What will NHRA tracks do if you run sub 11.5s with your ZL1?

[IOMZL1]

Originally Posted by Wondering

That's a cool video....I'm sure they made sure the track was as prepped as it was ever going to get. I've been around racing long enough to know in real life it's a crapshoot. And if the ZL1's launch control is ANYTHING like the one in the Corvette it's complete garbage.

I've engaged the LC on my 2010 GS on two occasions & all it did was spin for ~100 feet before gaining traction. I would have quit after the first try,but I replaced the GY's with PS2's and wanted to see if that helped. It didn't.

Both times were on nice,smooth asphalt with ambient temps in the 80's.

Hopefully the LC on the ZL1 is much improved.

Not sure about the Corvette's LC, but the ZL1 LC is tuned for drag strips prepped with VHT. I wouldn't expect it to work very well on normal asphalt as VHT provides a higher grip level.

[radz28]

Originally Posted by Wondering

That's a cool video....I'm sure they made sure the track was as prepped as it was ever going to get. I've been around racing long enough to know in real life it's a crapshoot. And if the ZL1's launch control is ANYTHING like the one in the Corvette it's complete garbage.

I've engaged the LC on my 2010 GS on two occasions & all it did was spin for ~100 feet before gaining traction. I would have quit after the first try,but I replaced the GY's with PS2's and wanted to see if that helped. It didn't.

Both times were on nice,smooth asphalt with ambient temps in the 80's.

Hopefully the LC on the ZL1 is much improved.

Yeah - I don't know more than what I've posted, and I also agree with some points. If you're a great driver, LC isn't going to make you faster. If you're not a good driver, or even maybe mediocre - that's when it may help. They certainly didn't show many good leaves in the video, but there were a couple peaks where it seemed they were getting onto something. With stickier tires it might be better, but those F1:G2s have to also go around a track, so there's a compromise...

Originally Posted by IOMZL1

Not sure about the Corvette's LC, but the ZL1 LC is tuned for drag strips prepped with VHT. I wouldn't expect it to work very well on normal asphalt as VHT provides a higher grip level.

You and I are having a good go (so-to-speak) about the suspension I'm wondering, being a newer design, how "smart" this generation MR is going to be. Is it going to adjust to any track for optimal launches this time? Considering they tune the MR on several race tracks, and don't only tune it for the 'Ring or Milford, I wonder if that flexibility extends to the drag strip, and to what extent. I imagine it would have to, otherwise, why monitor 1000-times-per-second? They could just have a set of dampers custom-tuned for one track and call it good. I don't know. With newer technology, I want to see what advances there are. I DO like that it holds the RPMs at launch. That makes one thing simpler.

I guess we're going to have to continue to exercise patience

[ULTRAZLS1]

If it wont hit 11.5 with a tire than it is no faster than a 2011 GT500.

Seen a vid of one going 11.3 and 11.4 stock with a tire.

Z06 hit 10.9 stock with stock tires in 2006. Doesnt mean GM has to do a thing with the roll bar issue. The track officials are a different story.

[Dave Coyle]

To answer your question, you would get kicked off the track until you got a roll bar installed if you run faster than an 11.5!!!

[IOMZL1]

Originally Posted by radz28

You and I are having a good go (so-to-speak) about the suspension I'm wondering, being a newer design, how "smart" this generation MR is going to be. Is it going to adjust to any track for optimal launches this time? Considering they tune the MR on several race tracks, and don't only tune it for the 'Ring or Milford, I wonder if that flexibility extends to the drag strip, and to what extent. I imagine it would have to, otherwise, why monitor 1000-times-per-second? They could just have a set of dampers custom-tuned for one track and call it good. I don't know. With newer technology, I want to see what advances there are. I DO like that it holds the RPMs at launch. That makes one thing simpler.

I guess we're going to have to continue to exercise patience

Ha! Yeah, it is all in good fun.

Allow me to use ‘cartoon physics’ again to explain my theory. And I don’t work for GM but I work in an automotive engineering environment and have an expertise in electronics so I’m ‘best guessing’ it here. Take everything with a grain of salt.

