jcp911s

What few people have talked about here are tires. Certainly power and weight are critical, but tires that can actually deliver power to the ground are expensive, and wear very quickly.

I drive my 2016 Z51 on the track, and with the stock MPSS ZP tires (good but not great), I cannot drive the car in "Race" mode... I leave it in "Sport", which means that the HP is being cut at turn exit. Frankly, more HP simply means the TC cuts in sooner.

This is not to say that the chassis is not good... this car handles remarkably well, and the Mag shocks are fantastic.

This year, I'm going to separate wheels with MPSC2s, and see how that works, but frankly, adding more power to this car is like pouring 16oz of beer into a 12oz glass.

You'd have to be almost a professional-level driver to use even close to the 460HP in this car.

RapidC84B

Huh? I instruct and track my 2014 Z51 with OEM MPSS with all the nannies off and, once warm, it puts the power down fine.

Atari_Prime

I've always found it humorous that some people have different wheels and tires for the track/strip than the the street. You aren't going out to the track to win a race with your daily driver. You are going out to the track to see what your car can do and have fun doing it. If you show up to the drag strip or the track and then proceed to change the wheels to a completely different set, you aren't really getting to see what your car can do. Instead you are getting to see what this weird hybrid can do that will never exist on the street. If you show us to the drag strip and put drag slicks on your car, the time you get in the quarter mile doesn't really matter because its not a real world number, its kind of a cheat. The real number is about a half a second or more slower. Instead, just have a track dedicated car that never drives on the street or leave your street car completely stock.

C7pimp

Young'ns today don't realize that 350hp used to be A LOT of horsepower.

Now, anything less than 400 in a "performance car" that is over 3500 lbs is "slow".


We are living in a new golden era of extreme performance at a value price. You can acquire a brand new 2019 Mustang GT with a Roush Supercharger at 700hp with a Ford factory warranty for $40K. That's insane. 700hp is extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. I could turn low 11's in my old 2007 Mustang GT with 480whp. An extra 150 hp is a death trap for inexperienced drivers.

9 second 1/4 miles are the new "10's" and it takes a massive difference to go from 10.999 to 9.999. Gotta love it


I'd really love to see a 550hp base car in the C8 Vette, 700hp in the Z06 and a 900+ hp in the ZR1. A base C8 that could essentially compete par for par with a 458 Italia would be freaking amazing.

RapidC84B

I compete in NASA TimeTrials with the car. I trailer it to the track and run on Hoosier A7 race tires. 2018 I just instructed and ran HPDE laps on the OEM tires deciding if I wanted to build the C7 out or get another C5. You clearly have never competed in auto sports.

VetteDrmr

You've obviously never run autocross or a DE, have you? Running street tires on the track just overheats them, tears up the edges, etc. And "not the real world"? What do you call racing on a track, "fantasy"? Or is only street racing "real" racing? That sounds dumb.

You want to race; take it to a track.

Have a good one,
Mike

84 4+3

Completely valid. This is the current obstacle of the car. The battery tech is there, the charging tech isn't yet.

Atari_Prime

Sure I have. Ok, here the scenario. You get your C5, C6, C7, you head on down to the drag strip. You put your slick on and Run an 11s flat. You go home and tell your friends my car can run an 11s quarter mile. Well...no it can't because you weren't using street legal tires. Your car can run an 11.5s quarter mile or something like that. The other number is a lie. The same goes for Willow Springs or some thing like that. If you go bragging that your car can run a 1:30 lap around X track, you have to disclose that its on slicks because your car can't run an 1:30 lap, your car cheating can run the fast lap.

Saving your tires is great, I get that. But the moment you start putting 'track parts' on your car, you invalidate the results for bragging rights if you can't run those parts on the street.

This kind of thing happened all the time back in the 90s with Mustangs. You take a light Mustang LX 5.0, throw on some new heads, gears, NOS, and some slicks and all of a sudden guys were running 12s. Ok, but you aren't running slicks on the street so there goes nearly a second. The bragging numbers don't matter if the car isn't legally capable and equiped to do the same numbers on the street. It doesn't matter if you ever actually prove it.

Slicks are absolutely pointless unless you are in a sanctioned competition.

VetteDrmr

Well, yeah, but autocross *is* sanctioned. And if you have a formal time at <insert track name here>, that was most likely a sanctioned event as well (every DE I've been in has a "no timing" rule in place).

Now, if you want to say "I've done a x.xx time at so-in-so track" then you DO need to disclose what you're running. Otherwise the numbers are useless to anyone else.

But to say that you can only state numbers in street equipment for track events is, well, your opinion. Mine is different.

Have a good one,
Mike

RapidC84B

Um... road racing/timetrials is competition... it's nothing like drag racing. You prep the car to a set of class rules and compete.

Atari_Prime

People often use their numbers to compare them against what some manufacturers number does in the quarter mile or around that same track. So when Jim Bob runs his Challenger on slicks around a track and says that’s faster than what a McLaren 570s does on the track, it’s a lie come because the McLaren is doing it on street tires and he’s doing it on slicks. His numbers simply don’t matter. The same goes for drag numbers. If you’re running slicks on the dragstrip just for fun and you’re bragging about your numbers, you’re full of crap. Most cars will run faster on a dragstrip if you put slicks on them. Even an 84’ Corvette with 205 hp will run a 1/3 to 1/2 a second faster on slicks. But those numbers aren’t off track where they can’t run slicks. So there is no point to the numbers if they’re cheating.

