Repsol Robert
November 1st, 2007, 08:54 PM
This past weekend was a great one beginning on Friday with a trackday at Thunderhill in Northern California with Hooked on Driving.
While I am "between Vettes" at this moment, I know there is another in my not too distant future, and I wanted to go out an get up close and personal with my favorite cars again. I tried to find one I could "borrow" for the day, but oddly enough, nobody responded...go figure! :confused:
C4 ZR1 Ride
http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/59/imagepages/image3.html
I checked in with David Ray who runs the show and he recommended that I ride with Gary Koontz who has a nice original '90 with decent tires and a good driver. Gary was more than willing to take me for a ride in his toy, and that first press of the pedal brought me instantly back to my ZR1 days...nothing like the sound of that induction system and all those cams and gears and other moving parts. I was in Vette heaven again...:dblthumbsup:
I run Thunderhill on my Honda 1000 and Thunderhill has a nice front straight and some very high speed corners and Gary certainly wasn't shy in showing me how the car behaves putting it through the paces, but he highlighted a weakness that I never really experienced in my ZR1 or on the test track back in the day...the brakes. We only got to run 2 laps for the demo ride, but he was concerned about fade and was pumping the brakes entering the corners to make sure he still had pedal. After I got out he took on one more passenger and when he re-entered his paddock area he had nothing left.
C5 Z06 Ride
http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/8/imagepages/image8.html
As soon as I jumped out of Gary's ZR1, a C5 Z06 pulled up to the line after a few laps and I jumped immediately into that car owned and driven by Denise. I had driven a C5 Z06 before and remembered how comparable the power was to my ZR1, but I didn't have the opportunity to experience its handling abilities besides an onramp or two. The sound was definitely very different than the ZR1, but not in a bad way. Denise is another coach with Hooked on Driving and while a more conservative driver than Gary, was still showing me some spirited moves in the C5. The car felt more planted in the corners and the brakes were not an issue with this car. We were seeing 120 in the ZR1 on the front straight, and Denise was soft pedaling it up to about 115 in her car. I was impressed with the C5, but I was aching for a ride in a C6 Z06...:hail::hail:
C6 Z06 Ride...:cool:
There were no Z06 cars in attendance with the coaches so no demo rides were available, but there were at least 20 of them at the event...so I asked David if he could arrange a ride with one of his trusted attendees. Earlier I had been drooling over a yum yum yellow Z06 with a big carbon fiber wing on the back which had an "R" after the Z06 emblem as did three others parked in front of the Motorsports Image trailer. I was wondering what was done to the car besides the obvious Hoosier tires and 18" wheels and the wing.
So a little later I show up at pre-grid to meet up with the Z06 that David Ray has arranged for me to ride in and to my surprise the very car with the wing I had been wishing I could drive showed up with Jerry (last name unknown) driving who was going to take me out for a full session in the unlimited class...or D Group. I was very pleased indeed.
We were at the front of the grid and exchanged pleasantries while I informed him that as a former Corvette Challenge racer and ZR1 test driver I was not going to be scared and to drive as if I wasn't there. The only clear disadvantage I Ihad was the lack of a 5 way harness, so I knew I would have to be hangin' on to avoid being tossed around the cabin. Behind us was another of the Z06Rs I had seen earlier and he let me know that the two of them are pretty closely matched on the track.
http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/14/imagepages/image10.html
The car I was in had coil overs with 3 way adjustability and some other suspension goodies along with upgraded brakes and the sticky tires, but the engine was bone stock. I was actually happy to be in a stock engined car as I'd get a true comparison to the C4 and C5 I had been in earlier. Well, as soon as we rolled onto the pit lane and he punched it, all comparisons were out the window...this thing absolutely screams with torque! The sounds were at least as satisfying as the ZR1, but that sensation in the small of my back was making me giggle like a teenage girl...:loco:
The warm-up lap was quite amazing as the car stuck to the road like a race car and since I knew the track well from my bike track days I got the immediate sense that this car was much quicker than my bike, which was confirmed later while reviewing lap times. On lap 2 he started to seriously flog the car with the blue Z06R running behind us in hot pursuit. What amazed me first was the awesome grip of the tires, then the astounding acceleration coming off the corners, then the killer brakes clamping us down from 140 on the front straight...going very deep into the corner markers. It's hard to be a passenger in a performance car and not know how deep is too deep, because it made my eyes big...:eek:
The car was setup very nicely as the slip angle was perfection on the long sweeping turns until he got the tires a little too hot and started pushing into slower corners. On lap 3 he let the blue car pass and the chase was on. The blue car was pulling him on the front straight but he'd make up the distance in the corners and it was a session full of follow the leader from that point on. The other car didn't have a 225 lb. passenger, but he couldn't get away from us until we caught some unlucky traffic.
