My SC vs. Z06 Vette this morning

David Neibert

SCCoA Admin
One of the guys I work with has a new Z06 and we just happened to get lined up with each other on the way to the office this morning. The industrial park our building is located in doubles as a drag strip for the serious racers in the area. It's two lanes of concrete in both directions that are divided by about 25 foot of grass median and guard rails. It' straight as an arrow for about a 1/2 mile and has good visibility to see anyone pulling onto the road. About as safe as it gets on the streets.

Anyhow we lined up and tried launching from a stop..we both just stayed there side by side spinning tires and bouncing off the rev limiters in 1st and 2nd. Both cars layed at least 100 ft of rubber. He hooked up before I did and started pulling pretty hard on me when he shifted into third. Right afterward we let off and turned around to come back the opposite direction.

This time we started from a 20 mph roll. I'm in 1st and the Vette is in 2nd. Same thing happened when we hit the throttle, only the cars were getting a little more sideways this time and I got traction at the top of 2nd and stayed with him when he shifted to third. Our front bumpers stayed within 4 feet of each other (him leading). A delivery truck pulled up to one of the intersecting streets on the other side of the median, so we both slowed it down real quick and pulled into the parking lot at work. I don't think we got over 80 mph either time, so it was actually a pretty safe romp.

I know I can beat him on the track, but on street tires that Z06 Vette is hard to keep up with. After getting into the office, I found out that half of the people there were watching us out the windows and now think both of us (over 45 gray haired hot rodders) are going thru a mid life crisis. I think they are expecting another round of racing at lunch.

David
 
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Awesome David!!!!

Dave,
Try to beat that guy for us at lunch! I know you can do it with the right amount of traction!

Dirtybirdie:cool:
 
You tha man Dave. That is where that remote bottle opener would come in handy.

You didn't have the bottle on did you?

-Steve
 
You didn't have the bottle on did you?

Nope...I would also have to turn the bottle heater on for about 20 minutes to get the pressure up. With the nitrous we would have to start from about 45 mph and it would still light the tires up.

I've only tried it on the street once since the system has been working and it's scary. The car will easily spin the Nitto 275-40-17s at 55 mph. It would be too easy to lose control, so I just use it on the track.

I'm pretty sure the Vette has less pounds per HP and more rubber on the ground. I knew the only chance I had of beating him, was on the bottom end with my Torque advantage. Once the tires started spinning, it was all over for me.

David
 
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Good job Dave... want to use my car next??

Good one for the blue guy's. tell him that if he wants you will try him with one that does not have a blower and see what he says... Sounds like I got to make a road trip if you need it...
Maybe tomorow you put on those slicks and go looking for him, that would really be a bell ringer for him.....Keep it together and think about a tire swap......Rich
 
Good "its-not-a-race-because-that-would-be-illegal" race.


Of course, without the juice, you weren't going to beat him anyway, but that's a separate post :)
 
Rich,

He's knows my car pretty well and we have both been to the track together on a couple occasions over the past three years. He had a C5 with some intake and exhaust mods that ran a best of 13.2 @ 105. He bought the Z06 back in June and I think it's still stock.

If I had a set of BFG drag radials or some other decent street legal tires, I'm sure my SC will walk him up to about 90mph and then he will start gaining on me. With the 6 speed, he has a much better selection of gear ratios than my AOD.

The stock Z06s I've seen over at Gateway usually run 12.7 @ about 114. On the average day, my SC runs right around 12.5 @ 110 without the nitrous. The non-locking converter is costing me some MPH thru the traps, but really helps to maintain torque in 3rd, producing lower ETs than a locking one would.

IMO, There is no shame in getting beat on the street or the track by a Z06, they are awesome cars for the money. Besides that, I think he was the one worried about losing.

David
 
Sounds like you guys had fun. Sucks having all that power and not being able to put it to the ground. I recently ran my C5 at the track and discovered that those run flat tires suck for traction. The sidewalls are so stiff that they don't give even if you let your tire pressure down.Besides the traction problem my driving sucks just as bad, the best i ran was 13.4 at 109 best 60ft. was a 2.31 I have a question for David or anyone who has ran at the track alot? Why is my mph so high, and if i got my 60ft down to say a 1.90 would my mph go down or up?
 
That is a funny story David. It reminds me of Days of thunder where they raced the rental cars and showed up late for dinner.
People that dont understand just shake their head.:p
Gary
 
that rental scene was really funny but not recommended:D

nice work however Dave, I love both the T Bird and the Vette

what's your bird tip the scales at by the way? I think the Vette is somewhere around 3500 right?
 
It really don't (maybe it does)matter if you beat that vette or not,just the plain thought of staying with if not beating him in a 4000 lb, 6cy car is awesome enough.

Every time i get in my car(when it's running good) i love it.Just like everyone else on hear i have owned a ton of cars and none that i get into as much as this one.I haven't done a whole lot of mods to my car as of yet just some gears and simple stuff but i live for the day i can put this thing in the high 12 low 13.What you and a select few are doing with these birds is friggn amazing period.
 
what's your bird tip the scales at by the way?

I weighed my SC a couple months ago and with me (225lbs) and a 1/4 tank of gas it was about 4100, so the car alone weighs about 3900.

Z06 is about 3100 curb weight. Shoulda eased into the throttle, you might have held him.

Gary,

Your right about gently rolling into the throttle, but that's very hard to do when your all charged up getting ready to launch against something you know is going to be fast.

It would probably help alot if I got the thing alligned properly. I noticed that the tire marks were much darker toward the inside of both rear tires (yes I always go back later to inspect the tire marks). When I lowered it a couple years ago the wheels tilted in a little on the top, so I'm pretty sure that's the problem. The front tires are screwed up too, and both are wearing and cupping badly on the inside edge.

I talked to the Vette guy later that afternoon and mentioned that if I had some sticky tires the outcome may have been different, he said yeah but then I'll just get some sticky tires too and we'll be right back to the same place. He makes a good point.

David
 
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True, but you've got a blue bottle full of horsepower in the trunk. At the speeds your two cars are capable of reaching in short distances it'd be smarter to rematch at a track for some safe heads up. (Can't believe I said that...) Seriously though, rematch at the track and get video of it.
 
Your car would benifet much more from the sticky tires due to that insane amount of torque that you have.

You deffinetly should allign that. Even with it in specs you will have a bit of negative camber all the way around and some toe-in in the rear.

-Steve
 
I love grinning from ear to ear while reading this whole post while thinking "I've done that before and I know that feeling" and that it's awesome!

Dave,
That's amazing. Simply amazing! Keep it up!
 
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