JRitt@essex

To me, the statement above says it all. You're bored. You want to try something new. Is that going to magically change for some reason after your next track day? Highly unlikely. If you don't make the jump to the Camaro now, you're going to be prowling for something else until your itch is scratched. You've done what you've done in the Z, and you're looking for a new experience.

Regardless of what you do, it is going to cost you a lot of money. If that won't cause you any issues however, then why not? If you want to go back to a C7Z in the future, it's not as if you won't be able to find one. By the time you're done with the Camaro, you won't want one anyway, because you'll be shopping mid-engine Corvettes.

All of the above said, I think you need to seriously consider going wheel-to-wheel racing Sean. My gut tells me that you're boredom isn't necessarily stemming from the car. I've seen this happen many, many times to advanced HPDE participants over the years, and it happened to me as well. About 4-5 years ago, I hung up my helmet and was pretty much done with time trials and HPDE's. While I still find them entertaining and enjoy I helping students, I just wasn't having the same level of fun out there that I used to have.

I'll be the odd man out here. My recommendation is to sell your C7Z, buy a C5 Z06 racecar, and go run a season of NASA ST2.

Forgot to say...if you're unsure, rent a drive in a Chumpcar or WRL car for an endurance race weekend and see what you think.

pkincy

How about a completely different approach. You are bored. But is it just the car? Or is it that you have taken the car as far as it can go and what you really want is more adrenaline and competition? I and others have been there after spending some effort and money in HPDE and HPDE TT. The real fix is to buy a race car. And a race car in the most competitive and popular spec class in your area. If autox is 3 on the 1-10 adrenaline scale, HPDE is 5 and HPDE in a car as good as the Z is a 6, running a W2W race car in a super competitive class with entries over 25 per session is an 10. Running in a competitive class with over 40 entries per session is an 11.

It also saves a lot of sales tax on the new car as you don't title and register it. You do need a truck and trailer, but I can't imagine you run a Z at 10/10ths and expect to drive it to and from the track, so likely already have that covered.

My first jump from HPDE to competition was buying an aging SCCA SSGT 3rd Gen Camaro. Spent $5k buying half of it with a buddy. We ran the car in 3 events each while I got my competition license and he got back up to speed in his desire to build a new car. Sold that car for the same thing we paid for it 6 months later and bought a car that qualified for the spec class I wanted to run and had it built. Spent 5 years running that car competitively at any event in 500 miles at least 10 weekends/year with 3 races per weekend. It doesn't get any better than that.

With enough entrants you always have somebody to race with even as you are breaking in a new car and running 20th-25th our of 40. A year or two later you are running top 5-10 and having a blast. Way more fun that stroking a $100,000 car around the track trying to keep the sunny side up by being conservative. And if your spec class runs inverted starts you can turn up the adrenaline to untold levels. Try a 25+ field of cars built to the same spec with the fast guys starting last and the slow guys starting first and you will quickly discover how the NASCAR guys feel entering Turn 2 at Sears Point their first lap. Trying to put 25 cars in the same place every turn the first lap or 2 gives you a new perspective on fun.

Try it, you will love it.

Maximus68

You paid how much for the turbo s compared to the Z
Let's give 30g's in mods to the Z and the turbo s will be good for delivering newspapers
As far as The Demon, I bought two
One for my wife with all seats
Mine. Just the driver.
just sayin

Suns_PSD

I'm a HUGE fan of that ZL1 1LE, as it appears many are. I like the specs and I also prefer the looks over the C7Z.

In my situation, if I used my Vette as a DD that would be a factor in me trading to the Camaro.

Sounds like you are mostly a track guy though. Stock for stock, maybe the Camaro is a superior track car? Don't know.

Either way, please report back! Driving feel, lap times, consistency, heat rejection, etc...

~ take care

georgiadawgs

Well, the Porsche 911 Turbo starts at a MSRP $190,700. The Z06 is not going to be as good as the Porsche, but still a great car.
However, my 2018 Huracan Performante will drive circles around a 2016 911 Turbo S but of course it cost me $274,390. My goodness I feel so much better now.

Racingswh

That's pretty funny.

johnglenntwo

ZL1 1LE - Faster Ring Time!?!?

georgiadawgs

AORoads

I think you'll never know until you try it. And from the sound of your writing, you want to try it. I say, why not? Hope it goes well for you. Your writeups have been thorough and very explanatory.

Racingswh

I keep saying I don't want anything else. I can't tell you how many times we say it "We are NOT spending any more money on cars!!!!". I am pretty sure we have a sickness.

Then we keep coming back to that damn Lamborghini. Nice ride.

Back to the question at hand.

