Torq's Project ZL1 wins Top Ride Shootout at Chevy High Performance Nationals!

[urr2slo]

Nice job Eric, your so lucky to get a ZL1, cant wait to see what you do with it.

[Erik@Torq]

Originally Posted by DanSS24

Do you still have the stock wheels, Polished or Black, saving them from harm of AutoXing and just using the tires? Awesome wins and congrats. I love AutoX...it's like driving fast on the street, but in a closed, legal environment.

Afraid they are gone already, I have 2 sets of Forgelines that I use for track and street!

I agree, Auto-X is some of the most affordable fun one can have behind the wheel

Originally Posted by xavier02832

Erik soooo glad to finally see a ZL1 owner out on the autoX (and soon to be road course ), it looks right at home. Not knocking the 1/4 mile guys but kinda of tired of every shop in the country chasing the 9s-10s. IMO this car was built for more than just straight line racing and Im stoked Torq is representing for us AutoX/ roadcourse racers.

Keep them trophies coming


*THIS IS DEFINITELY FRONT PAGE MATERIAL*

Thanks for the kind words Xavier! Can't wait to get both our cars out there at the same time to compare! Btw, to you guys asking about my wheels this guy is the gentlemen who is running them now

Originally Posted by hognutz

He must not have go the memo that these cars are slow and the owners don't compete with them. shame on him. haha.

This is why I ordered this car is overall performace not just wicked in one area but lacking in others.

Yup, must have missed that memo

Originally Posted by 1977and2010

Congrats on the wins and the car. Missed you guys at the track guys Sebring event. I was hoping to see that Z out there handing it to some of those mustangs.

Yeah I know, it was killing me not being able to be there. My car was delayed and didn't get until the week after! Would have loved to kicked some Stangs there!

Originally Posted by EZ SPEED

Thanks !! I won 3 Awards in the Car Show with it , and got a photoshoot with GMHTP magazine

Awesome, congrats! The looked crazy clean so I am sure it was well deserved.

Originally Posted by Silverguardrail

What kind... Congratz BTW

A secret compound I developed in my basement using sand, shards of glass, asbestos and a little salt & pepper...

J/k, I am running Hawk DTC-30's in the front, and HP+ in the rear, Will probably be stepping up to 60's in the front and 30's in the rear for the road course though. I will know after some testing!

Originally Posted by LAWMAN

Very good,you must be a helluv driver,not taking anything from the Z but it takes a real driver to get the most out of any car,

Thank you Sir, I admit I do have some experience behind the wheel but still consider myself just a happy amateur

Originally Posted by sammyv

Damn Erik, Way to represent!!! What brake pads?

Thanks Sammy! See my post above about the brakes

Originally Posted by Vulpine

Awesome...I'm just curious did you do the full break-in or did you give in to your desires to let it run? Any mods or future mods you expect to do to the ZL1? What kind of follow-up maintenance did you perform following the competition weekend? Any suggestions for those of us headed down the same way with our ZL1s? Thanks ahead of time for responses and Congratz again!

I picked the car up Wednesday, had 60 miles on her when I left for Georgia, had just a hair over 700 when I got there and 2 min after arriving (litterally) I put her in launch control mode for the speedstop challenge and that was that. After that it was well broken in!

We have tons of mods coming for the car, but we will be doing it in stages to show the benefit of each package and modification. The same goes for both power mods as well as suspension mods. Everything will be logged to show what actually works, and what doesn't.

Regarding maintenance a simple oil change and rear diff fluid change was all that was needed. I reached 1500 miles rolling back into FL so it was just on time. I usually change my oil after every track day and maybe every 2 auto-x events. It is a cheap insurance to make sure you motor is running healthy and for a long time! Put it this way, fluids are cheap, engine and rear end parts are not

/Erik

[SSBUSDRVR]

Congrats Erik.Well deserved.

[Revo1]

[L99]

Great job Erik!
I was there watching you. There were some fast 69's there also but you had them. I was really impressed how the ZL1 handled. Not taking anything away from the excellent driving, you were kicking ass.

Just curious what was your fastest time?

[Nvincent4708]

Congrats!

I would expect no less from a driver of your capability!

You drive the zl1 like it should be!

[GaBoy25]

Congrats on everything and thats a beautiful Z.