Atari_Prime

We’re making two different points. I have nothing against setting up a car for track use. The point has to do with the futility of using track numbers and claiming real world performance. The track is not the real world to put it bluntly. Because the track parts can’t always be used on the street. The real world is the street. The track is the track. Car manufacturers have gotten in trouble for this too sometimes when a car magazine is doing a test the manufacturer has put race tires on the car. it happened with a high-end Porsche a few years ago and the car magazine had to disclose that the numbers were skewed because of the tires on the car. And the tires wouldn’t be available on the car and may not even be legal on the street.

VetteDrmr

Yeah, I think we've come to a violent agreement!

Have a good one,
Mike

vndkshn

Dunno, it's been under $2 in north Texas a good bit recently. Maybe not in the nanny states (or cities/counties) the tax the hell out of everything, but elsewhere, it's possible.
Very much "it depends". I have a 6 or 7 year old Mac Air, still holds its charge well. The last Dell I bought needed a battery after a year. Actually the last several Dells I bought that was the case (and I used to work for Dell!). And I'm not picking on Dell, my son's Asus needs a battery, my wife's HP needs one (both are about 3 years old) but ironically a 5 year old Lenovo I have holds it's charge pretty well.

vndkshn

You may not be aware, but there are multiple reasons for running different wheels and tires at the track, and the majority of them have nothing to do with time and bragging rights.

For example, you may have a really nice set of aftermarket wheels that you don't want to risk tearing up. Because the pad material off of brake pads (especially track pads) can do a real number to your wheels (believe me, I ruined a set of wheels that way). And low profile tires don't do a great job of protecting wheels from curbs when you grab a little too much, again, ask me how I know.

You may want to switch from a staggered set (wider rear tires than front) to a square setup to dial out understeer.

You may want to run a different size tire that is cheaper than that large, wide, super low profile one you run on the street that looks so awesome.

There are countless reasons you may want to run different wheels and tires at the track than on the street. Lap or trap times may or may not be one of them.

I was about to type "you do realize" when I realized... you apparently don't.

There are more than just "slicks" and "not slicks". In between there are DOT approved (meaning they are street legal) tires with a different tread compound that provide more grip and importantly, handle heat better than standard compounds. And come to think of it, there are tires out there that have compounds that don't really provide more grip than typical "street tires" but they do handle heat better. Some street tires get pretty greasy when you push them hard for several laps, especially when it is nearly 100 degrees outside and you are on a dark track under the Texas sun. Again, ask me how I know... once a set of Pilot Sport Cups gave me zero warning at all when they gave up trying to grip and those are "track tires"!

That said, I know of several people who run at the track and on the street in cars that are on the jagged edge of "street cars", myself included. Sure, it runs around town on standard street tires because I'm not going to destroy my track tires at the outrageous price they are, but I'm also not "bragging" or anything like it (and neither are the folks I know). And I'd also dispute your claim that you can't use track parts on the street.. since my entire suspension and brake system is nearly identical to what some of the PWC cars are running.

84 4+3

I forget we have an arbitrary 30 cent tax per gallon now lol. So yea, valid point again. And Texas is on my short list of places to move to get away from all the bullshit lol.

Funny you mention Dell, that's my current PC. I've got an old xps 410 desktop in the basement too. And strange enough, the 5 year old mac book is the one that doesnt last as well but I attribute that to it being the older style lithium cells. Fair point.

patentcad

My car is too fast for me.

Mr Triple Black

460 is plenty, any one says different is delusional. Can you want more? Sure! But acting like 460 is your grandmas 94 Taurus is just dumb. The car Is super fast, by far faster than average. I’d like the C8 to start with about 525, but even if it had less I’d still buy it assuming the price wasn’t too high.

GordyRay

When the C7 came out I was shocked that it only had 460 hp. With the outgoing C6 having 436 everyone was talking 480-500 and that didn't happen.
I was very disappointed, however; the the C7 was much improved. With DOT and safety requirements I won't be surprised if the C8 weighs in at 3400 -3500 pounds and that really sucks bad. So if the C8 doesn't have at least 500+ Hp they missed the opportunity to win over several car buyers.
It would be nice if the car weighed 3200-3300 lbs and had 525 Hp. Obviously the torque has been there. I think we will know within 2 months.
Hopefully the C8 Z will have 700+ and the equivalent ZR1 will be over 800 Hp. Most of us have learned that you have difficulty using 500 Hp on the street safely, only good for quick burst and High SA on the road for LEO and other crazy drivers that are texting.
But definitely will not be happy to only have 460-480Hp that would be a bust. New base model C8 needs 500+ minimum, hopefully 525 Hp.
Cheers,

C7nut

I am very happy with 460HP in my Z51 ... BUT....For bragging rights I'd be happier with twice that as long as I'm not stuck paying the gas guzzler tax for added HP I really don't need..