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I'm a 71 yr old man child, historically a vette guy until 1 day in 2012 as part of the settlement of a law suit regarding a large local dealer over a real estate deal I got a new Porsche 991
In '15 I traded it in for a new GT3 which I turned into a full out race car
One hot summer day I realized I hated trailering to the track so I sold the car and in the early covid days got a '14 TurboS with 2000 mi at a great price which I modified to add a completely unnecessary 100 hp. Great Autobahn car but on US roads questionable and on track it was porky and with AWD a lot of understeer which was hard to tune out. It was a beast in a straight line but like wrestling a tiger in turns.
Friend is sales manager at local Porsche shop got me #1 on list for new 718 GT4 at MSRP and in the midst of covid was desperate for inventory and took the turbo in trade for more than I paid for it.
I do 30-40+ track days a year, Thompson home track, 8 days at Palmer, a couple at Lime Rock and a 2 day trip to the Glen. This is the most well balanced track car I've ever owned but with "only" 414 hp it has its limits. Every lap started to feel the same and driving at 10/10s my lap times had maxed out.
About a month ago I started scouring the internet for a Z06 and the reasonably priced cars were all pre-sold and everything else had ridiculous ADMs.This Wednesday night I found a base car locally, which is fine with me as I'm not a fan of carbon brakes on track cars. Sent out a feeler and next morning I got a positive response at $20k over. Spent the morning haggling and struck a deal at $12k over. Car arrived at dealer Friday and I pick it up Monday.
The car will be more than 50% track which requires better rotors and pads. The giro disc rotors and pads show up Wednesday along with a case of Endless RF-650 brake fluid then to a friend shop for a track alignment and 1st track day 9/5. I'll learn on the street tires and then upgrade to the Cup Rs.
Last edited by minuteman71; 08-29-2023 at 12:30 PM.
Put some street miles on today. I had to go to NW Connecticut, an area of hills and nicely paved windy roads. It is an unexpectedly, for me, really great street car, not upset by bumps and in the tour or sport setting much smoother than any 2 seater I've every owned. If I didn't know better I'd think it had a unibody structure as it is just solid. The GT2 seats aren't the most comfortable but, despite my svelte/narrow body, age comes with aches and pains so I take some of the blame. The car is very driver centric and I learned a lot of basic stuff from reading the manual and trying a lot of different settings, very intuitive and clearly a lot of engineering time was spent on the ergonomics. I wear polarized sunglasses which usually washes out the heads up but not on this car. I'm proud to own a car designed and built in USA that is absolutely world class in every way. 1132 more miles and it will be on track.
It was a decent tow vehicle, modified of course, but I restored/modified it using stock seat frames and after about 1/2 hr of driving they were back breaking. Sold and replaced it with a low mileage '06 SRT10 6 spd which was a beast.
I will be interested in your feedback on it's handling versus the GT4.
I used to live back there, did my first SCCA drivers school at Thompson in August 1972, have many, many laps at Lime Rock. I endurance raced a Miata for 15 years as co-driver with the manager of the Palmer track.
Enjoy your new Z. 1500 miles of break-in will be work in the next week (500 for the engine, but 1500 for the transmission and dif) while having the work done in between..
My closest encounter with an overhead cam engine in a vette was my long gone C4 ZR1. The engine was an absolute piece of art to look at and was a really fun car unless I took the roof off as the chassis flex when roofless approached scary. I'm very psyched about getting this car on the track and will take my time learning its personality before I put all 670 hp to work. I've got a lot of driving to do this week to get the break in miles under my belt but am really excited about rejoining the vette community. At a Thompson club day the biggest contingency are Porsches and vettes so I've just switched teams.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C1 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2017 Corvette of the Year Finalist
2016 C2 of Year
2015 C3 of Year Finalist
Congrats. Great that you will be driving that Z06 as it was intended to be driven.
I see you are from Wayland. I grew up a couple of towns away, in Needham.
Enjoy it.
My closest encounter with an overhead cam engine in a vette was my long gone C4 ZR1. The engine was an absolute piece of art to look at and was a really fun car unless I took the roof off as the chassis flex when roofless approached scary.
I feel you. Pretty sure the frames of C4s were made with wet toast. I've good news and bad news: the good is that your new Z06 is 1000% stiffer than that ZR1. The bad is that it is still quite flexy in comparison to that GT4. It's not off-putting but it's there. I can't help wonder how good this platform could be if they had made the top design an old skool T-top design with a central spine for rigidity. Of course, I know that designing all C8s to be classified by the NHTSA as 'convertibles' helped them control costs by not having curtain airbags and such and I have no idea how that would factor into that equation.
