Corvette Advice

[Pewter Sonoma]

Will this car be driven on the street much, or the dragon? If so, think about how you will enjoy the car other than autocross. If the answer is yes, I think the C5 would be a better choice. The LS engines are great for many different styles of driving, and still knock down good gas mileage and good low end torque.

[ConeEater]

Hello...

My Z06 is pretty easy on tires provided that the camber is set for more cones than street. I get about 75-100 runs ( mostly asphalt lots ) out of a set of hoos before they are worthless.

Cars are extremely rugged and going back and forth to Peru with a tire trailer loaded up with tools, tires, gear, a cooler and a bike... plus the trunk loaded I still got 26mpg cruising @ 65-70.

Stock class is a no brainer for parts... shocks, front bar and some brake pads and you're good to go. Add the alignment and it's a hoot.

I've yet to find a course where i've needed ( or benefited ) to going back to first as the torque curve on the Z with the gearing is incredible.

and I drive mine about 10K miles a year on the street as setup now.

Hope that helps and if you have other questions, locally Robert Carpenter is the man to talk to, but I'm more than happy to help.

[jcox07]

I have got the camber right on the front of the gt500 and I have 75 runs on the front hoosiers and probably have another 30-45 runs left, but until I got the camber issue right I was only getting about 50 runs on the front. The rear I can get all season if I don't do a lot of nationals and other regional autox. It is not a true autox car, but trying to learn how to drive a 600 hp car has been a blast!!!!JY

[flier129]

Yeah, what's the downside to a C5Z?

[PushinTheLimit]

Yeah, what's the downside to a C5Z?

For autocross... there isn't much downside to one IMO. The Z06 has great gearing for autox. 2nd gear is just about perfect for most places. Tires seem to last well on them... I had over 100 runs on my tires when I autocross my old 02 Z06 and still had decent life left in them.

You will need some aggressive brake pads though. Change the brake fluid to something good and change the clutch fluid regularly to extend your clutch life. Has plenty of power and parts aren't too outrageous if you're staying in a stock class.

If you can swing it, I would opt for the Z06.

[ke0ki2k]

Yeah, what's the downside to a C5Z?

lot mo' $$$, not A-stock.

[steverife]

Yeah, what's the downside to a C5Z?

Money. It is arguably less competitive in its autocross class - though Braun kicked everyone's ish in Peru in a C5.

[flier129]

I haven't looked at vette prices recently but what's the price gap between a C5 and C5z?

What about the BRZ/FR-S ?

[RxCritical]

What about the BRZ/FR-S ?

Good luck in finding one for the next year at a price near MSRP. Grayson had a blue one, one of 4 they would get supposedly, a couple of months ago. Some dude out of state bought it for $5000 over sticker.

[jcoatney]

I've considered all of the cars mentioned as well as 350Z's. I want something with torque. The good Z06's are a bit more than I want to spend. I think the standard C5 will be a big enough challenge to learn to drive. I found one for a good price but it has 78k on it. Should I be worried about that? I know it all depends on how the cars been treated but the seller says it's been well maintained.

[thrdeye]

I want something with torque.

You should really try my car. It's not got LS1 torque, but it does has torques.

[disneyd]

I've considered all of the cars mentioned as well as 350Z's. I want something with torque. The good Z06's are a bit more than I want to spend. I think the standard C5 will be a big enough challenge to learn to drive. I found one for a good price but it has 78k on it. Should I be worried about that? I know it all depends on how the cars been treated but the seller says it's been well maintained.

I recall something about valve/lifter problems in some of the C5 Z06's. I can't remember the details or which years were affected, but you might want to check on that. I think a lot of the cars will have had the issue fixed by now though. I could be thinking of a C6 issue.

[TennTechMan]

I found one for a good price but it has 78k on it. Should I be worried about that?

78000 miles shouldn't be anything to worry about with any modern car (made in the last 20 years) unless it's been mistreated. With a Corvette, you've got pretty good odds that it was taken care of.

[ConeEater]

There's not allot of a price gap between the FRC and the Z... there was less of the FRC's made those 2 years, so finding them is harder and therefore ones in nice shape are more $$.

The valvespring issue was MAINLY on 01 and early 02 LS6 cars. That said, once that have seen allot of track use spend allot of time in the upper rev range and have failed.

It's kinda overblown but it DOES happen. I plan on doing mine over the winter.

86K miles on mine so far and no major issues.

As far as brake pads... I disagree to an extent. Hawk HPS pads up front are plenty... you can do the rears too but it's not a slam dunk. I go thru 2 sets of front for every set of rears and they are still showing WAYYYY more life left in them.

clutch fluid is needed to be flushed often ( I do the turkey baster method- once a month during auto-x season ) and the brakes could use flushed too. Not as bad if you don't track the car.

There's still plenty of competitive life left in the C5Z. When you decide, and if you get a Vette ( or just about anything else for that matter ) Give Sam Strano a call and he'll be happy to walk you thru setting it up.

[rocracing2004]

I also looked for a FRC car too run in AS a couple of years ago and they are correct the price on those cars are not that far off the z06 cars. I am not really sure you have to get a FRC too have to have a good car for AS because I have driven several cars some FRC's and the base car with the Z-something package and they were the same. The nice thing about the Vette for As is all you need is a set of Koni shocks and a stock Z06 front bar then align the car. (I have one of those that I am not using) Purchase you a set of wheels and get some tires and hold on and have fun.

Tires: I get about 80 runs out of a set and the tires I have been running at our local events are two years old and I have driven them too Chattanooga twice and they are still fast. I wouldn't worry too much about tires because its a class where you can get a car set it up and have a good chance too win tires if you should go to a Tour or something. I know I put a heck of a lot of tires on Shawn's Miata when Mark and Shawn were driving together and I never put that many tires on my car in a year even though I ran about the same amount of events. I have run a lot of cars over the years and these cars are fun to drive.

I think these cars are a good value and don't kill youself too find a FRC car because at the end of the day I don't see them too be that much better plus it would be harder for you to get your money back our of the car when it comes to selling the car. Just make sure you get a base car with the right package and you will be fine.

RC