Driving Your C7 Corvette Hard? Tick That Z51 Box First

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Compared to most cars I drive, the ratio of track time to street time in the new C7 weighs heavily on the side of track time. Be it corporate events with Chevrolet or one of our “performance fleet” vehicles on site at my regular ribbon of asphalt, I can verify some of the concerns seen on the forum. Namely, overheating does become an issue.

But only on the track. And only if you do not opt for the Z51 performance pack.

If you’ve bought your C7 as a cruiser, it’ll do just that. If you’ve bought it with the intention of driving it hard, equip it as such. That Z51 option is not just another cool “go fast” doo-dad; it genuinely gets the business done. Every time I see someone looking to drive their C7 fast, my first question is if they ticked that all important box for this option. If not, I immediately proceed to set their on-screen display for transmission fluid temp.

In reading the forums, I’ve seen some concern for this in stop/go traffic. Let me assure you, your gearbox will not overheat. Fellow contributing writer, Jonathon Klein (and his temper directed towards low quality drivers) is more likely to overheat. So for every day use, your C7 should have nary a problem.

Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>

Patrick Morgan is an instructor at Chicago's Autobahn Country Club and contributes to a number of Auto sites, including MB World, Honda Tech, and 6SpeedOnline. Keep up with his latest racing and road adventures on Twitter and Instagram!


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