Looking forward to your thoughts once you get her out on track for the first time.
In a back handed way, corvettes are responsible for getting me into tracking cars. I owned a '71 coupe and took it to a vette show at the Budweiser factory in NH. When I got there I encountered a crowd of owners picking stones out their treads with toothpicks and making sure all 4 wheels were rotated exactly the same. The epiphany was realizing there had to be a better way to enjoy cars. Like most of my peers I started in spec Miatas, cheap to buy and own, great cars to build skills. I got my racing license at a 3 day formula4 driving school at Sebring and off to the races. I prefer the kinetic state of cars on track to the stationary on a wide expanse of lawn.
[QUOTE=AzDave47;1606984584]I lived with my Dad in Wayland when I was going to school in Boston.[/QUOTE
I have sister who couldn't stand winter, when we used to have them, and has lived in Tucson for a long time. Now she can't tolerate the heat so summer she visits up here or at home walks the dog at 5 am and spends the rest of the time inside. Pick your poison I guess.
I'm a 71 yr old man child, historically a vette guy until 1 day in 2012 as part of the settlement of a law suit regarding a large local dealer over a real estate deal I got a new Porsche 991
In '15 I traded it in for a new GT3 which I turned into a full out race car
One hot summer day I realized I hated trailering to the track so I sold the car and in the early covid days got a '14 TurboS with 2000 mi at a great price which I modified to add a completely unnecessary 100 hp. Great Autobahn car but on US roads questionable and on track it was porky and with AWD a lot of understeer which was hard to tune out. It was a beast in a straight line but like wrestling a tiger in turns.
Friend is sales manager at local Porsche shop got me #1 on list for new 718 GT4 at MSRP and in the midst of covid was desperate for inventory and took the turbo in trade for more than I paid for it.
I do 30-40+ track days a year, Thompson home track 8 days at Palmer, a couple at Lime Rock and a 2 day trip to the Glen. This is the most well balanced track car I've ever owned but with "only" 414 hp it has its limits. Every lap started to feel the same and driving at 10/10s my lap times had maxed out.
About a month ago I started scouring the internet for a Z06 and the reasonably priced cars were all pre-sold and everything else had ridiculous ADMs.This Wednesday night I found a base car locally, which is fine with me as I'm not a fan of carbon brakes on track cars. Sent out a feeler and next morning I got a positive response at $20k over. Spent the morning haggling and struck a deal at $12k over. Car arrived at dealer Friday and I pick it up Monday.
The car will be more than 50% track which requires better rotors and pads. The giro disc rotors and pads show up Wednesday along with a case of Endless RF-650 brake fluid then to a friend shop for a track alignment and 1st track day 9/5. I'll learned on the street tires and then upgrade to the Cup Rs.
can you post some interior pics? Looks like our build but we also have aero.
can you post some interior pics? Looks like our build but we also have aero.
It's a 3LZ with gray interior. The only major option is the front lift and a few lower priced cosmetic items that serve me no purpose. I haven't seen the car as the deal came together quickly and the idea of driving down there on Friday in the middle of the mob of cars heading to cape cod was not going to happen. I'll see it for the 1st time when I pick it up tomorrow and will post more pics.
It's a 3LZ with gray interior. The only major option is the front lift and a few lower priced cosmetic items that serve me no purpose. I haven't seen the car as the deal came together quickly and the idea of driving down there on Friday in the middle of the mob of cars heading to cape cod was not going to happen. I'll see it for the 1st time when I pick it up tomorrow and will post more pics.
Very nice color spec. Since you plan to track the car (not sure if it will be a dedicated track car or dual purpose), were you looking for a 1LT to save weight, but since this car was available and 3LT just took the opportunity?
08-27-2023, 09:00 AM
New z06 fell into my lap
I've good news and bad news: the good is that your new Z06 is 1000% stiffer than that ZR1. The bad is that it is still quite flexy in comparison to that GT4. It's not off-putting but it's there. I can't help wonder how good this platform could be if they had made the top design an old skool T-top design with a central spine for rigidity. Of course, I know that designing all C8s to be classified by the NHTSA as 'convertibles' helped them control costs by not having curtain airbags and such and I have no idea how that would factor into that equation.
