Call the track and ask. They can tell you how much of a workout your car will get. Driving school or Race school will tell you what to expect.

 

If you haven't already done so go to the Ron Fellows Corvette driving school and beat the hell out of their C8' s . So much fun and so much to learn.

 

Exactly this. I have and at a quick pace you can start to fade the z51 brakes in about 3 quick laps. Especially on the straight braking hard/deep into first turn. And these cars are set up for it. Fun is an understatement! And the instructors show your driving limitations pretty quick.

 

I have taken my non Z51 to Sebring Raceway in late Florida spring and the car did fine. Like any non dedicated track car you just have to be mindful of your driving. I did a couple slower laps mid session and tires, brakes, and temps were all fine. Since then I have added different pads (27k miles) and the summer PS4S tires. I have autocrossed several times as well and no issues there either.

The reality is on your first outing in your car you are not going to be anywhere near the limits of what it can do. For the very small % of Z51 owners who "track" their car they also do not come close to the limits. Very few weekend warriors are capable enough drivers to hit the mechanical limits of any C8 in a single day at the track. A cool down lap is very easy to do if temps creep up or if the brakes start getting soft. 8/10's braking and cornering will be fine.

Tell the instructor you just want to learn, have fun, and get the car home in 1 piece. He will make sure all 3 happen.

 

What I get out of the responses (from those that appear to have actual experience) you may have no issue, or you may have an issue. Clearly then, your results may vary and depend on the exact conditions.

From a warranty perspective, the Warranty Manual indicates items not covered. 'Damage Due to Accident, Misuse, Impact, or Alteration" is not covered. Its my view that using a non-Z car for a track event constitutes misuse (in the eyes of GM based on how they appear to define it), and even using a Z51 for track events and competitive driving without following the track preparation instructions would give GM grounds to deny a warranty claim - so there is a risk. Will GM consider what you are planning to do a "track event" - or even find out what you did? I do not know. Several point out that if the conditions are mild, its not going to hurt the car. But if you have failure later, even if it was not a result of the track event, GM may (whether correct or not) deny a warranty claim because you tracked a non-Z car and/or did not prep it in accordance with the instructions in the Owner's Manual - if the have a way of knowing.

The Track Events and Competitive Driving section of the Owners Manual say
"All Z06 models, E-Ray models equipped with
the ZER performance package, and Stingray
models equipped with Z51 performance
package can be used for track events and
competitive driving. For additional details on
vehicle track preparation, see Chevrolet.com
> Corvette Experience > Guides > Track
Prep Guide.'

"Participating in track events or other
competitive driving without following the
instructions provided may affect the vehicle
warranty. See the warranty manual before
using the vehicle for racing or other
competitive driving. "
"Be sure to follow all service procedures
before driving the vehicle at track events or
competitively."

 

So I've had my non-Z51 on the NCM for lead follow laps several times. I suspect we got to speeds and braking close to what you'll get in a first level course like you're taking. The only "issue" I noticed was brakes. They didn't fade, but they definitely got real hot. I could both smell them and feel the heat coming off them at the end of 4 laps. Without knowing anything about you, the track or the instruction, I can't begin to guess whether you'll have any issue there or not. How many braking zones, from what speeds, how long are the straights in between where the brakes can cool, how fast a driver are you? I have prior track experience, so I was booking it harder than most, I suspect. All of those factors will affect brake temps. Unlike the Z51, the base model has no brake cooling ducts.

The comparison to a Toyota is apples and oranges. The Toyota may not have brakes that resist fade as well but it also won't be reaching the same speeds or braking as hard as the engine and tires of the C8 will allow you to do.

Do you need 2 extra liters of DCT fluid? First, what year is your car? Lage 2023 and later ones have a revised DCT sump and fluid pickup and don't need that at all. Even if you have an earlier one, the issue was related to a specific situation: high G turns on a downhill section of track. Where is your class happening. If it's at Laguna Seca with its infamous corkscrew, then yeah, add the two quarts. Otherwise probably not really necessary.

If this is your first time on a track, have fun. Your instructor will keep you from overcooking things.

Oh, one thing is definitely true. The warranty of the base model doesn't cover track use, and if something goes wrong GM will be able to figure out where you were when it happened. But again, the instructor should keep you at sane enough levels you're not going to break things. But you should be aware the risk isn't zero.

 

Insurance is another issue as my USAA policy will not cover anything having anything to do with any kind of driving school no matter what. Of course you can buy track insurance from other companies if necessary.

 

Here's some advice you should actually listen to. Call the HPDE group you are running with and call the shop that you are going to have do the Tech Inspection (certainly a requirement of any HPDE group event) and ask them. Then listen to what they tell you. Don't skip this event, it will literally (if you're like me) be the coolest thing you will ever do with a car.


but please report back and tell me what either of those sources (actual experts) say.


Cause I'm 100% correct even though all 30 of the other posters on here don't agree with me...

 

Good advice.

A couple years back I took my non Z51 out for a "Track Night in America" at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and the only prep I did was the 2 added quarts of tranny fluid. Really babied it the first session (novice group but I've had a few prior track days so not TOTALLY slow) -- was still fun. A Ciocca dealer rep happened to be there with his non Z51 C8 and we struck up a conversation. He said from his experience that I could run as quick as I wished at this particular circuit and the car (incl. brakes and tires) would handle it. I kicked it up a notch (naive, perhaps, but saw what he was doing in intermediate) and no problems whatever. I passed everything else in the group (of course there were no C8's) which was good enough for me as I got a lot of "open track." Basically, I had a blast. The car still is on the original brakes now at 34K miles.