[Erik@Torq]

Originally Posted by SSBUSDRVR

Congrats Erik.Well deserved.

Thanks buddy

Originally Posted by L99

Great job Erik!
I was there watching you. There were some fast 69's there also but you had them. I was really impressed how the ZL1 handled. Not taking anything away from the excellent driving, you were kicking ass.

Just curious what was your fastest time?

Yeah they were some serious machines, would love to have one some day.

I think my fastest time was a 28.53 if I am not mistaken, I'll check the video and confirm once I get it uploaded

Originally Posted by Nvincent4708

Congrats!

I would expect no less from a driver of your capability!

You drive the zl1 like it should be!

Appreciate the kind words! I drive her like she was meant to be driven, and I am a big fan of the saying "Never Lift" lol

/Erik

[Bad@ssCamaro]

Originally Posted by 2010SLVRBULIT

'grats, but those rims

I think those rims look awesome

[tooslow]

Congrats! The ZL1 is a great car right of the box, as we all know. It seems most of the focus in this thread has been around the auto-x performance, but how did you stack up in the brake stop and drag racing parts of the triathlon? Were you able to get into the 11's?

[PfadtRacing]

Great work Erik! Glad to see a member of Camaro5 representing at the national level events!

[Erik@Torq]

Originally Posted by tooslow

Congrats! The ZL1 is a great car right of the box, as we all know. It seems most of the focus in this thread has been around the auto-x performance, but how did you stack up in the brake stop and drag racing parts of the triathlon? Were you able to get into the 11's?

Haha I OBLITERATED the others in the brake stop challenge, I totally forgot to post that!

I stopped almost 10ft shorter than anyone else, even with "smaller" brakes and less surface area on the front tires. My brake pads I put on for sure helped!

Wouldn't even mention the 1/4 mile times As good as I might be at the road course and Auto-X, I am equally poor at heading down the 1320... I think 12.8 was my best time but I hit the revlimiter in every gear, I am so used to shifting at 7200 and not at 6000rpm!

But I am heading to the track for some practice runs and to learn how to drive this bad boy tonight and on Friday. I need to tighten up the nut behind the steering wheel

[Doc]

Originally Posted by Erik@Torq

That's actually where this gets interesting, I was going to do a separate write up with all my findings but I guess can start here.

Remember, the following text applies only for auto-x on stock tires. These settings can change substantially depending on track, temp etc!

I did try every setting the car has to offer, from full on to full off. When thing that this car needs when auto-x'ing is traction, traction can be adjusted by tire pressures as well as suspension settings. Once you have found the perfect balance for the tires than all you can do is play around on the different settings. When auto-x'ing I drive very smooth, almost to the extent where it looks slow but at the same time balls to wall fast. This means I slide the car around quite a bit which is necessary for a heavy car like this, it is the only way to get the car to rotate in the tight 180* hairpins turns.

This being said, I was WAY faster when running with everything off, no PTM modes whatsoever. Every single mode cut the power way to soon and kept holding me back. I am confident once I get her out on a road course the PTM settings will be much more helpful, but not on the auto-x.

As i mentioned above, this car needs traction through the turns. And a common misconception is that a stiffer car will always have more grip/traction than a softer car. That is very far from the truth! I was running the car in SPORT with all systems off, and still felt the car could do so much more but I was still running a little loose in the back end. So I put the car in TOURING mode just for the hell of it and I picked up half a second the first run. By running in TOURING mode it allowed for more mechanical grip from the car thus transferring the weight more. So my preferred suspension setting for a stock car on stock tires in an auto-x is TOURING with all safety nets OFF. It makes it very easy to drive, and crazy fast. I was beating cars with very seasoned drivers that weighed hundreds of pounds less then I did.





Thanks!

/Erik

Outstanding job of driving! I see you've discovered Colin Chapman's old secret to winning Formula One championships with his famed Lotus cars; soft springing and good damping. Seems to do a better job of allowing the suspension to work.

Can't wait to see what you can do once you've had some time with this new car.

[tones2SS]

Originally Posted by HPT BANDIT

Those pro-touring cars are no joke. We have a local event called "Runnin Thru The Hills" in September. I ran with them a couple rimes. They haul ass.

You said it brother!!