Z06 Without Sport Seats....WHY???
03-19-2006, 03:35 AM
#1
Safety Car
Thread Starter
Z06 Without Sport Seats....WHY???
Was wondering why the General didn't offer sport seats in the C5 Z06? Would think they would have to accomodate harnesses? Seems silly......
Rick
Rick
03-19-2006, 01:32 PM
#4
Team Owner
Originally Posted by jwt1603
To keep weight down?
The Z06 windshield is also thinner and IIRC, there is very little insulation material in the roof.
03-19-2006, 01:56 PM
#5
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Originally Posted by John Shiels
same reason the made rotors backwards for the new Z cheap and stupid sometimes. Hole would have made them lighter 
03-20-2006, 11:25 PM
#6
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Perhaps a more complete answer is...
The base seats are lighter for getting the homolgated minimum weight down as low as possible and any serious racer will replace the drivers seat for a real race seat anyway, so getting the weight down is a racing advantage against the other brand's cars.
The base seats are lighter for getting the homolgated minimum weight down as low as possible and any serious racer will replace the drivers seat for a real race seat anyway, so getting the weight down is a racing advantage against the other brand's cars.
03-20-2006, 11:30 PM
#7
Ya, Kinda stupid if your asking me. My C5 had regular seats. When I finally got the rollbar and harness, I soon discovered the harness was friggin useless with the seats. So I had the Late Ken king (Vette Essentials) do the conversion along with something nice and ended up with these
03-21-2006, 09:18 AM
#8
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^ Looks awesome. Sadly I was just talking to Ken about a black sport seat conversion in my Z06. Talked to him only a few days before he passed.
Back at the first cruise-in I went to I sat in on a lecture about the C5 development. One of the specific questions asked was why the z06 got the seats it did, and not the sport seats.
The short answer was weight. Engineer said the entire theme for the car was to be as light as possible and still be daily drivable. Thus, the re-stitched base seats fit the bill.
As mentioned above they probably knew that anyone seriously racing the car would swap seats anyway.
Back at the first cruise-in I went to I sat in on a lecture about the C5 development. One of the specific questions asked was why the z06 got the seats it did, and not the sport seats.
The short answer was weight. Engineer said the entire theme for the car was to be as light as possible and still be daily drivable. Thus, the re-stitched base seats fit the bill.
As mentioned above they probably knew that anyone seriously racing the car would swap seats anyway.
03-21-2006, 09:35 AM
#9
Safety Car
sorry to say weight was not an issue. At the 50th anny Corvette shin-dig in Nashville; Dave Hill said the design criteria was that you must be able to drive 200 miles, and still feel comfortable, and be able to get out of the seat easily. That is why the seats vastly changed from C4 to C5.
Being "locked" in a sports seat did not meet their definition of comfortable.
Being "locked" in a sports seat did not meet their definition of comfortable.
03-21-2006, 09:40 AM
#10
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St. Jude Donor '09-'10
Originally Posted by MARK's_C5TT
Ya, Kinda stupid if your asking me. My C5 had regular seats. When I finally got the rollbar and harness, I soon discovered the harness was friggin useless with the seats. So I had the Late Ken king (Vette Essentials) do the conversion along with something nice and ended up with these
03-21-2006, 09:40 AM
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^ Larry... weight was the issue as to why they didn't put the C5 sport seats into the Z06.
Comfort may have been the issue as to why the c5 seats are less agressive than C4 seats.
Comfort may have been the issue as to why the c5 seats are less agressive than C4 seats.
03-21-2006, 09:42 AM
#12
Originally Posted by Cobra4B
I went to I sat in on a lecture about the C5 development. One of the specific questions asked was why the z06 got the seats it did, and not the sport seats.
The short answer was weight. Engineer said the entire theme for the car was to be as light as possible and still be daily drivable. Thus, the re-stitched base seats fit the bill.
The short answer was weight. Engineer said the entire theme for the car was to be as light as possible and still be daily drivable. Thus, the re-stitched base seats fit the bill.
The only other reason I could think of is if GM put in the least expensive seats knowing that the track enthusiast was going to get spearco or other track seats. The thing is that line of thinking and consideration is also quite atypical of any car manufcaturer.
Last edited by GR8-LIFE; 03-21-2006 at 09:49 AM.
03-21-2006, 11:38 AM
#13
Melting Slicks
The "the serious racer will change them out anyway" mode of thought was pretty pervasive when the C5 was being designed. A common friend was responsible for oversight on the C5 suspension and in a design review he asked the guy designing it how much camber adjustment was available within the typical build, trying to avoid the "camber challenged" situation on the front of the then current C4's. His personal objective being was to be able to beat the then dominating RX-7's in SCCA SS autocross, and he knew what was needed.... He was told by the designer that "the racers will get whatever they need.... This person explained to the designer that in lots of stock based classes you can only get what GM and God gave you and he sent the designer back to get more adjustment range...
We all owe this person a big "thank you" for getting us enough adjustment, but it shows that the thought was that "real racers" will change out and get what they need kind of mentality was common, and that some of the designers didn't really understand what we were going to do with the car.
I for one would like to see what the SEB would say about changing the seat covers on a Z to the sport covers that have the hole in them... Would that be a "comfort and convenience" change?... Since it is only the seat covers?
We all owe this person a big "thank you" for getting us enough adjustment, but it shows that the thought was that "real racers" will change out and get what they need kind of mentality was common, and that some of the designers didn't really understand what we were going to do with the car.
I for one would like to see what the SEB would say about changing the seat covers on a Z to the sport covers that have the hole in them... Would that be a "comfort and convenience" change?... Since it is only the seat covers?
03-21-2006, 12:20 PM
#14
Safety Car
Originally Posted by Cobra4B
^ Larry... weight was the issue as to why they didn't put the C5 sport seats into the Z06.
Comfort may have been the issue as to why the c5 seats are less agressive than C4 seats.
Comfort may have been the issue as to why the c5 seats are less agressive than C4 seats.
did you ever weigh a C4 sport seat as compared to a Z06 seat ??
I am curious.....
But I did hear the engineering lecture as presented at the 50th aniversary corvette show