So, it would seem that the REAL risk to your C8 and its systems is track and driver dependent -- checking your gauges and a thermometer are your friends, as are a "sense" of what the car is doing. And, having a son who has done some competitive racing and knows where on the local tracks backing off just a bit dramatically reduces strain on the brakes and tires also helps,

But, based on the more conservative reading of the owner's manual, I won't take the risk of doing it again (still have 5 years on my extended warranty, and I don't have FU money to throw at the Vette if I destroy stuff). I had read my manual's "should not" as just that. But, it really means "MUST not" and GM has WAY more legal funds than I do.

Oh, and I have no idea how the one poster got close to wrecking the Z51 brakes after 3 laps at Spring Mountain. The pros took us on VERY hot laps, plus a couple of the younger and more experienced students were pushing close to the pros' times by the end of the course. Nobody reported any problems and we were doing way more than 3 laps per stint.

Finally -- you want to destroy a car's brakes on the track? Take a base non-Z51 C4 onto the long track at Pocono. 20 years ago I naively ran mine VERY hard on my first ever track day. Had a blast -- right until I boiled the brake fluid so badly the seals melted. Now THAT was an expensive day. Looking back, those brakes were comically small and the calipers pathetic. Live and learn.

 

First off, even a base C8 is going to be more capable than a lot of cars that show up at HPDs. Having said that, I would absolutely recommend at a minimum flushing the brake fluid with some hi-temp fluid. Beyond that, swapping to some track pads would also be well worthwhile for a couple of reasons: 1) it'll give you much more confidence under braking 2) you won't wear through your street pads (which is a definite possibility if the track is even somewhat heavy on braking). You don't have to swap pads, especially if the track is not hard on brakes and you're going to be easy on it and maybe are only doing one day, but I've blown through a set of street pads in a single day of HPD before. For tires, the stock Michelin A/S tires will be ok if you're new to tracking and aren't pushing too hard. Just focus on being smooth and not overdriving the car/tires. Beyond all of that, yes, the warranty doc specifically states that Z51/Z06/ERay are covered for track use, but it doesn't explicitly state the base car won't be covered. Also, keep in mind your regular street insurance does not cover track use, so you'll want to get event coverage from someone like OpenTrack (unless you can afford to total the car and walk away from it).

 

HPDE is technically neither racing nor other competitive driving.. In talking to a couple of service advisors (at 2 different dealers), they didn't see the events as an issue, but I don't know if that would be taken into consideration on a warranty claim.

 

My service advisor said the same thing. I know as a Vette guy he was happy to see another C8 on the track.

Problem is, how can one trust that when push comes to shove in the event of an engine/tranny warranty claim GM won't demand a review of ALL the data stored up about your C8 regardless of what your service advisor would like to do for you?

 

Do not listen to the fear mongers here. Add two quarts of fluid, install Z51 brake ducts, toss a set of Carbotech XP10's on it and go have fun.

 

Honestly, I probably wouldn't even both to add the fluid. I can't remember if it was Tadge or Harland that stated more recently they wish they'd never even recommended the extra fluid for pre-24 cars. It's only needed in very unique, heavy G-load corners (i.e. running racing slicks, with a very aggressive driver in a very high-G corner). If he's on street tires, especially the A/S, he'll never hit the G-loads to need it.

 

it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. It doesn’t hurt anything. Cheap insurance.

 

following as I'd also like to do HPDE in my base model. I'm in group 2 NASA. might swap brake fluid. Wondering how the A/S tires will hold up or if they will chunk

 

Jstockton and proeagles are both correct. a 1LT car without Z51 is not setup for track use and you will void warranty.
Not enough cooling for DCT and brakes, and a key thing to understand is THEY DO KNOW where you are driving your car.

It has a GPS unit and the Global B system is sending telemetry to GM, regardless of onstar plan. I have heard in the past about some people that had warranty claims denied because they tracked a non-Z51 base C8.

If you don't care about warranty at all, you can do what you like, however I had my Z51 equipped car with motul 660 RBF brake fluid experience a total brake system failure going into a turn with a high wall covered in steel. I wouldn't think about driving a non-Z51 car, unless maybe it was very very light track use. I'm not sure if GM would have covered the damage to my car if I had hit that wall due to a warranty claim related issue though because they usually exclude the brakes.

 

I won't use the Motul 660 RBF again. I installed Castrol SRF and it is working great.
I burn up a new set of brembo pads in two tracks days and just tracked a new set of P4S tires. I had quite a bit of shoulder damage. My track alignment is about half way between the recommended 3deg camber and stock/street, I think it was last measured at ~1.75. I figure this prevents excessive tire wear on the street, but still helps on the track.
Hitting mainly highspeed right turns on the track, it just really scrubs the hell out of the left side shoulder of the tires, both front and rear. I had a couple chunks missing the last track day too.

Seeing how much it costs to maintain tires and brakes, I think more and more every day that Ron Fellows SM was a fantastic deal.

 

Sometimes I wonder if I should have just kept my 6th-gen Camaro. That thing was bulletproof. Track days & everything.

 

Yep, you had none of the crap about which model. or package could be driven on a track and still covered under warranty. Only stipulation for warranty coverage when participating in HPDE events was the Camaro had to be stock and follow the track prep outlined in the owners manual.