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| C6 Z06 Comp Mode Track Test |
F1 and MotoGP both love and benefit from computer aids (notwithstanding the fact that they created a super-boring show for us fans when in place). Perhaps it is for this reason that some people have fallen for the fallacy that this übertechnology has trickled down unmolested from the racing heavens down to production vehicles.
Case in point: Road & Track's recent supercar test. No, not the blatant conflict-of-interest Spanks issue. The other one. In the September 2008 issue, R&T did what looked to be a promising comparo using a trio of pro drivers on four track configurations. And I'll be the first to give them credit for the oval test - it looks legit.
But after a nice sit down and read, things got, ahem, interesting. In the Streets of Willow road course test, they said the following about the Z06: ...its neck-snapping torque means the traction control and stability control are your new best friends. Really. Millen lapped in Competitive Mode, which allows the Z06 to slide quite a lot without intervening, especially if the driver smoothly breaks the limits of adhesion. This Millen did, drifting beautifully onto the main straight each lap.
What? Steve Millen, two-time IMSA GTS champion, first in class in the 24 Hours of LeMans, yadda yadda yadda, drove a production Z06 with the stability control turned on?! I guess I've been doing it wrong all these years turning that stuff off. Interestingly, Millen had complained about the Aston Martin's stability control slowing him down just a couple paragraphs earlier.
Rather than bench race on the internet, I decided to find out for myself. Thanks to Jack Farr, owner of Motorsport Ranch in Cresson, TX, I took a test mule Z06 out to MSR to do my own testing of this theory.
The C6 Z06 in this test is stock except for a Corsa cat-back, and is eqiupped with aggressive street tires that, although not R compounds, do not fade or get greasy . I wasn't sure at first in what order to do the laps: some factors improve through the session (i.e. driving), others degrade (the car). These tend to cancel out, and my lap times are usually very consistent throughout the session. To be as fair and objective as possible, I decided to start the session in everything off mode, then switch to competitive mode mid-session, then switch back and see what happens. There was no lap-timer in the car to distract me. Jack Farr would tell me the lap times at the end from the official timing equipment.
Without further ado, in-car video and the results:
As expected. Gallery with timeslip log here.
Cheers,
Andi
Update (9/16/08): A few months ago I described a lap around Motorsport Ranch on a local car club email list. Figured I'd include it here.
3 comments:
Andi... Get a PerformanceBox or DriftBox! 10 Hz logging, and you can swap them from car to car easily. Great way to figure out where and why you were faster or slower.
Andi, I'm doing my first HPDE October 18-19 at Eagles Canyon. Have you been on that track yet? I'd love to grab a cold one with you soon.
Hmm.. tempting. :-) An ///M3 buddy of mine was just trying to talk me into that track day this weekend. I haven't done ECR yet. I heard it's awesome, yet murder on brakes.
I'm kind of torn. I am really itching to do another TWS 2.9 before the end of the end of the season.
Cheers,
Andi
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