I’m not really considering the MR suspension when I am talking about launch control, just how the car manages engine torque and therefore wheel spin which I think is the larger factor for launches. I agree that the MR knows it is in launch mode and reacts accordingly and can handle multiple surfaces very well in launch mode.

As for traction control: Have you ever picked up something that was way lighter than you expected? You lift it up really fast and maybe even fall over, right? Now imagine the ‘weight’ of that object is the track grip. The car is expecting the tires to stick but instead they spin like it is ice. There is no way the car can react this quickly. You see on the LC video where the one run isn’t ideal because the RPM is too low or something and it boggs the car down. I believe what they are doing in this case is ‘tuning’ the response of the engine to be more lively for the surface. Basically if the car bogged in that run, they allow the engine to put more torque to the ground next time. Keep adjusting until it is a good run. Now they have their ‘window’ for a ‘general VHT prepped track’. The LC can still react to slightly different track conditions but not too far from that window. This is also, in my opinion, why there is a ‘wet conditions’ option on the PTM. So PTM puts the TC in these ‘windows’ of ‘wet’, ‘dry’, ‘sport 1’, ‘sport 2’ and ‘race’.

On changing the springs for the MR suspension – if you are just planning to lower the car but keep the same spring rate I think the MR will be less effected than if you change the spring rate or do both. I think the computer has to assume ‘400# spring rate’, ‘x geometry roll center’, ‘x geometry anti-lift’, ; ‘x geometry motion ratio’, and ‘x ride height’ for the ideal response. Can you get away with changing these things? Yes. Is it still ideal afterwards? I don’t personally believe so.

The MR has to know a the spring rate, geometry, and general physical response of the car constants because the big variable is the track. I think they go to all these different tracks to try to find every possible corner, bump, etc. that you might see on any track around the world and tweak accordingly. The MC is always adjusting as best it can within the windows of ‘Tour’, ‘Sport’, and ‘Track’.

I wish and hope the car is smart enough to know everything but I just don’t see it happening with the technology of today. There are too many variables. It is of my opinion that if these systems were smart enough to compensate for every variable, they wouldn’t need to do any tuning whatsoever and the ‘windows’ wouldn’t be required.

And back to my crappy simile: It is like asking what you would pay for the ZL1 behind door #1 but you don’t know what year it is (’69 or 2012?), what color it is, what options it has, or if it has been hit by a train or if it is the show car from Chicago which can only go 30 MPH. You have to know a few things before you can make a decision and you need to know the most important things first to make the best decision.

[1st Gen Forever]

A lot of good speculation on the Launch Control. I'm curious how it will actually work as well. Honestly I'm still on the fence over actually getting a ZL1, if I can do it for MSRP that is... I like the technology in the suspension and would definately track the car if I had one. Both drag strip and road course but just for fun. I wouldn't want to go modding it like crazy. At least not for a while. It'll be too heavy to be really competitive. Anything you can do to counter the weight, you can do to a lighter car too.

I've heard people speak of NHRA having different rules for factory stock cars but I've never been able to find confirmation of that and I don't personnaly know anyone that owns a stock car that would run in the low 11s.

[Blackdevil77]

Originally Posted by SSOOCH

The ZL1will never hit sub 11.5 in stock form.

I don't know about that. I know of some stock GT500's that went under 11.5 with just tires. I'm sure the ZL1 will be able to break 11.5 with just tires.

Unless you consider drag radials as a modification of course

[SGOS252382]

And first off, most stock ZL1's will run low 12s on average. The main reason will be lack of traction.

But to answer your question, it will depend on the track. I know at BMP you can run a new Z06 down the track (faster than 11.5) and they don't say a thing. Why? Because its a new Z06. The same can be said for a new Porsche. You run 11.0 in a new Porsche Turbo and they don't say a thing.
So it depends on the car. You run 11.4 in a 4th gen and you'll need a bar.

I run low 12s (with no helmet) at BMP all the time. I keep waiting for them to tell me I need a helmet, but they don't say a thing. I always keep one just in case.