http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/14/imagepages/image4.html
That was another cool part of this ride. There were some beautiful 60s vintage Vettes out there with awesome sounding exhaust systems that took me immediately back to the muscle car days, but this Z06 passed them like they were 4 cylinder beaters. :fryingpan:
GranSport - Front (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/diane/imagepages/image8.html)
GranSport - Rear (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/diane/imagepages/image16.html)
GranSport - Hood (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/diane/imagepages/image17.html)
50s Topless (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/43/imagepages/image8.html)
Another GranSport (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/80/imagepages/image1.html)
Red Beauty (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/65/imagepages/image3.html)
Another Red Classic (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/7rick/imagepages/image8.html)
Another Beautiful Angle (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/7rick/imagepages/image11.html)
Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by the Z06, and these rides helped me make my final decision about whether to buy a ZR1 again or to jump up to the C6 Z06...need I say more?
The post script to this ride was that I later found out that the blue Z06 we were chasing had 90 HP more than the yellow beast, and had similar suspension upgrades, brakes, and indentical tires. The lap times were 2:02-2:04 for the car I was in, which compares to my 2:15 on my bike with stock suspension and tires, and the truly fast riders will run comparable times to the Z06 on a fully track prepped bike with suspension and DOT race tires. One of the things I would love to do is run laps on both my bike and a stock Z06 to see which one I can turn the best lap times on..I bet it would be a close call.
Anybody game to let me bring my bike to a trackday and run against myself? Until I get my Z06, I would have to borrow your car, but I promise...I won't break it...:thumbsup:
It was a fun day and I must thank David Ray for offering me his hospitality and helping me achive my Corvette Trifecta...and Gary, Denise and Jerry for letting me play passenger in their toys.
Monday had me down at Buttonwillow for a trackday on my bike and another great time to finish my long birthday weekend...
Until next time...Repsol Robert
While I am "between Vettes" at this moment, I know there is another in my not too distant future, and I wanted to go out an get up close and personal with my favorite cars again. I tried to find one I could "borrow" for the day, but oddly enough, nobody responded...go figure! :confused:
C4 ZR1 Ride
http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/59/imagepages/image3.html
I checked in with David Ray who runs the show and he recommended that I ride with Gary Koontz who has a nice original '90 with decent tires and a good driver. Gary was more than willing to take me for a ride in his toy, and that first press of the pedal brought me instantly back to my ZR1 days...nothing like the sound of that induction system and all those cams and gears and other moving parts. I was in Vette heaven again...:dblthumbsup:
I run Thunderhill on my Honda 1000 and Thunderhill has a nice front straight and some very high speed corners and Gary certainly wasn't shy in showing me how the car behaves putting it through the paces, but he highlighted a weakness that I never really experienced in my ZR1 or on the test track back in the day...the brakes. We only got to run 2 laps for the demo ride, but he was concerned about fade and was pumping the brakes entering the corners to make sure he still had pedal. After I got out he took on one more passenger and when he re-entered his paddock area he had nothing left.
C5 Z06 Ride
http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/8/imagepages/image8.html
As soon as I jumped out of Gary's ZR1, a C5 Z06 pulled up to the line after a few laps and I jumped immediately into that car owned and driven by Denise. I had driven a C5 Z06 before and remembered how comparable the power was to my ZR1, but I didn't have the opportunity to experience its handling abilities besides an onramp or two. The sound was definitely very different than the ZR1, but not in a bad way. Denise is another coach with Hooked on Driving and while a more conservative driver than Gary, was still showing me some spirited moves in the C5. The car felt more planted in the corners and the brakes were not an issue with this car. We were seeing 120 in the ZR1 on the front straight, and Denise was soft pedaling it up to about 115 in her car. I was impressed with the C5, but I was aching for a ride in a C6 Z06...:hail::hail:
C6 Z06 Ride...:cool:
There were no Z06 cars in attendance with the coaches so no demo rides were available, but there were at least 20 of them at the event...so I asked David if he could arrange a ride with one of his trusted attendees. Earlier I had been drooling over a yum yum yellow Z06 with a big carbon fiber wing on the back which had an "R" after the Z06 emblem as did three others parked in front of the Motorsports Image trailer. I was wondering what was done to the car besides the obvious Hoosier tires and 18" wheels and the wing.
