me a lot about drag racing considering I am very inexperienced. Let me tell you the ZR1 can really handle. The track was not really treated and wasn’t really scraped so it made a few passes hard to hook up on street tires. DR’s were suggested by John so that we could hook up a little better and he also asked the track to treat the lanes. Surprisingly they did. I was told at tech that if I broke 11.5 I would be thrown out. I told them I have no idea, I only have 1,000 miles on this car but I knew 11.5 would be easy to break. The first few passes on street tires I was trying practice my RT my 60 foot and 330 foot times. Once we got the DR’s on I was a little scared how they would react and how I could handle it. I had the confidence, the right weather temperatures, the DR’s, the ZR1 and I had the Ranger in my corner. I knew I had everything going for me. I took it for a run with the DR’s on, it felt good, they held a lot better than street tires but then I asked Ranger to go ahead and take my car for a ride. He took an easy pass, then he took a hard pass and then with a 11.3 we were kicked out! I went back and asked politely to be allowed to take a few more passes and promised not break 11.5. I held m promise for 4 runs and they just kept getting better and better. On the 9th run of the evening I let her go. As you will see below I never thought I would see an 11.9 quarter mile ending at 58 mph LOL. I was able to manage to get 11.063 for my qtr mile at 129.49 mph. For you experienced drag racers if I were able to pull my 60’ time of 1.697 and place it into my final last run I would have entered into the 10 second arena.

With the expertise and passion that John has and was willing to share with me, I have no doubt that this car on DR’s will be mid 10’s. I will be making a trip to Byron, IL in the months to come and will be pulling several passes. I’ll be back with another story. I did clean my clutch fluid four to five times that evening and I have to say, it really works. As for the ZR1 this car has so much power I felt like the front end was lifting off the ground as I came out of the hole on some of my passes. As for watching John hit 11.3 and his fantastic foot times I didn’t think I could surpass that, but when I hit 11.63 with his coaching I felt he was a great teacher.
Thanks John “The Ranger” for everything.
FAST ZR1
Run R/T 60' 330 1/8 MPH 1000 1/4 MPH
1 0.621 1.853 4.903 0 0 10.335 12.979 83.04
2 0.951 1.942 5.96 8.737 89.9 11.130 13.16 107.24
3 1.846 1.972 5.094 7.694 87.09 10.025 11.918 119.96
4 1.328 1.953 5.053 7.545 99.95 9.629 11.391 127.82
5 0.846 1.697 4.738 7.233 98.51 9.490 12.444 68.5
6 0.685 1.779 4.839 7.311 100.04 9.546 12.576 60.33
7 0.721 1.719 4.732 7.172 101.9 9.251 11.987 58.67
8 0.582 1.723 4.84 7.347 99.72 9.782 12.064 77.38
9 0.568 1.748 4.815 7.254 102.22 9.310 11.063 129.49
PS: Sorry for my late posting, my internet connection has been down for a few days. Darn landscapers.
Started at:http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-illinois.html

jbsblownc5

Very nice runs Buddy!!!

JB

Ranger

First off, Fast_ZR1), the owner of this particular ZR1, has the skill set to become a very fast driver. He has good focus, fast reactions and retentive muscle memory. He was quick to adapt lessons learned in each pass and apply them to the next. So he will get faster and faster as he accumulates seat time on the drag strip. Running 11.06 on drag radials his first time out in the car on a generally poor racing surface is testimony to that.

Second, our experience at Great Lakes Dragway underscores the need to pick your track carefully. Absent a roll-bar (and who is going to chop up a ZR1 to make it compliant with NHRA/IHRA rules for running under 11.50?), most tracks will boot this car after a few passes on a normal race-day or T&T. So track rentals are a better venue. But even then, you must verify that forgiveness on the 11.50 rule during rentals. We also learned that rental rates in the general Chicago area are 2x to 5x of what we pay in Maryland.

Finally, I continue to be impressed by the ZR1. It is strong and has a very stout drive train. Great to see that GM designed in robustness that obviates clutch and rear axle annoyances of the C6 Z06.

Once again, great job, Fast_ZR1.

Ranger

ThePigWhisperer

Awesome

greekc6

congrats god 10's are so close

venomws7

Very nice thats a 10s car for sure.

great work Ranger and FastZR1

Any vids??

racerns

Great job on the runs!
Yes, Ranger is a great coach to have at the track. What lauch rpm were you using on the DRs? We only got a few runs on DRs at our track day. By the way, those tires are really getting around. Your best time was nearly the same as my best.

Timmy!

Wow! Ranger is a great coach to get you down to an 11.06 in only 9 runs!?!?! That's awesome! Congrats to both of you!

curvesman

meadowz06

10 second car all day long with Ranger!

red vette nut

Great Runs!
Good work Jim!
What launch rpm were you using on the stock tires and how much on the Dr??

Ranger

Launch rpm were not recorded, but were in the range of 3500 plus or minus. Track prep was poor early but improved to modest as the evening wore on and a general racing groove developed in the first 100 feet. From that point on the track was in bad need of basic maintenance, especially scraping to reduce a huge build-up of soft, uneven surface. That made traction unpredictable in 2d, and 3d gears

I'll have more to say later in Post #3 where I inserted a placeholder.

Ranger

tome

Very cool...... these cars are truly awesome. Nice write up and just keep on enjoying it..

titletaker

I was there and I can tell you first hand that the track condition was horrible. I can't wait to see the car run at Byron.

scramblerman

very nice, that car has a lot left in it.
I read up on rangers launching and dragracing info and it really worked. Practice makes perfect.

Sounds like 66 as really gone down hill. I went there more than 3 years ago and the track was hooking like crazy. I heard byrons prep sucks and 41's does too. The best thing to do is go to rt.41 on a Street car chaos night. They really prep the track good.

FAST ZR1

Ranger ran runs 3&4 so I on;y got 7 runs in myself. On street tires my launch RPM was 2500 with DR's @ around 3500.
A few runs I hit the Rev Limiter but, with Rangers help I learned how to fix it.
If Ranger is in your area get some time with him at a good track.

Pro Stock John

I was coincidentally there that night too, running my Trailblazer SS daily driver. Track was pretty crappy, I was doing 2.16 - 2.2's on street tires and launching with barely any power.

Jim let me know when you go to Byron and I'll bring my Canon 30D and take some pics worth framing. Does your car have a little tune in it from Speed Inc?

Ranger

Updated Post #3.

Thanks for the kind words sent my way. But as always, the credit for accomplishment goes to the driver of the car, Fast_ZR1. He made it happen.

Ranger

thee Dragon

Fantastic achievement! Congratulations!

Is your ZR-1 stock? I think this is the first time i've ever seen or heard of someone coaching a self-admitted drag racing beginner to a near-10sec pass in just SEVEN passes!

Immensely impressive coaching skills Ranger.

tyoung

wow really good job at showing what the zr1 can do!