I do't know where I saw the specs, but I thought I read that the rear track is about 2" narrower than the front? That goes against my intuition, but was it done for aerodynmics - it can't be for stability?

 

Front and rear track were both narrowed.

 

That's what I thought: about 62" in the front and about 60" in the rear.

:confused:

 

Front is .2 inch narrower; rear is 1.3 inches narrower.

 

Track is measured from the center of the tread, so if the outside of the tires are at about the same distance from the vehicle centerline and the rear tires are two inches wider, the rear track will be two inches narrower than the front.

Duke

 

Sounds like something you would do for a front wheel drive car. This doesn't seem right for a Corvette


[Modified by SBSB, 4:24 PM 1/6/2004]

 

Well, it definitely wouldn't be right if you kept the same track: the wheels would stick out 1 inch beyond the fenders. I can just see it now:

RPO code 1GEHTO - 2 in wider track, Dayton 14" gold-plated wire wheels, hydraulic kit, and gold caps for your front teeth.

 

Heck, it worked pretty darn well to give the old 911 Turbo a mean-butt look.

 

Wider tires aren't right for a Corvette? :confused:

 

Maybe I don't understand this. Is the outside edge of the rear tires more narrow than the front? That's what it sounds like to me. Enlighten me please :yesnod:




[Modified by SBSB, 7:48 PM 1/6/2004]

 

Draw it out on paper.

Duke

 

I'm drawering it now but my crayon broke so I don't know what to do :confused:

 

Visualize a Top Fuel dragster with skinny fronts and big fat rears. The distance between the outside faces of the wheels is the same for the front axle as for the rear. However, "track" measures the distance between the center axis of the wheels. That distance will be shorter in the rear since the tires are much fatter. Rear track is almost always short on RWD cars with bigger rear wheels.

Additionally, the C6 body is 1 in narrower than the C5's. So part of the shorter track (0.5 inches) is attributed to that as well. Hope that helps.

 

Having a narrower rear track in the c6 basically means we're getting nice fat tires in the rear... the outside edges of the tires may align but the inside edges don't because the rears are that much wider, centers are closer to the center of the car, hence a narrower track in the rear...

yes? no?

aww... Eff it. I'm still buying one.

[EDIT] you beat me to it....


[Modified by ObeyC6, 11:07 PM 1/6/2004]

 

I get it. Thanks.

So, a narrower and longer wheelbase suggests this baby in Z06 trim may be planned to hit some nosebleed high end speed (190???) and needs the additional directional stability, just like a dragster.

I like! :D


[Modified by Registered, 5:50 AM 1/7/2004]

 

Makes sense, thanks guys :cheers:

 

Front track 62.1" Front wheel width 8.5"
Rear track 60.7" Rear wheel width 10.0"

Since track is measured from the center of the wheel, we have to add half a wheel width to each side of the track to get the total "wheel outer edge to wheel outer edge track" (let's call this the total edge-to-edge track).

62.1 + 4.25" + 4.25" = Front total edge-to-edge track = 70.6"
60.7" + 5.0" + 5.0" = Rear total edge-to-edge track = 70.7"

...so the total edge-to-edge tracks of the C6 Coupe are about the same, and in fact the rear wheels actually stick out about .05" more on each side than the fronts.

Let's compare this to a 2004 Coupe:
Front track 62.0" Front wheel width 8.5"
Rear track 62.1" Rear wheel width 9.5"

62.0" + 4.25" + 4.25" = Front total edge-to-edge track = 70.5"
62.1" + 4.75" + 4.75" = Rear total edge-to-edge track = 71.6"

Let's compare this to a 2004 Z06:
Front track 62.4" Front wheel width 9.5"
Rear track 62.6" Rear wheel width 10.5"

62.4" + 4.75" + 4.75" = Front total edge-to-edge track = 71.9"
62.5" + 5.25" + 5.25' = Rear total edge-to-edge track = 73.0"

So both the base C5 and the Z06 have a 1.1" wider "edge-to-edge total track" in back than they do in front... i.e. the C5 and C5-Z06 rear wheels on each side stick out .055" more than the fronts, which is noticeable. On the C6, they undid this and made the front and rear total edge-to-edge tracks about the same (within .05" of an inch).

At least they didn't make the fronts stick out MORE than the rears......

Andi

 

Thanks for the detail.

So basically, the wide and low (exotic and cool) "supercar" rear of the C5 Z06 has left the building.

:sad:

 

Good analysis, Andi.

The slighly narrower rear than C5 probably helps the aero a bit.

Maybe Z06 will have slightly wider rear fenders to contain what will most certainly be at least 20 mm more tire section width on at least 1" wider wheels.

The ideal aero shape is a teardrop (remember the Citroen DS-21), but the big rear tires on very high powered cars work against this. C6 has many detail compromises that were well thought out.

Duke

 

Seriously, I'd like to see how noticeable the just-over-an-inch (on each side) is in real life. This isn't a counter to your view, I would really like to see if I can tell the diff. 5" off the length will likely be more noticeable.

Was glad to get the details on the track explanation.:)

-bZj