So a little later I show up at pre-grid to meet up with the Z06 that David Ray has arranged for me to ride in and to my surprise the very car with the wing I had been wishing I could drive showed up with Jerry (last name unknown) driving who was going to take me out for a full session in the unlimited class...or D Group. I was very pleased indeed.
We were at the front of the grid and exchanged pleasantries while I informed him that as a former Corvette Challenge racer and ZR1 test driver I was not going to be scared and to drive as if I wasn't there. The only clear disadvantage I Ihad was the lack of a 5 way harness, so I knew I would have to be hangin' on to avoid being tossed around the cabin. Behind us was another of the Z06Rs I had seen earlier and he let me know that the two of them are pretty closely matched on the track.
http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/14/imagepages/image10.html
The car I was in had coil overs with 3 way adjustability and some other suspension goodies along with upgraded brakes and the sticky tires, but the engine was bone stock. I was actually happy to be in a stock engined car as I'd get a true comparison to the C4 and C5 I had been in earlier. Well, as soon as we rolled onto the pit lane and he punched it, all comparisons were out the window...this thing absolutely screams with torque! The sounds were at least as satisfying as the ZR1, but that sensation in the small of my back was making me giggle like a teenage girl...:loco:
The warm-up lap was quite amazing as the car stuck to the road like a race car and since I knew the track well from my bike track days I got the immediate sense that this car was much quicker than my bike, which was confirmed later while reviewing lap times. On lap 2 he started to seriously flog the car with the blue Z06R running behind us in hot pursuit. What amazed me first was the awesome grip of the tires, then the astounding acceleration coming off the corners, then the killer brakes clamping us down from 140 on the front straight...going very deep into the corner markers. It's hard to be a passenger in a performance car and not know how deep is too deep, because it made my eyes big...:eek:
The car was setup very nicely as the slip angle was perfection on the long sweeping turns until he got the tires a little too hot and started pushing into slower corners. On lap 3 he let the blue car pass and the chase was on. The blue car was pulling him on the front straight but he'd make up the distance in the corners and it was a session full of follow the leader from that point on. The other car didn't have a 225 lb. passenger, but he couldn't get away from us until we caught some unlucky traffic.
http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/14/imagepages/image4.html
That was another cool part of this ride. There were some beautiful 60s vintage Vettes out there with awesome sounding exhaust systems that took me immediately back to the muscle car days, but this Z06 passed them like they were 4 cylinder beaters. :fryingpan:
GranSport - Front (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/diane/imagepages/image8.html)
GranSport - Rear (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/diane/imagepages/image16.html)
GranSport - Hood (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/diane/imagepages/image17.html)
50s Topless (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/43/imagepages/image8.html)
Another GranSport (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/80/imagepages/image1.html)
Red Beauty (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/65/imagepages/image3.html)
Another Red Classic (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/7rick/imagepages/image8.html)
Another Beautiful Angle (http://gotbluemilk.com/web071026/7rick/imagepages/image11.html)
Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by the Z06, and these rides helped me make my final decision about whether to buy a ZR1 again or to jump up to the C6 Z06...need I say more?
The post script to this ride was that I later found out that the blue Z06 we were chasing had 90 HP more than the yellow beast, and had similar suspension upgrades, brakes, and indentical tires. The lap times were 2:02-2:04 for the car I was in, which compares to my 2:15 on my bike with stock suspension and tires, and the truly fast riders will run comparable times to the Z06 on a fully track prepped bike with suspension and DOT race tires. One of the things I would love to do is run laps on both my bike and a stock Z06 to see which one I can turn the best lap times on..I bet it would be a close call.
Anybody game to let me bring my bike to a trackday and run against myself? Until I get my Z06, I would have to borrow your car, but I promise...I won't break it...:thumbsup:
It was a fun day and I must thank David Ray for offering me his hospitality and helping me achive my Corvette Trifecta...and Gary, Denise and Jerry for letting me play passenger in their toys.
Monday had me down at Buttonwillow for a trackday on my bike and another great time to finish my long birthday weekend...
Until next time...Repsol Robert