Sean what did you or are you going to do?? I want to see that Camaro up close if you did go for it. I think we all want to know.

jbp8653

Just bought a 17' ZL1. I traded my 02Z cam/heads car I owned for about 10 years. I still have my 13' ZR1. Although not a 1LE as they come out in 18' I can tell you the ZL1 with the 10 speed automatic is one bad azz car. Put a Roto Fab cold air intake on it second day. The car runs and drives fantastic and I imagine the 1LE will be even better. The seats are very good. It's not a high end Corvette but it's really close. I think Chevy hit a major home run with this car

Maximus68

Everyone remember that every thing you read on the internet is true

johnglenntwo

The C6 ZR1 beat up on the 911's, Ferrari's, Lamborghini's....
It wasn't that long ago when those guys couldn't produce a complete GT Sportscar. A Corvette made them!
http://www.motortrend.com/cars/nissa...vs-nissan-gtr/

KevinGS

Yeah, it's A LOT of car.

And after spending quite a bit of seat time in an SS Convertible, and a little time in the 2017 ZL1, I'm starting to come around on the Camaro.

I mean the only 2 things I really disliked were the low-placed center vents, which shoot hot or cold air right to your hand (so your hand will either freeze or sweat depending on the season).

And the tall doors creating the bathtub effect. But in the Convertible with the top down, it's fine of course. And really, after going on a 3-hour trip in the car, you can get used to it.

And that's about ALL I can say bad about my experience with the Camaro. The seats were comfy, it handled well, it was still quite fast and sounded pretty damn good...AND I got a lot of thumbs up (torch red helped ).

And, I have to say, I liked the option having a backseat, because I actually did carry 2 and sometimes 3 girls with me in the car. And with the convertible down, the lack of legroom was never mentioned.

I'm going to give Chevy a lot of credit, backpedaling on my prior statements about Camaros. It's actually quite a good alternative to a Vette.

A 650hp ZL1? Especially in a convertible??? Sounds like loads of fun to me, and if necessary, I can scare 3 other people with all that torque and raucous coming from the rear.

JonaOhana

"my 2018 Huracan Performante will drive circles around a 2016 911 Turbo S but of course it cost me $274,390"

whoa, how did you manage that, Im in the process of ordering one, and my local dealer mentioned it would take 4 months to get one, they don't even have their demo unit yet...

johnglenntwo

First of all, a 6:52 Ring, 2.5s 0-60, car for $274K has got all that coming down in price. I hope that is true?! IE The Aventataur Ring car was $500K, and the 918...

And a 911 AWD turbo is not the way to go on the track, especially for $190K!

Enter the New Corvette!!! $Enter the new Camaro DD! The Camaro is an awesome all around car.
I hope this all really drives the Vette to new heights$

Real world, the exotics stay in the garage most of the time!
The ACR same - same!

The new vette active aero, or easy wing flipping, can beat them All(practically too!)!

JerriVette

For all those trading in their corvettes...please share what the trade in was on your Z06 as your went for the ZL1.

I wouldn't make the trade but having four seats sometimes is necessary,

Poor-sha

Thanks Jeff. I have to admit that I was getting bored doing HPDEs a couple years ago and one of things that really kept me going was getting to test and report back on new parts like the Essex/AP Racing brakes and the DSC Sport controller and shocks. It kept things fresh and I appreciate the opportunity.

At this point though I know that I won't be setting any new best laps in my current car so it's tough to stay motivated. At Summit Point last week we looked at data for jvp and my car side by side. I was going through T10 on to the front straight 10 MPH faster than jvp but by the time we hit start/finish he was 5 MPH faster. That was a 15 MPH swing in half the straight away and you could see it on every straight.

As far as going W2W is concerned, I'm watching the SpecCorvette series to see how that develops back East here. However, I like HPDEs because there are lots of options for when and where you go and frankly you don't have the stress of competition and deadlines like you do with racing.

This weekend I put all the stock parts back on my C7Z and it's going to Car Max today to see what she's worth. I have a set of track wheels and scrubs on the way for my F80 M3 so I'm going to track that for now. If I get serious about tracking that car I'll have to send you a note about your AP Racing kit for it.

I was also trying to work a good deal on a 2017 Z07 as I think it would be interesting to see how different a Z07 is once I had time to really get used to it and then gradually add the DSC Sport parts back in to get solid back to back data. I also have a ton of data on fluid temps from my 2015 so I could do some interesting back to back comparison with the 2017 changes. However, at this point it's a big price swing to upgrade to the car I'm looking at and the discounts just aren't there to make the price palatable.

The ZL1 is still very much in the mix for me and I'll probably make a decision after I see if the ZR1 is released next week.

georgiadawgs

Test drove it in Sant’Agata

rikhek

Why/how was jvp picking up 15 MPH? Isn't he in a a very similar C7Z?