FF2000

I am coming from a 2020 Z51 that had 19,000 trouble free miles. I also have a dedicated race car so this is a street car that may see a few track days. My build is a base 1LZ Z06 with Z07 aero and CCB brakes. I found these kinds of reviews very helpful when making my build decisions, so here is one more,

The Z06 is quite different to a Z51. The Z06 handles significantly better. The Z06 has stiffer springs and smaller bars than the Z51. As has been said before, the Z06 in tour is a little stiffer than the Z51. But surprisingly I think in sport and track, the Z06 feels great. The Z51 in track is way too stiff due to overdamping but the Z06 with its stiffer springs and more appropriate damping feels surprisingly good on nicer roads. The Z06 just turns in better and handles more precisely, it feels lighter and more nimble, some would say it has a go-cart feel. The Z51 relies on big sway bars, while the Z06 uses bigger springs and you can feel that difference.

This is the second C8 I have bought from MacMulkin. Once again, I had an excellent experience. No extra charges, in fact the final price was a few thousand less than the window sticker MSRP due to locked in price protection. The Corvette team at MacMulkin is the best, good communication when needed in critical parts of the procurement process. Adam is excellent and so is Todd in the business department. No games and honest transparent interactions. I traded my Z51 and they beat my best local offer by $1K with the tax trade in advantage included. My Z06 took 8 weeks from going 3000 to driving home.

The CCB brakes definitely require some hard stops to start working. The first several times you apply the brakes hard they barely work. Once they start to work, they feel great. The DCT seems more discreet and direct, there is no flutter as I come to a stop in my Z06, whereas my Z51 would sometimes have a very slight flutter/clutch hesitation when coming to a stop.

The engine sounds completely different than a cross plane engine. I have never owned a V8 flat plane crank engine before. It spins up very fast, like a lightweight racing engine. It is much louder than the LT2. In all modes it is much louder. Startup is an episode as the cats come up to temp – very loud. In tour mode it is tolerable for my wife if we are just cruising to dinner. There is a significant drone when driving on the freeway at 2600 to 3000 RPM in sport mode. Drop below 2500 RPM and it disappears, it is not really present or noticeable in tour mode. If driving aggressively in sport or track it is not there, but if cruising on the highway at 2800 RPMs in sport it is there.

I have not tried stealth mode yet for the exhaust. I am guessing I will need to set up my mode for tour or sport suspension, stealth or tour exhaust, and maybe track for brakes and steering and then sport for engine/DCT shift points – this will be wife mode. For Z mode, I will start with sport suspension and exhaust, and track for steering, brakes and engine/DCT. I was surprised how good track suspension felt the few times I have been able to try it, otherwise I have been exclusively using sport mode when driving alone or more aggressively with my wife. It is really the noise more than the stiffness that makes me use tour with my wife.

.Overall, the car is very fast. In corners where I would jump on my Z51 and hit 65 mph on exit, the Z06 jumps right up to 85. You have to be careful messing around on the street, it goes very fast very quickly. I put the car in sport mode almost immediately after leaving the dealership for my 500 mile drive home and left it there for the entire trip home. Other than being kinda loud, it just feels better in sport. The shift RPMs are much better in sport and track, especially for the LT6 because if you get on it in tour it has to do a lot of downshifts and really spoils the acceleration.

I am guessing a lot of C8 owners will be much happier in a non-Z06 car. This car is loud, aggressive, and with the wings and extra width really stands out. On the other hand, the handling and chassis responsiveness has improved in a wonderful way and the engine is something special. At this price point the Z06 with the new flat plane high revving engine, improved handling, bigger aero, big CCB brakes, bigger tires, and more robust DCT, is a great performance value.

cfl70

great review , thank you

Big Lebowski

Awesome review, thank you. And congratulations!
(Need some pictures!)

My Z06 just went to 3400 Status and looks to be pacing to be built on or around Thursday May 30th.

c7gsmike

Well said. Just over 2k miles on my '24 1LZ with CCBs. Car is insane! First track event coming next month at Pocono Raceway.

BartManStl

Just did museum delivery after buying through MM. Completely agree, great experience. No hassles. I was especially pleased as I had submitted my order with the base wheels. They mentioned they are more gray than silver, as the configurator would have you believe. Sent me actual pics, and I ended up going machine faced, which I love. Would highly recommend MM.

