Z/28 Is Nothing Without Trofeo R Tires! (SARCASM)

[Spoolin]

Originally Posted by Orange Crush 1LE

I started with the stock Goodyear Supercar G2s, then progressed to Nitto NT-01s. Huge difference in grip level! Then I went to Hoosiers at Buttonwillow. I ran the Nittos at about 34 psi hot, the Hoosiers at 36 psi hot. On a comparative grip scale, if the Goodyears were a 6, the Nittos are a 9 and the Hoosiers an 11. My guess is that the Trofeo Rs are an 8 or 9.

My Camaro is faster than the Viper presently but I now have slicks and a more aggressive alignment on the Viper so actually I'm not sure which is faster.

I have tracked with a couple of Z/28s in my Viper on slicks and the snake was faster as you would expect.

Sadly my engine blew up at my first NASA competition so I haven't been able to run the Camaro for a couple months. The new 416 forged stroker is about to go in. I'll be back on track in October, I'm going through serious tracking withdrawals.

Good info! I think next year after I've wrung out as much out of the G2's as I can I will follow your experience and go with the Nitto's and then the Hoosiers. I've gotten really comfortable with the G2's so when time and funds permit I'm gonna move up in tires.

Thanks

[DDoug]

Originally Posted by Orange Crush 1LE

I started with the stock Goodyear Supercar G2s, then progressed to Nitto NT-01s. Huge difference in grip level! Then I went to Hoosiers at Buttonwillow. I ran the Nittos at about 34 psi hot, the Hoosiers at 36 psi hot. On a comparative grip scale, if the Goodyears were a 6, the Nittos are a 9 and the Hoosiers an 11. My guess is that the Trofeo Rs are an 8 or 9.

My Camaro is faster than the Viper presently but I now have slicks and a more aggressive alignment on the Viper so actually I'm not sure which is faster.

I have tracked with a couple of Z/28s in my Viper on slicks and the snake was faster as you would expect.

Sadly my engine blew up at my first NASA competition so I haven't been able to run the Camaro for a couple months. The new 416 forged stroker is about to go in. I'll be back on track in October, I'm going through serious tracking withdrawals.

Nice, very nice! Thanks for the info, I've seen Corvettes on Hoosiers do some pretty impressive laps. I appreciate hearing your input, progressing up the grip scale.

Sorry to hear about the blown motor. That sounds like a pricey repair. But, hey, it'll be near bulletproof now.

Originally Posted by Orange Crush 1LE

I know it, that's why I'm blown away by these Camaros! Actually most at the track are surprised when they see a Camaro running fast laps. If I were to do it all over again, I'd start with a Z/28.

The Camaro (especially the Z/28) I believe is the ultimate track car because it starts out fast stock, and is affordable to mod and repair if need be. And if set up correctly it can just dominate. The cost to repair the Viper makes it less practical, so I just track the Viper on special occasions. Dying to get my Camaro back out there!

Wow. Interesting input. I was thinking about getting a new 392 Challenger in the spring, but I came to the conclusion I really want a strong track car, so it's now out. I had myself convinced to take serious look and narrowed down to a Viper, a 1LE, a hardtop ZL1, or a Z/28. I was leaning Viper, but you make a good point about repair costs of a Viper. The Camaros have strong support in the aftermarket with plenty of good mechanics for them, too. My 6' 2" oversized body also fits better in a Camaro - I can drive all day with a comfortable, agressive seating position. With winter right around the corner, I have time to make a decision.

[b4z]

You guys notice the wheel gap vs. The 1 LE? Can the Z/28 be lowered?

[Orange Crush 1LE]

Originally Posted by serpent

Ok, this whole time I thought you also had an ACR. I could only imagine how hopped up that camaro is. But yea for track purposes the ACR is going to be hard to beat. IMO the Z28 should have also had a wing like that and possibly came with long tube headers (its a track car anyways!!!)

ARH makes the long tubes for the factory Viper ACR, would have been cool to see it on a z28, 530hp perhaps?

I hear you, these engines respond like crazy to long tubes. The challenge is passing emissions. I'm surprised the ACR has them, I didn't know. I know a lot of guys put headers on, maybe the factory headers are shorties? I'm with you on the wing! I didn't used to like them until I started tracking. Then I noticed the winged cars were in another zip code at some tracks. I got the biggest improvement in lap times per dollar from the wing and splitter.

Originally Posted by Spoolin

Good info! I think next year after I've wrung out as much out of the G2's as I can I will follow your experience and go with the Nitto's and then the Hoosiers. I've gotten really comfortable with the G2's so when time and funds permit I'm gonna move up in tires.

Thanks

That's a good path. Although beware- once you get a taste of R compounds on the track, it's hard to go back to a regular street tire!

[Orange Crush 1LE]

Originally Posted by DDoug

Nice, very nice! Thanks for the info, I've seen Corvettes on Hoosiers do some pretty impressive laps. I appreciate hearing your input, progressing up the grip scale.

Sorry to hear about the blown motor. That sounds like a pricey repair. But, hey, it'll be near bulletproof now.




Wow. Interesting input. I was thinking about getting a new 392 Challenger in the spring, but I came to the conclusion I really want a strong track car, so it's now out. I had myself convinced to take serious look and narrowed down to a Viper, a 1LE, a hardtop ZL1, or a Z/28. I was leaning Viper, but you make a good point about repair costs of a Viper. The Camaros have strong support in the aftermarket with plenty of good mechanics for them, too. My 6' 2" oversized body also fits better in a Camaro - I can drive all day with a comfortable, agressive seating position. With winter right around the corner, I have time to make a decision.

