Terry Humiston

The August issue of C&D (available online) has a comparison test running various new cars around a 4.2 mile loop of the Virginia International Raceway. 13 cars total ranging from a Mini Cooper S to a 911 Turbo and a 911 GT3. Two new Corvettes were included in the group, a Z06 and a Z-51 coupe. As WE would expect, the Z06 was the fastest car in the field around the loop. What surprised the testers was how close behind the standard Z-51 Vette was. The Z-51 was third overall losing to only the Z06 and the GT3 (which rides on R compound tires by the way). The Z-51 beat the 911 Turbo, the new killer Audi R8 and the Lotus Exige S.

Well how about that!

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...-corvette.html

Jimbeaux

burtonbl103

Die2Win

Makes us wonder what would happen if the Corvette had on "R" compound tires...Hmmmm

Joe C

...it will be interesting next year with the 2008 430 horse LS3/Z51 corvette. that should deliver a 1-2 punch to the competition -

MNVette

This week's AutoWeek also had a comparison of the Z06 to the new Porsche GT3. The GT3 beat the Z06 in track lapping and in the slalom, so they, of course, reported it as a total as*-whipping (the article was about the new GT3). Small problem with the "race" - the GT3 was wearing 80 tread tires while the Z06 had 240 tread tires. In short, the GT3 had racing slicks on, and the Z06 had regular tires. The GT3 "won" by about 4 seconds overall and had about 3-4 mph faster times through the slalom. I wonder how this one would have turned out it the Z06 had those tires on it?

mikesul

Typical news "bending" to what is expected by the people who can't admit that the Corvettte is a World Class car.

Check 6

I agree tires make a big difference, however the tires used on the GT3 in the tests are the tires that come on the car. That said I'm very excited about my soon to arrive GT3 but I get equally excited every day that I drive my Z51 C6 and while the cup tires on the GT3 are outstanding I would rather be caught far from home on a dark night in the Corvette as I know the run flats will get me home. Sticky track type tires are great but in the everyday world of potholes and trash on the streets the run flats are better insurance and even with them the C6 will handle extremely well.
Bottom line several great cars, enjoy what you drive, life is short.

UTVOL06

Awsome ..Thats so cool the C6 Z51 did that well on the track..better than a 911 turbo..and what astonished me was how it was even better than the Lotus exige S...a pure track car.


Lets put some R compound tires on the C6 Z51 and see what happens..my guess would be it would kill the competition.

cthusker

The testing was fair IMO but it would also be fair to point out to readers what a HUGE advantage the 80 tread tires give the GT3 at the track. I'd love to see the same test run with both cars using the same rubber. Don't know the out come but it sure would be lot closer. It's amazing all that expensive iron gets smoked by a stock C6 Z51 vette costing half as much using runcraps! Ought to put to rest the urban legend that vettes require coilovers to track well. Now if GM can just improve steering feel they have the best of both worlds...

Doughan

Gotta love that 2007 Z51!

AHTTG

Funny how when it comes down to actual track times, the exotics take a hit. If you just read some impressions of 911 turbo or the R8 you'd think they're near perfect sports cars(they've been media darlings lately). But when they're all tested back to back with the vette, the flaws start to come out. All of a sudden the 911 is heavy and the R8 is underpowered. Not trying to take anything away from these cars, they're still awesome. But I'd have a real hard time buying an R8...

I think if they had an 08 z51 there, it would probably be somewhere in the very high 3:02s. If you look at the difference in peak mph between the z51 and the z06 going into turn 1, it's a big difference. 140.1 to 153.1, I'm guessing the 08 would be around 145 there.

I think the gt500 is actually the biggest surprise(well and the turbo being a full 4 seconds behind a gt3). As heavy as it is, that thing is seriously fast.

clockworks

Hehe, yup.

Btw, awesome article. I was a bit down on the rags after Motortrends "Best Handling Cars" article.

P.S. Where did you see the overall results?

68ss396az

glennhl

Where's DSOM Z51, he's been telling us this for the last year now. I always knew he knew what he was talking about! Good job.

Terry Humiston

From the intro page & click on results
http://www.caranddriver.com/features...-lap-2007.html

VET4LES

Good news.

ZPirate

I knew there was a good reason to buy a Z51 equipped Corvette.

clockworks

You mean that pdf? I can't for the life of me read the numbers.

JVM225