Hey all, the other cars section seems to be boarded up and directed here, so here this goes:

Anyone have experience with C5 or C6 Z06 at the track? I am pushing up on the limits of my current track car, and want something with more potential. I figure a Z06 would have plenty of headroom as I get better, but I've heard rumors of motors blowing regularly.

C5 Z06 is about what I'm comfortable blowing on a caged track car, but I found a 2008 C6 Z06 at a local dealership that I am already planning on buying a car from so I can try to get them to make a deal on a two-fer. But I'm not 100% on a vette due to the above referenced rumors. Looking for real world track experience.

Thanks

 

I've heard the C6Z's have issues with their dry sump system. I also have a good friend who's the shop manager at Bondurant's school of driving and back when they has the Vettes he said the Z06's were the most common to fail due to motor issues. I think when they're set up right they can be a very competitive track car. That 335 Hoosier life must get old quick though

 

The Z06 makes a great track car. You will love it.

 

I've heard that it was just the early C6Z, I think the first year, that had issues but that you can change the pan for better pickups and add oil coolers to fix it. But that was only second hand info.

I'll probably go with the 5 if I get one, partially just because I'd be in less trouble if I balled it up, but I'm also looking at Atoms and Legends. I've driven Legends and Baby Grands and they are a lot of fun, and I've seen a lot of Atoms spinning on the track. Lotus 7s look fun too. I currently have a Spec E30 track car, and was planning on transitioning to my Sti but it has been the opposite of reliable and eats a whole set of pads and tires every weekend. The Vette can't be that much more expensive. My Evo IX was very reliable on track, and I still regret selling it.

 

Its not the pan, its the reservoir. A few companies modify it to hold more oil to resolve the oil starvation issues.

 

Good to know, thanks.

 

I don't know if you ended up buying the C6 Z06 or not but I will give you my feedback since I owned a new one 8.5 years ago. Before I talk about the C6 Z06 let me say that the C5 Z06 is a fine car to and very fast still to today's standards. I drove a c5 Z06 in 01 from a friend and it was quick.

Back to the C6 Z06. It is brutally fast, any gar, any speed and anytime but if you chose to disconnect the traction control you must make sure that you have a good medical and life insurance. It is scary. I still vividly remember almost losing control everytime that I went WOT with the traction control off. You might wonder why? Well, with the traction control On the car brakes all the time and the Traction light blinks.

I almost hit the wall several times at the dragstrip. Back then they still didn't have sticky tires, right after selling my car the Nitto Invos came out and after that Michelins PS and the good stuff.

Here is a fact, at the time of my C6 Z06 I also had a 2g DSM with a stock oem block and a FP3052 and it will pooh and pee on the Z06 at the dragstrip. I also had a Evo9SE running E-85 that will also pee and pooh on the vette.

I never felt so scary and insecure on a car like I felt on the Z06 and on the other hand I never felt more secure than driving on the Evo.

I wouldn't buy another RWD car like the vette, no way. I traded the Z06 for a C63AMG and the C63 AMG never lose control.

Good luck with the Z06, it is a bad *** car, very fast, looks great, breaks great and it can out acelerates anything on the road but forget about spirited driving on the rain and you better park it during the winters.

 

Sounds like your issue was crap tires. If your definition of a sticky tire is the Nitto Invo I can't imagine what kinda crap tire you had on there before. Stock size c6 z06 modern tires could bring it under control. Not saying it'll dead hook, you still need to give the go pedal the proper respect, but much better than what an Invo is capable of.

Also, if your only experience is at the drag strip with struggling keeping it straight, most of that is prolly do to the VHT surface prep. It really makes grip an all or nothing deal for street tires. You're either hooked or you have no grip at all. Which is why it had life insurance kinda handling down the strip.

That being said, I've never actually tracked a Vette or any car with that much power. Driven a few on the street and had a 5.0 Mustang for a couple years without running anyone over at cars and coffee tho

 

I traded my 13 Evo X for a 09 C6 Z06 a few years ago. So here is my experience.

For starters, my Insurance on the Z06 is almost half that of the Evo X. We just bought a 2014 Evo X MR for the wife, and the insurance, especially here is Houston is ridiculous. I did some shopping around, and some folks were quoting me 250$ PER MONTH! So we stayed with Geico, with all the discounts and having insured additonal cars we are paying 90$ per month on the evo.

My 13 Evo X was a fun car, not a DD, weekend cruises, Auto-X, and track days. I did about 3 Auto-X's and about 6 track days before i traded the car in. On track, the Evo-X even with all the nanny's off is driving in easy mode, the car is pin point precise, VERY forgiving, I had some very close calls, mostly due to my crappy driving, but the car did fine. On the flip side, being very forgiving, it does teach you some bad habits, so if you are new, make sure you get proper instruction. For just track days, the stock brembos are pretty good, you just need track pads/SS lines/Fluid and you are good. It does go though tires pretty fast, especially if you to tracks like VIR.

The main reason i switched to the C6 Z06 is because, for a weekend track and fun car, the limits were much higher than the Evo. The cost of consumables were really not that much higher in the Z06. It came stock with enough power that you really only need to focus on suspension and brakes. Depending on how good of a driver you are, you will quickly reach the limit of the stock brakes, you will pretty much have to upgrade to a BBK, and the good ones are not cheap. The seats are absolute garbage, my first track day on the car i was tossed around like a rag doll, and it has a serious effect on your driving since you are moving around so much inside the car, its makes it harder to judge the level of grip the car actually has. So seats along with a harness bar is another thing that has to be addressed. There are plenty of vendors, so setting up your car exactly how you want it is not a issue.

The 09+ cars had the larger capacity dry sump, the older cars had some issues with engine failures on track because of oil starvation. The 11+ cars had the optional magnetic ride shocks and carbon ceramic brakes. I decided on the 09 because i wanted to do coil-overs, and the cost of ceramic brakes were not worth it.

The driving dynamics is actually more enjoyable on the Evo, especially for street and spirited driving. The Z06 limits are so high, on the street it is fairly boring, steering is numb compared to the Evo, though on the track closer to the limit the steering feel does get much better. On the tracks, the its apples and oranges, the vette needs precise throttle inputs and lot of micromanagement, but the car has so much grip, especially with good tires. If you are a decent driver, and follow good driving practices, the car is very predictable, no nasty surprises, no snap oversteer..etc The 7.0 NA motor is very responsive, and you have torque anywhere and everywhere.

As for modding, both cars respond very well to bolt on's and a tune. The most common setups for the C6Z is Intake, ported heads, and a tune. That is what i did, i am currently at 480WHP on a mustang Dyno with a conservative street tune. If you want to go further, you can do cams, headers, intake manifold. Doing exhausts on the vette is useless, and given the cost, the money is better spent elsewhere.

I also need to add that the LS7 does have a issue with dropped valves, it is a controversial topic on the vette forums with lots of conflicting information. Basically, GM messed up the machining on the heads and it causes uneven wear on the valve stems, this could cause it to break and drop into the cylinder head, grenading your engine. There are no warnings before it happens, and can happen anytime to any car. Even though this has only happened to a very small percentage of people, keep in mind, most of these cars are very low miles and rarely driven. I had my heads re machined, replaced the stock hollow stem exhaust valves with new stainless steel valves, and repolished the stock titanium intake valves. Its about 2500-3500 to get it done, depending on what else you do. I upgraded my valve springs and pushrods as well. And since the heads were already out, i had them port it so the engine could breathe a little better, so i only had to pay the machining cost.
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The c6z is definitely a upgrade performance wise, but at the same time, depending on the individual the evo maybe better.