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Sometimes you have a good day at the track and sometimes you have an awesome day. A friend of mine and fellow drivers club member brought his new McLaren 720S out to play at Summit Point. Not only did we get to chase each other around the track, and get to ride with him on track in it, but he actually let me drive it on track.
I love my ZR1 but that 720S is an incredible machine. The way it accelerates is just astonishing. When we rocketed out of the pit lane and down the front straight I actually felt my ears pop as the air was sucked out of the cabin. You can see in the video that every time we hit a straight the 720S easily walked away from the ZR1 and on the long front straight the 720S was exceeding 170 MPH to my 158 MPH.
My friend asked me to drive the car on track because he felt it was pretty difficult to handle and after driving it I agree. The turn in is very quick and the slightest motion of the wheel results in big changes of direction. In my few laps in the car I had a hard time slowing down my hands enough. It was also pretty quick to rotate with relatively small throttle changes having a big effect on the back of the car. Fortunately these tendencies gave me an opportunity to catch back up to him. It's also worth mentioning that neither car were on stock tires. The 720S was on fresh Hoosier R7 and I was on Pirelli DH scrubs.
The second to the last session of the day I went out first and the 720S was second over many laps I was eventually able to pull a small gap on him but any mistake quickly erased that. More often than not I'd pull a gap in the corners and he'd close right back up on the straights. For the last session of the day I wanted to follow him and see if I could hang on. That session results in new PBs for both of us with a 1:14.89 for the ZR1 and a 1:14.71 for the 720S.
UPDATE: I went back and looked at the data from the session before when I was trying to stay ahead of the 720S. It turns out my best lap was a 1:14.67.
Here are a few pics and a video of that last session.
This last one is for the Forgeline guys and Gerry at CW4L.
Dumb question... is the track always open to spectating or do you need to me a member or some other parameter. Vids are good, but being about 12min away, I should bring the little man up to see the action live... :-)
Dumb question... is the track always open to spectating or do you need to me a member or some other parameter. Vids are good, but being about 12min away, I should bring the little man up to see the action live... :-)
Stellar rides!
PM me. We'll be here again tomorrow (I never left).
PM me. We'll be here again tomorrow (I never left).
Incredible acceleration from both, frankly. Besides the crazy TT V8, DCT also helps the 720s in the straights. It leaps ahead drastically every time you have to shift (although you are seriously accomplished as a driver, including manual shifting - kudos). Would you say that fresh H7's offer better grip than Pirelli Scrubs? It appears that the ZR1 has superior braking, mid-corner stability, and lateral grip. But that 720S is a beast! I'd still take the ZR1 though. Congrats!
Incredible acceleration from both, frankly. Besides the crazy TT V8, DCT also helps the 720s in the straights. It leaps ahead drastically every time you have to shift (although you are seriously accomplished as a driver, including manual shifting - kudos). Would you say that fresh H7's offer better grip than Pirelli Scrubs? It appears that the ZR1 has superior braking, mid-corner stability, and lateral grip. But that 720S is a beast! I'd still take the ZR1 though. Congrats!
More the 500 pounds less weight, rear weight bias too and less bulk!
I can only concur: awesome day! I know you are not so tied up with weights but how you were able to hang with an all carbon 3200 pounds ME like that I don't know...especially with all the high tech active aero it has..
Pictures are awesome. Two completely different approaches and looks. Have to admit I do have a soft spot for curves...
When are you switching to a 1ZR trim to get rid of those 200 pounds worth of electric motors!? I know you know they are not to the wheels right.. /SARC :-)
Thanks Poor-sha. A great assessment/comparison for someone who seriously enjoys driving their car at the track, and whose opinion I respect. It seems on a tighter track there would be very little difference in performance at all. Just a different driving experience. Seems like you have also demonstrated that, given a competent driver/same day/same track, it costs exponentially more to go faster than the baseline of a Corvette. It may be a dinosaur, but it is a very very polished dinosaur.
When are you switching to a 1ZR trim to get rid of those 200 pounds worth of electric motors!? I know you know they are not to the wheels right.. /SARC :-)
Thanks Poor-sha!
I know there was some sarcasm here but just in case anyone takes this too seriously, the difference from 3ZR to 1ZR is about 35 lbs.
Fantastic driving Sean!! Would you say that your buddy with the 720S is equally as talented behind the wheel? Also despite the wing on the 720S serving as an air brake it looked like you were able to brake a little later. You definitely had more balance going through the corners. Thanks for giving us some perspective on how these 2 super cars perform head to head.
I wouldn't call it average guy review. Thank you for sharing your experience here. Great driving, great cars! I'm surprised how close the lap times were. I wish I saw this sooner, would have gone to see it in person...
I know there was some sarcasm here but just in case anyone takes this too seriously, the difference from 3ZR to 1ZR is about 35 lbs.
Really ? not more ?
My 1LZ is 100+ pounds lighter than my friends 3LZ
confirmed weight by our DMV, as we pay duty on cars by weight and C02 emission .
mine 3484 , his 3615... both with full tank of fuel.
Great driving look like you had a ton of fun, but have you checked into how much timing is pulled from ZR1 when it gets hotter ?
I know its not a Z06 drop off, but there are rumours that it still looses HP.... find those and keep up with 720S on the straight and get a better time :-)
09-12-2018, 08:45 PM
Average Guy Review: ZR1 vs 720S
The 720s is better looking and faster, but she's to high maintenance for me. Hell I'm still driving the lowly Z06
Thank you for sharing your experience here. Great driving, great cars! I'm surprised how close the lap times were. I wish I saw this sooner, would have gone to see it in person...
