Instructed yesterday..my first vette

[jrkoupe]

student had a 2005 vette .....clean....all stock

I drove for like 4 laps.......no likey....feels heavy and big...

but it did very nicely .

[cohny]

Did it scare you being in one with a student? I'm still a student and I always like to ask my instructors how they like it and how things have been going. I've heard on more than one occasion that they don't like a student to have a corvette, or any of the newer, faster cars like M4s for that matter.

[jrkoupe]

this situ was not a scary one..not at all.


dude was a mature man...loved and respected his car, and my instructions....

Ive been in like 60 cars on track.....and its about the driver, not the car.....

[Fair]

student had a 2005 vette .....clean....all stock

I drove for like 4 laps.......no likey....feels heavy and big...

but it did very nicely .

So I had a 2005 Corvette myself, and have driven lots of Corvettes . 2005 is the first year for the C6 generation (2005-2013). It likely had the stock wheels if it was stock, which means it has an itty bitty 245mm front and a 285mm rear. Damn lawyers, gotta make everything PLOW. The 2005 made 400 hp, but still did 186 mph, so it had some legs. Stock springs and dampers are soft, unless it was one of the rare Z51 models. I ran our 2005 Z51 on 11" wide wheels and 315mm tires and it was a grip machine. The later base C6 got a 430 hp engine, the Z06 got 505 hp, and it only went up with the ZR1.



What likely makes it feel big is the relatively poor "weight to tire width" ratio the base C6 has. Its actually pretty easy to fit an 18x12" wheel and a 335mm tire under the stock front Z06 fenders (see above). This makes the car feel light and nimble. I took some laps in the Z06 above on 335mm tires at all four corners. It was easy to fling the car around, put it on whatever line I wanted. Super, super easy.



...and an 18x13" and 345mm tire fits under the Z06 rears. Fenders just unbolt can can be swapped at all 4 corners. Or you just get a Z06 to start with.

My advice is - if you like your BMW track car, don't drive a C6 Z06 on track. ...it will ruin you...

[jrkoupe]

TF

thnx for that insight...I am sure I would like, maybe love, a tricked/set up car...that is alot of tire and wheel that is possible....yikes...18 x 13....I run 15 x 7 on 225 tires at lime rock...lol

....this car I drove was all stock w/ no real track options or that package u mentioned.

BTW I feel this body style was a real winner , a real legend that chevy shouldve styed w/ much longer. Its very handsome, classic and muscular. ....yet still subtle........And to me it kills in looks compared to the new and present body style which I think is a styling angular wedgy nightmare. I feel it was built for HS kids, or for the hair spray and "vy ya gra" man........

[cohny]

Vettes always turned me off. They seem cheap and cheezy with interiors rivaling the 996, and I always felt like they were really more like a cruiser wrapped up in a sports car's body than a real drivers car. That opinion changed fast when I started going to the track though. There doesn't seem to be a less expensive way to go faster. For the same price as an E36 M in good condition you can get a vette, and with a few mods you can blow the doors off lots of more expensive cars in a way that no E36 ever will.

I do feel you shouldn't have to throw 335 tires on a car as low and wide as a C6 to get it to feel nimble... but they are awesome cars with some reasonable mods. There are some guys in the club I started running with who are laying down some serious times in C5s too.

I also couldn't agree more about the styling of the C7. It is downright hideous. Thinking about it now, I think the biggest issue I have with the vette is the fact that IMO there is so much potential being left on the table. "America's sports car" should just be more attractive. The pininfarina corvette concept from 63 comes to mind.

[jrkoupe]

its not the right place here to get into it.......but the styling on vettes appeals to most american male buyers........but I agree as well, it is not my cup a tea..

give me a 63 split, or even the c6 we discussed.

but how in the world did the current body get okd as a winner by chev designers and bean counters.......yikes

[jimmypet]

My advice is - if you like your BMW track car, don't drive a C6 Z06 on track. ...it will ruin you...

True.
I had a student at Watkins Glen with a C5 Z06, had some mild mods, fella was new but had a good feel for it (and listened).
Only car that has ever made me giggle like a school kid going up out of the toe of the boot.

I would have signed him off but I didn't want to get out of the car it was so much fun.

I seriously reconsidered many life / car choices after that weekend.
I honestly started watching the internet for C5 or C6 Vette theft repos, light wrecks etc.
Crazy fast and fun cars.

[jrkoupe]

jp.....

say noooooooooo

lol


Im shocked to hear u say this....wow

but I respect your opinion and TF's as well.....

[aeronaut]

I've been more scared in a 93 E36 than any Vette I've instructed in. It's all about the student. That said, there's always that "man this could go wrong FAST" feeling in the back of my mind.

[jimmypet]

jp.....

say noooooooooo

lol


Im shocked to hear u say this....wow

but I respect your opinion and TF's as well.....

As long as I have considered myself a small displacement / momentum car kind of guy (and I am still),,, the ease that the Vette made speed was crazy.
It was in the hands of an lower intermediate student and it was still so fast, stable, composed.
The rear tires were somewhere around a foot wide and it was clawing for traction up out of the toe LOL. Compared to my car it felt like a Saturn V rocket.
The power was somewhat drug-like when you drive a car with <200 ft lbs of torque LOL.
I've been in plenty of really fast cars on track, but that Z06 did it with such ease. Thats what made me go hmmmmm, what would a gutted caged version of this be like on slicks???

[DocWyte]

Instructed a student in a C6 Z06 that was bone stock. Track was PPIR, so a short roval type of track. He was entering the roval sedate, sly and short shifting at ~4500-5000 rpm, then lifting as we crossed the start finish line. So he was entering the roval much slower than me, shifting lower than me and lifting a few seconds before I would.

Despite all that it felt like we were just hauling the mail! So I asked him how fast we were going before he lifted at the start/finish line. 145mph!!! MF'er! That was one incredibly fast car....