5thGear

I had the opportunity to track my 2017 Z07 at Auto Club Speedway with Porsche race club.
The weather
It was hot. Ambient 90F by 9:00AM to 98F after midday.As the case for most tracks, actual track temp is usually higher but I didn’t have any tools to measure track temp.
The event:
Porsche Race Club. This was competition group and not your standard track day. Majority of the cars were track only race Porsche. Members compete for race wins and points in all CA tracks and also Spring Mountain. Time attack and wheel to wheel racing have strict requirements which include roll-bar, harness, and race seats. The chief instructor waved this requirement forme on the condition that I would attend one session in driver education and have one of the racers go with me a passenger to sign off on allowing me inTime Attack. Great group of people.
Performance:
Fastest car in TA. Top of time sheet for every session. First place on the grid for every start after the first practice session. No new personal best due to tighter chicanes and number of cars on track which became a factor when there isa waving yellow and there were few.
Gspeed stage 0

• 30 minutes sessions. 13 hot laps in one session. Never ran this long in a session.
  • Oil temp. Happy in the 260’s range with ambient in the mid to high 90’s. I have got oil to 280F in 60F ambient before.
    • Water, 220F is home in warm weather.
      • Power, stayed consistent throughout the session.
        • No overheating related issues at all.
          • Recovery is very fast on a cool down lap or if I ease the pace for a lap.

Thoughts on kit

• Wow
  • This is a home run for C7 Z06.
    • High quality coolers, steel braided lines, aerospace grade fittings.
      • It’s a complete kit that tackles oil, water, supercharger,and engine bay temp.
        • It’s discreet. It doesn’t change the OEM exterior.
          • Let the PDR do the talking.

Regrets
Yeah, should have got nice race number decals. Blue tape was just wrong

Special thanks to Gspeed and HG motorsport for excellent project.

AORoads

Nicely done writeup and good news on cooling things down. I'd guess actual track temps could be 15-20 degrees higher than ambient. And, yes, those numbers are difficult to look at but hey! it's about the performance! Good going!

Poor-sha

Nice work and thanks for the report. Since you have a 2017 you can download Pi Toolbox and read the outdoor air temp and IAT from the PDR file.

5thGear

I didn't know this is an option. I will try to get this data before the weekend.

Poor-sha

Here's the thread on it.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-pdr-data.html

5thGear

Cool.
By the way, there were some private race teams with full track support crew. One of the technicians noticed my Pirelli slicks. He told me that my Camber should be -4 for these tires otherwise I shouldn't run them.
He also said Keep hot pressure at 30 PSI. Start cold pressure 20 at PSI.
I started with 25 PSI cold pressures and hot pressure peaked pass 40 PSI ( hot ambient and long sessions ) Car started sliding. Next session I lowered it by 10 PSI and started things slow. I started pushing once pressure got to 26 PSI. Hot got pressure reached 30 PSI and grip was solid.
I told the tech I would have never tried 20 PSI cold pressure because Pirelli warns against starting cold pressure below 24PSI. He said lawyers wrote that warning and as long you stay away from rubble strip and take it easy for two laps then it should be no problem. Thought to share this since you run the same tires.

0Tunerz Store

What is cost?

5thGear

I don't want to speak for Gspeed since they haven't released the kit officially but it's cheaper than their stage 1 & 2 kit. They might be putting a group deal. At the moment they are making kits to cover early orders that came after the preliminary announcement. I know of couple of guys that have the kit on order.

0Tunerz Store

Did you install the kit yourself?

5thGear

No. HG Motorsport did. They are working with Gspeed to be their dealer in CA and they are a top level performance shop.
Insrallation is 22 to 24 hours. This is solid in order to do it right without rushing it.

Gary '09 C6

very encouraging report ! keep us posted as you get more track time with this kit...

0Tunerz Store

Thanks for the info.

5thGear

Thanks Gary.
Will do but this was as challenging as it can be for what I do. Ambient was hot. Sessions were 30 minutes. Usually I ran in cooler weather and 20 minutes sessions only. I don't usually track my Z06 from July to September here in So Cal but this kit is a game changer.
In identical ambient in July at the same track, a friend of mine lost power steering in a 2016 Z06 with secondary radiator. His oil temp reached 295 in 15 minutes and that's when he existed the track.
This kit uses a large dual pass intercooler that lays flat so it eliminates forcing hot air from OEM intercooler into the engine bay. New Oil cooler and secondary radiator dump hot air in wheel well. So you get cold directly hitting radiator and into engine bay.
The Z06 is a powerhouse but it really handles well so you get the best of both worlds. This cooling kit complements it for performance driving aspects. The Z06 even with an aftermarket kit like this is still a bargain

peterjank

Is your car manual or automatic? My understanding is that this kit will work with either transmission, just curious which transmission you were running.

5thGear

Mine is Manual


Automatic setup IS identical with exception of running one of the coolers as secondary transmission cooler instead of secondary radiator. Therefore under similar conditions water would be 10 degrees higher from what I understood which is still ok. The kit was developed initially and installed on an automatic Z06.

chuntington101

Probably one for GSpeed, but how effective are the side coolers with no direct airflow (other than the fans) from the front?

Also any downsides with handling with all that air flowing under the car? Obviously the car is still fast but I always thought it a no no to duct air under the car. Not picking fault as the solution CLEARLY works! Just trying to understand aerodynamics a little bit more.

fleming23

I'll let Ali chime in, but nothing is ducting under the car any more so than the factory set up. The lower fascia is still in place. This uses the same area as the factory secondary cooler. Regarding the coolers in the side/cheeks, those have thermostatic fans connected and duct/dump air through a new opening in the wheel well.

Sorry, rotated 90 degrees. Posting from my phone.

5thGear

Eric's photo show where the hot air goes out through the wheel well which is a common setup for all top level performance cars. The fan pack for these two coolers works well in extracting hot air into the wheel well through the screens. Now you can imagine how much more efficiency you can achieve down the road by just swapping to ZR1 bumper that has the openings. I don't see a need but its an option.
As for handling, I didn't notice any difference. Obviously I am not a pro chasing a tenth of a second. Eric can comment on this as well given his lap times were not far off Tommy Milner Z06 lap time at Road Atlanta.
The new intercooler sets flat vs OEM standing so that's better place for the center of gravity. First oil cooler is light and sets in similar orientation as GM secondary radiator (or auto secondary transmission cooler). Bottom is covered similar to OEM so there is no huge air coming out the intercooler to create a lift situation.
I believe having all the these coolers exhausting hot air away from engine bay is a great advantage in helping other components staying cooler (wires, power steering,..........)

Racerdj

Excellent news with great cooling numbers. It would have been fun watching the facial expressions of the drivers you passed!

jbsblownc5

Congrats on the new set up buddy!!