Crispins

Thank you for the review.

I just ordered mine and have a bit of remorse about it as I do enjoy my Stingray very much.

However, your review was great.

I want a better handling, faster, more aggressive looking car.

I also want to be able to drive it around without hating it.

I think I will be very happy

Ragtop 99

Was the Z06 with Z07 aero the right choice or do you think the Z07 suspension would have been better?

bigblock427

Congratulations on your new Z06 and thanks for the write up.

Ken_C8

You WILL BE VERY HAPPY. I also came from a 2020 Z51 with 15,000 miles in 3 years into my 2024 non-Z07, non CCB, Z06. The sound alone is just amazing. Every time I get out of the car I laugh at how much I love it and how fun it is. It cruises just fine at 70mph on the highway in Tour mode. Mileage is poor (17ish highway, 8 goofing around) but who cares. You will not regret it one bit. I can't wait to drive around aimlessly tonight with the top down (90 degrees in Boston today!)

FF2000

I am not sure yet, need more time in the car. I am on travel for the next two weeks so it will be little bit. So far the dynamic range is nice, tour and sport are very accessible on the street.

One other thing I notice is I feel like the torch red paint finish on the Z06 is better than my Z51. The Z51 had some subtle orange peel while the Z06 paint seems to have less variation.

RapidC84B

My views are aligned... I was really surprised at how much better the chassis feel was. It's like they made the SR uber-safe and then removed all of that and fixed it all w/ the Z06. I didn't realize the Z06 bars were smaller. I knew about the springs and control arm bushing rates.

I've come to love the car. I just bought a C6Z 427 a month ago for a dedicated track build (mostly) and it makes me realize just how good the C8Z is. I'm going to dump $40K into the C6Z to make it do what the C8 will do with a seat and tires.

What made you pull the trigger on the CCBs? I really wish I could have ordered the big aero, but will buy it from the dealer.

Take it to the track and you'll just love it... it's heavy, but it's truly an "out of the box" trackday car that needs nothing.

rickcpu

Congratulations on the car.

Excellent write up. Really appreciate you covering many aspects of driving the Z06.

Thank you, sir.

rawbar

If you ever cruise up to Newburyport, drop me a PM please. I've yet to see a Z06 in person and just dropped off the waitlist. Make me regret it

FF2000

I chose CCB for a few reasons. Maybe most important is the car is heavy, so these save maybe 25 or 30 lbs of rotating unsprung mass. It also bothers me that the brakes on the base Z06 are larger in back, and the CCBs are more normal, larger in front. My experience racing mid-engine cars is while you may run more rear bias than a FE car, the front is still providing more braking power. I also saw that most of the higher end sports cars like Ferrari and MaClaren are using CCBs pretty broadly. They make no dust and the larger ceramic rotors look good. The main downside is cost but only if you track several days per year.

Since my Z06 is mostly a street car, if I track just a few days a year I am hoping these hold up. If I track it more, than I will put the AP setup on. But Im still racing full seasons with my formula car so at least for the next year or two this should work. I am signed up for the Ron Fellows course with a Z06 and am looking forward to that.

tobaccokid

[QUOTE=RapidC84B;1607831504]My views are aligned... I was really surprised at how much better the chassis feel was. It's like they made the SR uber-safe and then removed all of that and fixed it all w/ the Z06. I didn't realize the Z06 bars were smaller. I knew about the springs and control arm bushing rates.

I've come to love the car. I just bought a C6Z 427 a month ago for a dedicated track build (mostly) and it makes me realize just how good the C8Z is. I'm going to dump $40K into the C6Z to make it do what the C8 will do with a seat and tires.

What made you pull the trigger on the CCBs? I really wish I could have ordered the big aero, but will buy it from the dealer.

Take it to the track and you'll just love it... it's heavy, but it's truly an "out of the box" trackday car that needs nothing.

My 2024 Z06 is a great car. Except if you look at a list of mid-engine super cars you’ll find that the Z is pretty much at the bottom of the list in terms of the chassis’s ability to resist twisting. Quite poor actually. That’s why I installed a Speedway Composites, Inc. engine X-brace. Great company and owner.
Superb product and great price. Less than a third of Chevy’s price and far better engineered. The workmanship of the end point mounting components, and their attachment points to the car, are right on.