Auto ZL1 road course

[BaylorCamaro]

Originally Posted by 1970judge

Awesome! Thanks for the insight! My two biggest concerns was/is the trans and the engine coolant. I have never owned/wanted to own an SC vehicle, more of an N/A person. Slowly getting intrigued with owning one though. Any tips/suggestion on the coolant issues as well?

Originally Posted by Stephen12ZL1

I have many road course laps with an auto ZL1 under my belt. The car is quite good but if you go over 10% overdrive with a pulley upgrade, it will run hot. Water temps will soar even with ambients in the 70s because of the heat that boost produces. Oil temps will approach 300 or more also. I had an upgraded Dewitts radiator and it would be in the 235° range coolant temp after a 25 min session. Using the tap shift works well and is very efficient. I had great success with the ZL1 at the road course but the Z/28 is more at home there because of the brakes & race tuned suspension. Have fun, enjoy the car, and the PTM modes are great learning tools.

As Stephen said, a larger radiator will help a lot. I'm also planning on having an isolated engine oil cooler to take some of the cooling burden off of the engine coolant. But all of this is adding yet more weight to an already heavy Camaro. I can really feel the ZL1's weight on some of the more technical tracks. I would strongly recommend an N/A application, you mention the 6th gen and it sounds like according to GM the 6th gen will be a solid performer. I should mention if you are going to be a casual track person then the ZL1 would be fine. But if you start doing it frequently and get comfortable enough to really push the car, that's when you run into these heat issues.

Originally Posted by KaBoom1701

Great driving!

Nice save at the 1:55 min mark in the video.

The white car and red corvette slowed you up a bit. It would have been nice to see you catch the Stingray.

You smoked everything else on the track. Kinda reminds me of Auto Club Speedway here in SoCal.

Thx for sharing

Thanks, it had rained a little bit that morning so the track was slick early on, but the racing line dried out by lunch time. Unfortunately I didn't get the wave by from that white car. I was really enjoying chasing the Z06. Prior to where this video starts I was already chasing him for about 5 laps, he was ever so slightly faster than me around the track. But there were TONS of C5's & C6's there. One of the C6 guys (red vette) walked up to me in between sessions and said he can't believe he had to wave by a CAMARO

[Sean Summers]

Love mine for daily driver and track.
https://youtu.be/bKDuZaZE4dY

[Bosse'sBoss]

Originally Posted by BaylorCamaro

I have an auto ZL1 and probably have some of the most number of track events with an auto ZL1 on C5 (judging from the Road Course section). So I'm an open book for any questions you have.

I'm as fast or faster than most of the Camaros I track with, the auto doesn't hold the car back too much. In fact I've had a couple other (manual) Camaro drivers come up to me after a track session and ask how I was so fast through a specific turn because they're needing to shift. The nice thing about the auto is shifting is a push of a button and much easier to do mid turn. The other nice thing is that not having to worry about heel-toe shifting you can better focus on your corner entrance and exit.

In summary yes it works just fine and unlike a C7 Z51, I haven't overheated the tranny. Engine coolant is a different story though. Which brings me to my closing statement. If you're going to track A LOT a 1LE or Z/28 is a better option. The N/A engine will handle track temps better, but they only come in manual.

I've got tons of track videos of me in my ZL1 on my YouTube channel. Check my sig for links.

BTW, where in Texas do you currently live? I'm in League City (SE Houston).

This is probably my favorite video I have of my ZL1. It was at Texas World Speedway, first time I was at that specific track and first time using Track Addicts app to record the data for the overlay and I was chasing a C7 Z06/Z07, very fun!

Great job Baylorcamaro, I take my hat off, you were really steeping on that C7 Z06. Did you use more your paddle shifts or most of the time was in auto? Which settings were you using on your ZL1 at that time?

[BaylorCamaro]

Originally Posted by Bosse'sBoss

Great job Baylorcamaro, I take my hat off, you were really steeping on that C7 Z06. Did you use more your paddle shifts or most of the time was in auto? Which settings were you using on your ZL1 at that time?

Thanks, I only use the paddles on the road course. I've tried letting the car shift on its own but it will sometimes shift at an incorrect time. An unexpected downshift with this much power can create some serious issues. That was my first time at Texas World Speedway so I think I was only running in Sport 1 (PTM 3), it had also rained that morning so the track was still a little wet.

[Stephen12ZL1]

Originally Posted by BaylorCamaro

Thanks, I only use the paddles on the road course. I've tried letting the car shift on its own but it will sometimes shift at an incorrect time. An unexpected downshift with this much power can create some serious issues. That was my first time at Texas World Speedway so I think I was only running in Sport 1 (PTM 3), it had also rained that morning so the track was still a little wet.

definitely use the paddles...I found that letting the car shift automatically was horrible. It would upshift in the middle of a corner at part throttle and downshift at the worst time when throttle input was heavier. In other words, using the automatic feature could be quite dangerous.

[its a syn]

Thanks for sharing the awesome video!

[Murder 1]

The paddles work quite well for Ferrari and Porsche, you'll be fine. After driving a friends 2015 Mustang GT with an aftermarket supercharger yesterday, the thing that is unnervingly deceptive about ZL1 despite it's girth, it is more agility capable that you think. It is as great as it performs on paper. The Mustang felt more responsive, but it also squirreled at times.