four0nefive

For sure, very good points. At least Chevy is headed in the right direction with the additional cooling items released at SEMA.

White Out

For those who say the new ACR is track only. A friend just did a 5,000+ mile road trip in an ACR.

SBC_and_a_stick

And yet, the Road and Track mag had to disassemble the front splitter to drive it around town, and reassemble to drive it on track.

I would have preferred they kept the front splitter on to see if it survives on the road. If it didn't, than the ACR should have tracked without the front splitter.

In my book it's not ok to test the car in one trim on the road and in another on the track. The Z was only .1 second slower, which I'm sure would have gone to no difference without a front splitter.

SBC_and_a_stick

GMPP released a second radiator for manual C7s. I'm going to give it a try soon and let you know if it's a substantial improvement. There is also a service bulletin that introduces a cooling duct for the power steering. I've already ordered this one.

White Out

Do you drive your Z06 around with the full aero kit on?

SBC_and_a_stick

Yep, stage 3, even the wicker is up all the way. Cup 2s as well. Nearly 13,000 miles now.

Oh, and I live in San Francisco. Quite possibly the hardest city on sports cars.

NineBall

The removable part is the splitter extension, not the entire splitter. The extension doesn't reduce ground clearance any. But, it does increase the front overhang, which would make it a little more difficult to enter steep drives with. The extension is also a wear item, designed to be replaced when worn. The splitter shown on the red ACR in the snow, is always on the car. Ground clearance meets NHTSA safety requirements, just like the Z07 splitter does.

JoesC5

Then you have a problem with GM using a special alignment for the track and another alignment for the street, on the Corvette?

By your reasoning, the same alignment should be used on both the street and the track, if the same aero bits have to be used on both the street and the track.

PS- GM says not to use the Z07 tall "winglets" and the clear center "wickerbill" on the street, implying that they should only be used on the track.

SBC_and_a_stick

As you said both overhang and ground clearance dictate the sort of gutters you can cross.

I run -2 camber all around, per the manual's track recommendation. No uneven wear here at all.

I'm not sure why GM says to use them on track only. The winglets make the car a bit harder to park in the garage but no big deal.

NineBall

Your logic here is ridiculous. Ever seen a ZR1 splitter get crunched? I did it twice on my previous Corvette. One was a huge dip, the other a tire tread in the road. Should those cars run without the splitter, too? I've also had the winglets on my CTS-V take a beating and crack. Again, should they run without them? Because of road damage? You think C7 Z06 splitters are immune to road damage?

This is about as dumb as saying that the Z07 and ACR can't use their sticky factory tires, if someone gets a nail in one. The tire didn't survive the drive, right?

LEE427

Sounds like GM is finally waking up, and going in the right direction now. This is good to know. I hope the 2017 Z06s will have this on the cars from the factory. No more cooling issues, limp mode , having to have to short shift it , power steering giving out, and so on.It should of never been like this when they released the new Z.

My 2010 ACR Viper I can drive it hard get good lap times, and never have to worry about nothing. Just making sure I have enough gas for the next session that is all. It's such a great car . My new ACR wow I can't imagine how much better it os compared to the one I have been tracking. Especially after seeing Darius taking his out on Laguna Seca..

I hope GM fixes everything on the 2017 Z06. If they do I will definitely be buying one, and will be excited to track that too..

NytmereZ

The only way these people are going to be happy is if the ACR ran on 3 flat tires, and got whipped by everything I like getting under the skin of the C7 fanboys as well(it's so easy) but this thread needs to be closed already, this is beyond butt hurt.

SBC_and_a_stick

There is really nothing debatable about what I said.

R&T removed portions of the front splitter for road testing. To me that indicates they feared breaking it on the street. I haven't seen anyone remove the Z06 splitter for street testing. Nor have I heard any magazine break it. That to me it means something, to you maybe nothing.

ZR1 what? I don't care, not part of the comparison.

You are grasping at straws here. The size of the front splitter matters. It's not a 1,0 (broken, not broken).

I appreciate Dodge's effort to make a race car for the road. It is more robust, and slightly faster car for sure. If I had room for two car the ACR would be appealing indeed. But as it is I'm not willing to drive it to work everyday. I'd prefer the TA.

White Out

Must need a lot of downforce for sitting in traffic.

I was in SF last month and the roads seemed quite nice. Chicago, Detroit and NYC are far worse.

There will always be people who will run the full aero bits on the street, even though it's not what the manufacture intended. But putting the add-on aero bits at the track is no different than adjusting the suspension, changing tire pressure or pulling all the extra crap (coffee mugs, spare tire, trash, tools, etc) out of the car in the parking lot.

SBC_and_a_stick

More like I'm not bothered by the extra downforce so I feel no need to adjust it all the time.

Adding and taking off aero is important because it is in ADDITION to "adjusting the suspension, changing tire pressure or pulling all the extra crap (coffee mugs, spare tire, trash, tools, etc) out of the car in the parking lot."

