Home » fresh car reviews 2017 » See the two thousand fifteen Corvette Z06 Absolutely Ruin VIR – News – Car and Driver, Car and Driver Blog

See the two thousand fifteen Corvette Z06 Absolutely Ruin VIR – News – Car and Driver, Car and Driver Blog

See the two thousand fifteen Corvette Z06 Absolutely Demolish Virginia International Raceway

So get this: The fresh Corvette Z06 turned an absolutely sweeping Two:41.Trio at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), and the company has released a movie of the lap recorded using the car’s awesome Spectacle Data Recorder. That time is truly damn quick—and we should know, as we run our annual Lightning Lap competition at that track using the same very technical, Four.1-mile Grand West Course layout as Chevy did for this lap. Observe the clip below, and then read on for some more perspective, as well as insight into the lap from C/D technical editor K.C. Colwell, who has laid down a number of our times at VIR, including the overall record.

We’ve run Lightning Lap eight times now, amassing more than one hundred sixty times for spectacle cars that run the gamut from the impish Ford Fiesta ST all the way to exotics from Ferrari, Lamborghini, and more. In fact, that overall record was set this year in Porsche’s scintillating nine hundred eighteen Spyder hypercar with a Two:43.1 time.

So does the Z06’s Two:41.Trio mean that it’s quicker than the 918? Well, no, not indeed. The Z06 scorcher—4.Trio seconds quicker than GM’s time at the track for the C6 ZR1—was laid down by engineer Jim Mero, one of the Corvette program’s best boots, and someone who has perhaps spent more time thrashing the two thousand fifteen Z06 than anyone else on the planet. Chevrolet also no doubt spent several hours, if not days, at VIR doing development work in concert with achieving the lap. In contrast, our editors’ very first time lapping a spectacle car in anger often occurs during the Lightning Lap competition itself, and time restrictions—we often have more than two dozen cars to assess in a three-day window—generally mean that we only get fifteen to twenty laps to record our top times.

Chevrolet told us that the car used at VIR was totally stock, running the mighty oil weight, and with its chassis alignment and tire pressures set per the most-aggressive settings listed in the possessor’s manual. And if you’re wondering where Chevy’s Nürburgring time for the Z06 is, be patient, grasshopper: Their very first attempt was rained out last fall, and the Corvette squad plans to attempt again. Based on this VIR time, we’re thinking it will be something special, and we certainly can’t wait to see that movie.

Eventually, here are Colwell’s comments on the VIR lap (the times noted are for the movie, not the lap counter):

“The very first duo of corners show up to be pretty uneventful and sleek, a sign that this car is as rapid as the lap time indicates.

0:31 one hundred seven mph at Turn Two is moving. Clearly this car has no problem with grip.

0:37 Way more curb than I’ve ever taken through NASCAR corner. When the track was widened in a few catches sight of last year, those of us who set the laps determined to treat the old curbing as the track border. Two years ago, Jim would have had a scary event with Two in the mud using the line taken in this clip, where he uses the freshly added pavement to sit astride the curbing. That’s making NASCAR as broad as it can possibly be.

0:42 Here, he stays in third gear. At less than sixty mph, I would have thought he’d go to 2nd, albeit that gear represents a puny step from very first in the Z06. It’s interesting that they chose to run the manual car rather than the automatic, which is likely to be quicker.

0:59 Mero isn’t fully flat-out in the very first corner in the esses, with the throttle at about sixty percent. It’s off throttle at the apex and back on after, which is how we usually run that section. It also makes sense, as a dead-flat esses blast is basically suicide.

1:07 He pummeled the off-camber left. That corner will make or break a lap, and it’s very effortless to slow down too much. You can’t see the exit, so it always takes a few laps in a particular car to get comfy with it.

1:21 This is way more curb than I’ve ever taken at the exit of Oak Tree. This movie could force us to reconsider our stance on how broad we run the track.

1:35 The car doesn’t achieve ludicrous speeds down the back straight, reaching the top of fourth gear. The Z06 I tested for our review with the Z07 package hit a wall of thick air at about one hundred fifty mph, so that version seemingly achieves lap dominance the Crimson Bull F1 way, by max downforce. That means it has a lower top speed on the straights but also much higher cornering speeds. Mero brakes at about the same place as we do in other top-shelf rapid stuff, albeit not fairly as deep as the Camaro Z/28.

1:49 Missed a shift. Without that, the lap could possibly have been a Two:40. It’s staggering to think that as swift as this lap was, there was still a mistake. It’s proof of how good VIR is for evaluating production cars; it’s long, has lots of corners, and is very requesting of both driver and car.

Two:11 That thud is the right-front tire pulling down off the back side of the curb, and that feels rather violent inwards the cockpit when it happens; witness our E63 run this year. I recently learned that exact corner also ate one of the 918’s wheels and that the wheel is now a conversation chunk in a Porsche employee’s garage.

Two:16–2:28 Again, sleek and boring is usually prompt, and this movie shows all kinds of slick driving and all kinds of speed. There is one wobble with the throttle in this section, but it’s hardly noticeable.