I used to have a Challenger SRT8. For the street, it's fantastic. Plenty fast and very comfortable. It's just a little heavy for the track.

You've got some solid cars on your list. The Viper Vs. the Z/28 is a tough choice, especially now that the Viper base price has been dropped to $86K. I had to mod the heck out of my Camaro to get it to perform up there with a stock Viper, the Z/28 would require less mods. Both are great paths. For occasional tracking, hard to beat a Viper for solid, reliable track machine that's ready to go out of the gate. Comes with a decently structural roll bar under the headliner, Sabelt seats and mounting points for a 6-point harness. Just bolt a harness in and you are track ready. The Camaro takes a bit more work to get it to that point. But if you are going to track often, the Camaro is more economical if you ever need to repair the body. A Z/28 would need a roll bar to mount the 6 point harness to, for equivalent safety of a Viper. The nice thing about both the Z/28 and Viper is that you could leave them stock and retain your factory warranty, but I would be too tempted to do a cam and long tubes on the Z/28. The Viper doesn't need any power mods, it's a rocket. Both are good paths, just depends on your goals and preferences.

[IOMZL1]

Originally Posted by serpent

Ok, this whole time I thought you also had an ACR. I could only imagine how hopped up that camaro is. But yea for track purposes the ACR is going to be hard to beat. IMO the Z28 should have also had a wing like that and possibly came with long tube headers (its a track car anyways!!!)

ARH makes the long tubes for the factory Viper ACR, would have been cool to see it on a z28, 530hp perhaps?

ARH headers come on the ACR-X not the ACR.

[DDoug]

Originally Posted by Orange Crush 1LE

I used to have a Challenger SRT8. For the street, it's fantastic. Plenty fast and very comfortable. It's just a little heavy for the track.

You've got some solid cars on your list. The Viper Vs. the Z/28 is a tough choice, especially now that the Viper base price has been dropped to $86K. I had to mod the heck out of my Camaro to get it to perform up there with a stock Viper, the Z/28 would require less mods. Both are great paths. For occasional tracking, hard to beat a Viper for solid, reliable track machine that's ready to go out of the gate. Comes with a decently structural roll bar under the headliner, Sabelt seats and mounting points for a 6-point harness. Just bolt a harness in and you are track ready. The Camaro takes a bit more work to get it to that point. But if you are going to track often, the Camaro is more economical if you ever need to repair the body. A Z/28 would need a roll bar to mount the 6 point harness to, for equivalent safety of a Viper. The nice thing about both the Z/28 and Viper is that you could leave them stock and retain your factory warranty, but I would be too tempted to do a cam and long tubes on the Z/28. The Viper doesn't need any power mods, it's a rocket. Both are good paths, just depends on your goals and preferences.

Thanks again for the info.

I'm looking at the Z/28 and TA 2.0 - now with a pedestal wing and canards. $30k difference - enough to cover the tow rig and trailer. And now you've got me thinking about repair costs. That Viper paint alone would be quite expensive to fix if there was damage from, say, a high speed gravel trap excursion. But, once a 6 point bar is put into a Z, there's no going back. After that, it would be a race car to anyone if I were to want to resell.

First world problems are so hard to deal with.

[Taser Deployed]

Originally Posted by b4z

You guys notice the wheel gap vs. The 1 LE? Can the Z/28 be lowered?

I believe the ZL1 and Z28 sit lower than a 1LE

[Pdasterly]

ive owned three sets of wheels so far, 2012 stockers(20" pirelli), chevy oem 21"wheels(pirelli) and zl1 wheels (20" goodyear f1).

The stock pirelli has nice ride and confortable
The 21" pirelli p zero were uber expensive @ $550 tire, better control but a little bouncy
The 20" zl1 are bad arse, tires are a little squirrely but makes up for in smoothness of road. I have to watch speedo cause anything under 100 the car is very comfortable. 100 feels like 60, the wider tires in the rear gives it a mean stance.

[Tmick5jr]

i think this article is showing us how good of a car the 1le really is

[DDoug]

Originally Posted by Tmick5jr

i think this article is showing us how good of a car the 1le really is

At VIR
Z/28 did 2:50.9 at the lightning lap

1LE has done 2:58.3 w/chevy test driver and C&D has done 3:01.5.

twice the money for less than 9 seconds, not too shabby at all.

http://fastestlaps.com/tracks/virgin...l_raceway.html

[doc7000]

Originally Posted by Sven59

The other thing is that the cars were tuned to the tire setup. You are going from a square to staggered and staggered to square. This is why they didn't run the ZL1 with the Z/28 setup.

I do not know if anyone has pointed this out yet, the 1LE uses 285s on all fours corners so you are going from square to square....

[doc7000]

The one thing that people seem to be forgetting, what makes a track car a track car isn't just that it can run a fast lap time. It is that it can handle the repeated abuse of many laps over and over again, its that the car can handle all of the different types of corners that are thrown at it without getting too upset.

Even if they did tune a ZL1 Camaro with the Z/28 wheels and tires, it might (and a BIG might) be able to hit the same lap times on some tracks. I question how its brakes would hold up, how long before heat soak kicks in, etc..... .

If you did a 20 lap race with the Z/28 Camaro and a ZL1 Camaro setup with the same tires even if they started off close they wouldn't end close. The difference in weight plus more heat likely going into the disc in a shorter period of time with stickier rubber probably might cause a brake failure on the ZL1 Camaro.

It just seems like that some people are bitter that GM produced a track focused Camaro, and they want to try to make it look as though all of the effort put into the Z/28 meant nothing as its all in the tires anyhow.... which is just wrong....

[Sean@Phastek]

Here is the link to page 1 in case anyone missed it http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/..._make_the_car/