Travelor

Not a top speed question but rather a question concerning aero handling. I have heard that the stock C6 gets very front end light above 140 mph. This seems to be the case even with the GS/Z06's.

Is this also the case with a GS coupe with the factory front end spoiler/air dam?

If so, has anyone added aero parts and eliminated this condition? What parts?

George

Prime Target

My stock Z felt glued to the road at 153.

SG4206

Glued @ 145

Wayne O

Do you anticipate driving the car much at speeds over 140 mph? Just in general, a Corvette can benefit from aero enhancements but for normal street use IMO they're not really needed. I plan to soon but I have not yet added aero improvements to my C6. I regularly compete against all kinds of other Corvettes with significant aero mods (full rear wings, front splitters, rear/front diffusers, canards, etc.). Although, most of our racing is at speeds under 140 mph I don't feel significantly disadvantaged. Although, my car is still competitive without aero improvements I still plan to aero mod my car as every fraction of a second counts. FWIW even blasting down a straight in excess of 140 mph the front of my car doesn't seem 'dangerously' light.

IMO it's not needed on a street car (and would look ridiculous) but the APR rear wing is by far the most popular. Corvette racers seems to use a variety of front end splitters. There are 'lesser' aero options available that would be more appropriate for a street-driven car. Good luck whatever you decide on.

Travelor

Prime Target and SG4206, your cars - do they have the small from spoiler (as on the GS)and small rear spoiler or the full width front and rear spoilers (ZR1 style)?

It would seem that due to the front aerodynamics adding a larger rear spoiler would aggravate the light front end problem by shifting the downforce more to the rear.

Wayne O, I am considering getting the car up to speed on one of the NASCAR size race racks just to have "been there, done that". One of our Club members has a standard C6 and stated that it gets really light in the front at about 150 mph - I sure would not enjoy that at the end of a straight away and LOOKING at a turn coming up.

George

Bill Dearborn

Not true. The C5, C5Z06, C6, C6 GS/Z06/ZR1 are all rock solid on the ground at 140+. I have been to 157 with my C6Z and it was rock solid at that point. If your wheels aren't aligned correctly the car might not feel right but none of those cars feel aero light at speeds over 150. I didn't have the C5s over 155 so don't know about them at higher speeds. Have ridden in a number of base C6s that were close to 150 and the driver didn't complain about the car feeling light.

Bill

JoesC5

I've had my Z06 up to 162(GPS) MPH and it was planted to the track(Talladega). The front splitter on the GS/Z06 does reduce the lift vs the base C6 and the rear spoiler reduces lift vs the base C6.

GM changed the aero for a reason, and that reason was to improve the high speed stability of the Z06 and it was automatically transferred to the GS as it uses the same body panels/splitters/spoilers as the Z06.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I had my C5 up to 140 MPH(Texas Motor Speedway) and also on a lonely street in "Mexico" and it was light in the front end. I didn't feel all that comfortable driving the C5 that fast. If I could find a place to drive my Z06 at 185+, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I have full confidence in the Z06.

rayk

I agree with the posters above. I've had my GS up to 155 mph at BIR and it's rock solid. Going through turn 1 at 140 it never moves off line or needs to drift up at exit.

It's the most planted car I've owned on the track.

y2krtaf

Glued solid on remote track not in this country at 156+

2011 GS by the way.

BEZ06

My '06 Z06 is solidly planted to the track at 175.

The car is totally stock except for a Killer Bee intake and a tune.

Bob

JCtx

Haven't gotten my GS above 120 yet, but I certainly wouldn't use any aftermarket 'aero' crap. A GS/Z06 should be pretty good out of the box since the latter top speed is 197 mph. The ZR1 splitter might add a bit more downforce, but looks like crap IMO, so rather leave the GS stock .

Prime Target

I have the stock front splitter and GY tires. I didn't take the car through a turn at that speed - it was on a closed runway. Straight line the car felt planted and felt as glued to the road as if I were doing 65.

ohmy

where did you get this info from? seems like BS to me...

The best you can do is copy the ZR1 components in it's entirety (they were designed to work as a system) as these have been developed by real engineers.

Aftermarket aero components are garbage, they will not improve the car, they will unbalance the car - if you add down-force to the front you will loosen the back, if you add to the back you will loosen the front... no matter what they t claim, they were never tested to the extent GM tests and tunes their component.

Things get tricky above 130mph, stay with the original GM designs and you'll be fine, glue on garbage on your car and you'll have some surprises...

shaimerej

Solid at any speed. I had a dream that I was driving my 06 Z06 in Nevada near Eli at 185 mph. In that dream, the car felt just fine.

BEZ06

George

It's hard to just say you've "been there, done that" - once you take it to the the track you'll likely get addicted like me, Wayne, Bill, Joe, Ray, and others in the thread!!!

If you want a really great track experience on a "NASCAR size track", there are about 4 HPDE (High Performance Driving Event, or Driver Education event) track events here every fall, from Oct thru Dec.

We run the Rolex 24 road course, and that includes about 99% of the tri-oval, so you get to go really fast!!!

I think the best, especially for novice track drivers, is the one in December that is put on by an Audi club from Ohio and Hooked On Driving.

Here's a link to the HoD site with dates for the event:

http://www.hookedondriving.com/hooke...region/Florida


Scroll down to the bottom and you can see that the event is Dec 7-9. You can sign up for all 3 days, or unlike past years, you can sign up for any 1 or 2 days you like.

Registration isn't open yet, but keep checking and when there's a yellow "Details and Registration" button available you'll be able to sign up.

This is one of the most expensive track events out there, but I've heard it costs something like $35,000 a day for the sponsoring organizations to rent the track.

PBOC has an event the end of Oct, an Italian marque group puts on an event in Nov, and PCA has had one sometime in the fall in the past.

If you want to say "been there, done that" then Daytona is a great place to come to check that off your list, but like I said above, the track gets into your blood and you'll want more!!!

Bob

Gearhead Jim

Stock 2006 and then 2009 coupe, both Z51. Felt good at 165 mph, did not have the opportunity to explore higher numbers.

Having said that, GM puts the aero stuff on the Z06/GS for a reason, and it's probably not just appearance.

BEZ06

Sorry, but I strongly disagree!!

You're correct that if you just tack on one piece you may create some imbalance, but there are several very well tested components out there.

LGM makes some good stuff, and it's well tested in real-life track running on their race cars.

Probably the best tested aero components are from Katech. They wind tunnel test their components and provide empirical data from their testing, like you can see in this link:

http://www.katechengines.com/street_...a%20report.pdf


So.....don't discount the value of aero components. If they are tested, and if you know what adding them as a package can do to your car, you can get really important increases in track performance by adding aerodynamic add-ons to your car.



Like Jim says in his post above, the C6R above doesn't have all that aero stuff on it just to make it look pretty!!!

Bob

rayk

I'd like to know where you read about the Z06/GS getting light in the front end.

You didn't state your experience, but you should have some experience on the track before running really fast. You don't want to let off the gas in the turn, slip, and then hit the brakes. You could really do some damage depending on the track.

The best times I have are on the track running with other track rats. It's not just about speed.

Goatdad

My 06 ls2 felt planted at 160 indicated and 158 per gps.

(On a closed course with a professional driver of course)

ohmy

I doubt very much that aftermarket components out perform the engineering put into the ZR1 components. Even if "tested", there is no way they had the resources that GM did when they designed and tuned the car to be balanced. They can CLAIM certain results, and of course you can choose to buy into their claims if you want... as for me, no way I'd ever put that crap on my car.