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This was my third time to Spring Mountain and I had an absolute blast as always. Facility is absolutely first-class, instructors are very friendly and fun, and this was my first experience with the new C7 Z51 and lucky me to be able to flog it for 2 days on an incredible 2.1 mile course.
For the record, I track a lightly modded (seats, harnesses, bushings, Finspeed wheels/slicks) C6 ZR1, so I am quite comfortable with fast track driving. The C7 Z51 has better turn-in, more stability under power and seems to stick to the track better (better tires notwithstanding). Part of this may have to do with the 173hp power difference between the LT1 and the LS9, but the LT1 was a very vocal and enjoyable engine.
I drove the C7 in Track Mode PTM 5 for the most part due to my experience level and it was a joy. One of my favorite new features is the active rev match. Completely awesome for track work and just removes extra hassle of heel/toe downshifting, so you can focus more on driving faster. I can heel/toe, but the ARM makes it a no brainer with PERFECT rev matching each downshift AND upshift.
Car is very balanced, the rev limiter is ultra-soft (i.e. it just kind of stops at the rev limiter and you really don't hear the usual brap/brap/brap sound, very nice). The color HUD with the light sequence as you get close to redline going to 5 blue dots at redline is just awesome. Love it.
Overall, the car is better than my ZR1 except in three areas: brakes, tires, and power most notably. That said, for less than $60k with comp seats (awesome and very comfortable even for my 6'2" 235lb frame) and Z51, I can't think of a more capable and enjoyable track car on the market, that just so happens to be 100% comfortable and smooth in around town driving with cooled/heated seats and about 100 electronic gizmos to play with whenever you aren't being entertained by the awesome sounding LT1 and active rev match downshifting. Car feels extremely solid and well made. We effectively had no issues between the 11 drivers in our class with all the cars.
I went with a buddy (Andi B.) and he did get a coolant warning, but that was because he was drafting right behind me during a very hard track session for a few laps and I don't think he was getting enough air through the radiator. That said, we did see pretty high oil temps (280+F range) and coolant temps (240+F range) which was a little disappointing in 60F ambient temperature. Andi and I aren't exactly normal track drivers (i.e. we REALLY push cars), but I was hoping for more robust cooling systems. I personally didn't get any warnings and the car was running fine and pulling hard every session, so the LT1 and the rest of the car didn't seem fazed. So, maybe it's a non-issue at those temps???
Here's a quick accel run on the front straight with pretty high temps already. Seemed to pull fine:
C7 Stingray acceleration - YouTube
All in all, a complete blast. As a topper to the wonderful two day school, I was able to break the Level 3 student track record just as I did last year breaking the Level 2 student track record. My buddy kept me on my toes big time. The previous record was a 1:32.x set by a German driving school owner a while back and my buddy busted that on the first transponder session with a 1:31.1. On the 3rd and final transponder session, I clipped him BARELY with a 1:31.0 on the 2.1 course breaking Andi's two hour old record. hehe.
Corvettes are just incredible cars and Spring Mountain is an incredible school with awesome instructors and unreal facilities and track configurations. Thanks again to everyone there for making it another very enjoyable experience.
See below for more pictures.
For the record, I track a lightly modded (seats, harnesses, bushings, Finspeed wheels/slicks) C6 ZR1, so I am quite comfortable with fast track driving. The C7 Z51 has better turn-in, more stability under power and seems to stick to the track better (better tires notwithstanding). Part of this may have to do with the 173hp power difference between the LT1 and the LS9, but the LT1 was a very vocal and enjoyable engine.
I drove the C7 in Track Mode PTM 5 for the most part due to my experience level and it was a joy. One of my favorite new features is the active rev match. Completely awesome for track work and just removes extra hassle of heel/toe downshifting, so you can focus more on driving faster. I can heel/toe, but the ARM makes it a no brainer with PERFECT rev matching each downshift AND upshift.
Car is very balanced, the rev limiter is ultra-soft (i.e. it just kind of stops at the rev limiter and you really don't hear the usual brap/brap/brap sound, very nice). The color HUD with the light sequence as you get close to redline going to 5 blue dots at redline is just awesome. Love it.
Overall, the car is better than my ZR1 except in three areas: brakes, tires, and power most notably. That said, for less than $60k with comp seats (awesome and very comfortable even for my 6'2" 235lb frame) and Z51, I can't think of a more capable and enjoyable track car on the market, that just so happens to be 100% comfortable and smooth in around town driving with cooled/heated seats and about 100 electronic gizmos to play with whenever you aren't being entertained by the awesome sounding LT1 and active rev match downshifting. Car feels extremely solid and well made. We effectively had no issues between the 11 drivers in our class with all the cars.
I went with a buddy (Andi B.) and he did get a coolant warning, but that was because he was drafting right behind me during a very hard track session for a few laps and I don't think he was getting enough air through the radiator. That said, we did see pretty high oil temps (280+F range) and coolant temps (240+F range) which was a little disappointing in 60F ambient temperature. Andi and I aren't exactly normal track drivers (i.e. we REALLY push cars), but I was hoping for more robust cooling systems. I personally didn't get any warnings and the car was running fine and pulling hard every session, so the LT1 and the rest of the car didn't seem fazed. So, maybe it's a non-issue at those temps???
Here's a quick accel run on the front straight with pretty high temps already. Seemed to pull fine:
C7 Stingray acceleration - YouTube
All in all, a complete blast. As a topper to the wonderful two day school, I was able to break the Level 3 student track record just as I did last year breaking the Level 2 student track record. My buddy kept me on my toes big time. The previous record was a 1:32.x set by a German driving school owner a while back and my buddy busted that on the first transponder session with a 1:31.1. On the 3rd and final transponder session, I clipped him BARELY with a 1:31.0 on the 2.1 course breaking Andi's two hour old record. hehe.
Corvettes are just incredible cars and Spring Mountain is an incredible school with awesome instructors and unreal facilities and track configurations. Thanks again to everyone there for making it another very enjoyable experience.
See below for more pictures.
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