Aside from the time need it will wear out from mounting and dismounting.

You will also need some space in the trunk to carry all that aero.

There is already tons of prep to do at the track even with a car that's bring and run like the Z.

OK, big point to make here is that when you see an ACR on the road it may not be able to run the same setup it does at the track. So what a Viper does at the track is more different than what the Viper can do on the road. Another way to put it, the Z's performance can be stretched on a wider array of pavement, whereas the ACR requires you to drive you splitter and toolbox with you to adapt.

TrackAire

Good to see you're in SF, I'm assuming your home track would either be Sonoma or Thunderhill. I just picked up a C5 Z06 as my new primary track car....I'm sure we'll meet up as soon as it dries out. It might end up being a long wet winter (hopefully, lol).

Regarding the splitter extension and diffuser add on blades, even without them mounted, the ACR will still be a better handling car than 99.9% of any production car in the world, especially on the street.
Until you get over 80 mph, those added aero pieces are just in the way. I just don't know of any curvy road in NorCal that I could consistently drive between 80 mph and 130 mph (common road course speeds) and not be a major danger to other motorists or on the radar of the local LEO. A lot of people that drag race their Gen 4 ACR's actually remove the rear wing since it has so much aero drag, even on the 1/4 mile drag strip. My point is, unless you are a major hot shoe around the track, you could never install the splitter extension and diffuser blades and be just as fast (or slow as in my case, lol). Aero is a fantastic thing on the track (pretty useless at sane street speeds) but very few of us will be able to fully harness the aero capabilities of the Gen 5 ACR Extreme. It really is at another level.

I see putting on the aero for the track no different than GM's recommendation to run 15-50 Mobil 1, less antifreeze, adding brake cooler rings, adjusting the alignment to more aggressive numbers, adjusting the Z06's wickerbill, different brake fluid, etc.

It really is a good time to be a gearhead....even a mildly prepped C7 with a manual will destroy just about anything on the track short of an ACR or Z06 in the hands of a good driver. I do have a feeling that by next spring you'll see GM counter with something to give Vette loyalists a weapon against the GT350R, Viper and Porsche GT3. I'm thinking something along the lines of a Corvette TDS (Track Day Special).

White Out

Dodge set it up this way so that when the ACR does a highway pull it's faster with the reduced downforce. Keep the heavy aero for the track with turns.

How does it feel knowing that your car is slower than an ACR on a track and a standard Viper on the street?

four0nefive

I would sure hope a car with racecar aero that's lighter would beat a Z06...

As far the Z06 being "slower than a standard Viper on the street", both cars are pretty evenly matched, I would say it's a driver's race honestly. The Viper (and even the ZR1) have a better top end compared to the C7Z, especially one with stage 2 or 3 aero.

Personally, I wouldn't mind owning either of the two cars as both are awesome American super cars. Like the poster above you said (or somewhat said), these cars will pretty much destroy anything out there besides the "elite super/hyper cars" for under $150k. It's a good time to be and auto enthusiast!

SBC_and_a_stick

I go to Laguna Seca as well. I'll be in Sonoma in 10 days or so.

Moving to ACR rubber on the next set of wheels. After looking at the track times done so far, I think the car will be within a second of the ACR on any of our tracks while running the same Kumhos. That is the car. Me + the car? I think I'll always be faster in the Z06 Z07. It's softer sprung and the car in general should be easier to exploit at the limit. All of that and I can arrive and drive.

Show me one guy that changes all his track settings and fluids back to street on the Z. With track settings on street the car doesn't behave much differently. I don't notice any difference driving it either. My tires wear out in the center blocks first. I'll give you one thing, the cooling rings on the Stingray are a ridiculous thing. However, I think the Stingray guys use them on the road as well. If you track enough you'll change those rotors out often enough that it doesn't matter.

Now, if anyone with an ACR would like to try to make it in my driveway with the whole extreme ACR aero I'd like to see it. A stock VW Golf scrapes, and I still have my front lip after some 300 drives over it.

I think Dodge does it so that it can take lap records, all the cost of daily driveability.

I honestly don't care that the ACR is faster. What I really care is that all Vipers can run 20 minutes on the track in just about any conditions. I'm an enthusiast at heart and hold no grudges to other drivers or manufacturers that build high performance manual cars, and the Viper is my backup plan, just not the ACR.

NineBall

I'm grasping at straws here? Aren't you the one that thinks they should track test the ACR without a front splitter, if the splitter can't survive driving on the highway? This is ludicrous, at best. I brought up the ZR1 because those splitters are known to get crushed while daily driving. Same thing, NONE of these sports cars do well with parking stones, tall curbs, or big dips in the road. Every low car is susceptible to road damage, the ACR is no different.

But you'll sit here and complain that life isn't fair, that the ACR got to use all the parts it was designed to work with. LOL