Track days with mild pulleys?
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Joined: Nov 2006
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Track days with mild pulleys?
I am looking to get back into a Corvette with a primary use case of open track days. My ZR1 did OK with mild pulleys and basic cooling mods on a road course, but that blower is much bigger than what the z06 has. Who has significant experience at the track with pulleys? What mods and how does it work? I don’t want to hear from people who have been on track twice… I am hoping for feedback from guys that do a bunch of DEs per year and drive hard. Interested in pump gas combos only because dealing with e85 at the track is too much of a hassle. I don’t need a combo that never pulls a single degree of timing or anything like that, but I don’t want something that is going to be down 250hp or limp morning after 12 minutes. Can a 2.3 upper only survive? 12 or 18% lower only?
looking forward to the information as well.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 41,058
Likes: 9,821
From: Charlotte, NC (formerly Endicott, NY)
I can't answer your question about pulleys. However, I can pose a question that you may want to think about. The Z06 SC spins quite fast in stock condition. When you start spending 20 minutes at a time several times per day with engine speed varying between 5000 and 6400 rpm and a lot of time above 5500 rpm do you really want to spin the SC faster thus generating more heat that has to be dissipated while putting more wear and tear on the component itself? I suggest you think about adding more cooling capacity for both the engine and SC before changing the pulleys. I know from my own experience when the intercooler is bled properly the SC intercooler works better and power doesn't drop off all that quickly. Keeping the intercooler coolant cool may do more than spinning the SC faster. Once you get it reliably cooled then you could look at other ways to increase power although lap times come down because overall power under the curve is increased Vs peak HP. On top of that more power means improving handling capability, improving the driver and improving brake capacity. The best way to do that is to make increased power the last thing you add Vs the first.
Bill
Bill