See the two thousand fifteen Corvette Z06 Absolutely Demolish VIR – News – Car and Driver, Car and Driver Blog

See the two thousand fifteen Corvette Z06 Absolutely Ruin Virginia International Raceway

So get this: The fresh Corvette Z06 turned an absolutely sweeping Two:41.Trio at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), and the company has released a movie of the lap recorded using the car’s awesome Spectacle Data Recorder. That time is truly damn quick—and we should know, as we run our annual Lightning Lap competition at that track using the same very technical, Four.1-mile Grand West Course layout as Chevy did for this lap. Observe the clip below, and then read on for some more perspective, as well as insight into the lap from C/D technical editor K.C. Colwell, who has laid down a number of our times at VIR, including the overall record.

We’ve run Lightning Lap eight times now, amassing more than one hundred sixty times for spectacle cars that run the gamut from the impish Ford Fiesta ST all the way to exotics from Ferrari, Lamborghini, and more. In fact, that overall record was set this year in Porsche’s scintillating nine hundred eighteen Spyder hypercar with a Two:43.1 time.

So does the Z06’s Two:41.Trio mean that it’s quicker than the 918? Well, no, not indeed. The Z06 scorcher—4.Three seconds quicker than GM’s time at the track for the C6 ZR1—was laid down by engineer Jim Mero, one of the Corvette program’s best footwear, and someone who has perhaps spent more time thrashing the two thousand fifteen Z06 than anyone else on the planet. Chevrolet also no doubt spent several hours, if not days, at VIR doing development work in concert with achieving the lap. In contrast, our editors’ very first time lapping a spectacle car in anger often occurs during the Lightning Lap competition itself, and time restrictions—we often have more than two dozen cars to assess in a three-day window—generally mean that we only get fifteen to twenty laps to record our top times.

Chevrolet told us that the car used at VIR was totally stock, running the strong oil weight, and with its chassis alignment and tire pressures set per the most-aggressive settings listed in the possessor’s manual. And if you’re wondering where Chevy’s Nürburgring time for the Z06 is, be patient, grasshopper: Their very first attempt was rained out last fall, and the Corvette squad plans to attempt again. Based on this VIR time, we’re thinking it will be something special, and we certainly can’t wait to see that movie.

Ultimately, here are Colwell’s comments on the VIR lap (the times noted are for the movie, not the lap counter):

“The very first duo of corners show up to be pretty uneventful and sleek, a sign that this car is as rapid as the lap time indicates.

0:31 one hundred seven mph at Turn Two is moving. Clearly this car has no problem with grip.

0:37 Way more curb than I’ve ever taken through NASCAR corner. When the track was widened in a few catches sight of last year, those of us who set the laps determined to treat the old curbing as the track border. Two years ago, Jim would have had a scary event with Two in the filth using the line taken in this clip, where he uses the freshly added pavement to sit astride the curbing. That’s making NASCAR as broad as it can possibly be.

0:42 Here, he stays in third gear. At less than sixty mph, I would have thought he’d go to 2nd, albeit that gear represents a puny step from very first in the Z06. It’s interesting that they chose to run the manual car rather than the automatic, which is likely to be quicker.

0:59 Mero isn’t entirely flat-out in the very first corner in the esses, with the throttle at about sixty percent. It’s off throttle at the apex and back on after, which is how we usually run that section. It also makes sense, as a dead-flat esses blast is basically suicide.

1:07 He pummeled the off-camber left. That corner will make or break a lap, and it’s very effortless to slow down too much. You can’t see the exit, so it always takes a few laps in a particular car to get comfy with it.

1:21 This is way more curb than I’ve ever taken at the exit of Oak Tree. This movie could force us to reconsider our stance on how broad we run the track.

1:35 The car doesn’t achieve ludicrous speeds down the back straight, reaching the top of fourth gear. The Z06 I tested for our review with the Z07 package hit a wall of thick air at about one hundred fifty mph, so that version seemingly achieves lap dominance the Crimson Bull F1 way, by max downforce. That means it has a lower top speed on the straights but also much higher cornering speeds. Mero brakes at about the same place as we do in other top-shelf rapid stuff, albeit not fairly as deep as the Camaro Z/28.

1:49 Missed a shift. Without that, the lap could possibly have been a Two:40. It’s staggering to think that as swift as this lap was, there was still a mistake. It’s proof of how superb VIR is for evaluating production cars; it’s long, has lots of corners, and is very requiring of both driver and car.

Two:11 That thud is the right-front tire pulling down off the back side of the curb, and that feels rather violent inwards the cockpit when it happens; witness our E63 run this year. I recently learned that exact corner also ate one of the 918’s wheels and that the wheel is now a conversation chunk in a Porsche employee’s garage.

Two:16–2:28 Again, slick and boring is usually rapid, and this movie shows all kinds of slick driving and all kinds of speed. There is one wobble with the throttle in this section, but it’s hardly noticeable.

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