Hi there folks. I'm new to this forum although I've followed it occasionally in the past.

I have a question though that has come up in the last few weeks. I recently took my 02 Coupe 6 speed to the track for a day of lapping. This car has about 28000 miles on it. Although I've taken a performance driving course in the past this was the first time on a track with this car. After a few sessions I began using second gear a lot more, downshifting at about 50 mph and powering through the tighter corners, up shifting again at about 4000 rpm. At one corner though I came in too fast and even after using the brakes was doing 50 mph right up to a 25 mph hairpin corner. The engine was at idle and I simply let the clutch out which slowed me from 50 to 20 very quickly. Immediately I kicked myself for putting that kind of shock load on the drivetrain.

Of course now I am noticing more sounds coming out of the drive train then ever before and it's causing me no end of loss of peace. My service advisor told me not to worry about it, that the Corvette driveline is tough and I would have had to have been going much faster than 50 to damage anything. I've changed all the oils and apparently the oil was clean, no bits.
So my question is has anyone else noticed more gear noise coming out of their driveline after track use and has anyone had any experience with hard engine breaking as I just described
My car was dead quiet before; now I hear a little whining usually when slowing down in low gear, although it doesn't always happen.

Thank you in advance for your reply!

 

For a better response post your question here:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c5-tech-1/

 

Moving this to C5 Tech.

 

Could be the fuel pump. They can be noisy.

 

It's only when I slow down though in low gear. I would think the fuel pump could be operating at any time.
I'll give it some thought though. I've heard it running after filling the tank when it was very empty.
Thanks for your reply!

 

Don't think you hurt anything. I've run my 01z like a dog and it's still together after all this time. I have rebuilt the torque tube and transmission so eventually you've gotta do the boring repairs to keep things fresh but for what you did that's nothing.

 

Thank you Josh. That is encouraging information!

I appreciate your reply. Cheers!

 

wont hurt a thing, neither will running it above 4k go put your anger to that thing.

 

run it, don't worry about it, people have abused it far more than that with no ill effects.

In the future you should avoid letting the car drag the engine up to speed in a lower gear - use the throttle to bring the engine up to the appropriate speed when downshifting! a quick blip of the gas pedal will get you where you need to be.

 

Thanks Cuisinart😀 I appreciate your comments!

 

Thanks nsogiba. Your comments help a lot. I think maybe I'm worrying for nothing. Cheers!

 

It was well within the rev capability of the engine when you let the clutch out. Although that brings up another question. Why was the clutch in? It should only be in when you are moving the shift lever while you are heel/toe downshifting to bring the revs up to match drivetrain speed. You were lucky you didn't spin the car doing that.

The next time you run that course try doing those turns in third gear and using more throttle opening to get through them. I know you can do 70 mph in 2nd gear with a Z06 transmission and 80 with the standard C5 transmission but the engine has enough torque in 3rd gear to handle those curves nicely. When off throttle a stock C5 has a fair amount of trailing throttle over steer that can be used to get you through corners. Sometimes running in 2nd gear with less throttle opening can make it harder to make smooth transitions from off to on and back off the throttle. Running in third with more throttle opening will a lot of times produce just as much HP but make it easier to control power flow and get the car through a corner or a series of corners. At 50 I would have stayed in 3rd gear at 40 I would have downshifted to 2nd.

Bill

 

[QUOTE=Bill Dearborn;1595091186]It was well within the rev capability of the engine when you let the clutch out. Although that brings up another question. Why was the clutch in? It should only be in when you are moving the shift lever while you are heel/toe downshifting to bring the revs up to match drivetrain speed. You were lucky you didn't spin the car doing that.

The next time you run that course try doing those turns in third gear and using more throttle opening to get through them. I know you can do 70 mph in 2nd gear with a Z06 transmission and 80 with the standard C5 transmission but the engine has enough torque in 3rd gear to handle those curves nicely. When off throttle a stock C5 has a fair amount of trailing throttle over steer that can be used to get you through corners. Sometimes running in 2nd gear with less throttle opening can make it harder to make smooth transitions from off to on and back off the throttle. Running in third with more throttle opening will a lot of times produce just as much HP but make it easier to control power flow and get the car through a corner or a series of corners. At 50 I would have stayed in 3rd gear at 40 I would have downshifted to 2nd.

Bill[/QUOTE

Hi Bill
Actually I started out using 3rd gear but found myself using the brakes more than I thought I should. One of the "veterans" of the track said he got better results using second. Even using second I still kept overshooting the corners with too much rev matching. I guess I finally lost patience with myself and just eased out the clutch using full engine breaking on that one hairpin corner.
I wouldn't even be having this discussion except for the fact that now i hear a low gear whine when slowing down in 1st and second, leaving me wondering what damage I've done to my otherwise flawless transmission.
Been a long time since I screwed up that badly with a vehicle I really love.
Thanks for your input Bill ! Safe driving!