2015 Corvette Z06: GTR Beware! The High Performance Bargain Benchmark is Back!

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition presented by Tire Rack

Transcript

00:00 [ENGINE REVVING]

00:01 This thing is so fast at speed, and the G-forces are such at

00:06 speed that you have to remember to breathe, you have

00:10 to remember to hold on, and you have to remember where

00:13 you're pointing it.

00:15 It is absolutely insane.

00:19 [ENGINE REVVING]

00:22 The new Corvette Z06 is the most powerful car I've ever

00:26 driven, and it's the most powerful car I've ever driven.

00:29 The Z06 is the most powerful car GM has ever produced, in

00:33 effect, occupying the same space once taken up by the ZR1.

00:38 The performance numbers are hard to believe, but even

00:40 more, you can take the roof off and

00:42 order it as an automatic.

00:44 How is this even possible?

00:57 Here we have the new Corvette Z06, and it looks like it's

01:01 going to be fun.

01:02 Now, of course, we've gone on, and Chevy's gone on about how

01:04 great the eight-speed automatic is.

01:06 But unfortunately, they can only get us a seven-speed

01:07 manual, so that's what we're going to test.

01:10 But what else do we have?

01:11 This is the stage two of three aerodynamic kit, and you can

01:15 see that in bits across the front splitter and parts we'll

01:18 talk about once we get to the side.

01:20 Down here at the front, this is the splitter, of course, but

01:22 you also have these two brake inlets, and those actually

01:25 send cool air over the brakes to help cool them down, which

01:28 is pretty cool.

01:29 All the aerodynamic stuff you see here is

01:31 functional by a large amount.

01:33 Interesting thing, these two guys that you see here,

01:36 they're not a design choice.

01:37 They're there to help pass a pedestrian safety

01:39 standard in Europe.

01:41 That's what they had to do with those little shark's teeth, I

01:43 guess you would call them, coming out there.

01:45 Down here is where we get to the real meat of the car.

01:47 Of course, that's tire meat.

01:49 This is a Z07 package Z06.

01:52 That means it has a bunch of different upgrade

01:53 performance parts.

01:54 Here we have big wheels and tires and

01:56 carbon ceramic brakes.

01:57 The tires themselves are Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s,

02:00 and they are really, really sticky.

02:03 There's barely any tread on these guys.

02:05 We've used quite a bit already, but you can see close up.

02:08 There's not much on here.

02:10 Now further back, we have functional side skirt.

02:12 And this guy right here, this cooling feeding duct is pretty

02:16 interesting.

02:16 These feed the diff and some other components

02:19 back in the end.

02:20 It's actually a combination of a NACA duct and a ram air

02:23 effect, because at one point, there's sort of a NACA air

02:26 duct effect happening at one side of it and a ram air

02:28 effect happening at the other.

02:30 This wasn't a design piece.

02:31 They actually made this in the wind tunnel.

02:33 And when they looked at it, when the engineers looked at

02:35 it, they said, that's not going to work.

02:37 What's wrong with this?

02:38 Then they actually tested it and found out it does work,

02:40 and that's why it sits here the way it does.

02:41 This is the supercharged 6.2 liter LT4 V8 that makes 650

02:51 horsepower and 650 pound feet of torque.

02:54 Why is this engine so incredible?

02:56 Well, there's the power and the torque, like I just

02:57 mentioned, but also it's a pushrod engine that has

03:01 cylinder deactivation and direct injection.

03:03 It's amazing, amazing technology.

03:05 Now some of you may be wondering, why aren't they

03:07 doing a quad cam engine and so on and so on.

03:09 Well, when you look at this engine and you realize that

03:12 having the cam in the block and having pushrod means you

03:14 don't have all kinds of crazy valve train to get in the way

03:17 of other things, like a supercharger, it means you can

03:20 keep a really low roof line.

03:22 Having a really compact engine means you can keep a really

03:24 low hood line, and that means you have good visibility, a

03:28 lower puller moment, better weight balance in the car, and

03:31 on and on and on and on.

03:32 The advantages are numerous, and this

03:34 engine is a real treat.

03:35 Interestingly, Chevy originally wanted to do a big

03:38 displacement high revving engine, but couldn't make that

03:41 one hit emissions targets.

03:42 So this is what they ended up going with, and it's looking

03:45 pretty awesome.

03:50 The hardware looks incredible.

03:52 Next, we're going to find out how well it

03:53 does at our test track.

03:54 Launch control makes applying the 650 pound feet on tap at

04:11 3,600 RPM more consistent, but it's ultimately slower.

04:16 Find the right amount of tire chatter with some patience,

04:18 and you'll reach 60 in 3.2 seconds, and the quarter mile

04:23 in 11.3 seconds at 126.2 miles an hour.

04:28 Peak stopping distance, 91 feet from 60 miles an hour,

04:34 remains as absurdly low as the last ZR1, and all stops

04:39 during our testing stay at the same speed.

04:41 The Z06's 22.5 second lap time on the figure eight is the

04:46 fastest we've ever recorded for a production car that

04:49 wasn't the Porsche 918.

04:50 The Porsche 918 was 3/10 of a second faster.

04:55 The Corvette's 1.16 average lateral acceleration is the

04:58 highest we've ever seen from anything

05:00 that wasn't a race car.

05:02 With my own eyes, I can't help but wonder how much faster

05:05 the Corvette is.

05:07 The Corvette's 1.16 average lateral acceleration is the

05:11 highest we've ever seen from anything that wasn't a race car.

05:15 With my right knee and elbow against the tunnel and my left

05:17 against the door, it felt like driving a tilt-a-whirl.

05:20 [CAR ENGINE]

05:36 The car is extraordinarily fast.

05:39 Just listen to that.

05:40 And this is absolutely insane.

05:49 I keep wanting to call it a ZR1 because it reminds me of

05:52 that car in all the good ways, none of the bad ways.

05:55 [CAR ENGINE]

05:59 I still remember the first time I drove a ZR1.

06:02 I hopped on the throttle, I got in the power band, and I

06:05 instantly wanted to evacuate my bowels.

06:07 It was ridiculous and scary and terrifying and exciting

06:11 and all those words.

06:13 And it's so much fun to lay on to the throttle, but it's

06:16 honest, the thing that really impresses me most is the

06:19 cornering forces and the G-forces and the feeling in

06:22 your stomach when you're pressed up against the seat

06:25 back or the sides when you're going

06:27 around a missed corner.

06:29 [CAR ENGINE]

06:32 All you really need to do is think of the Z51 and then turn

06:36 the dial up a lot more.

06:37 [CAR ENGINE]

06:41 As it drives very smoothly, it's very easy to get into

06:44 corners, because it drives very similarly to the Z51

06:48 Corvette, only you're going so much more faster everywhere.

06:54 One of the traits of the ZR1 from last year was fear.

06:58 It was a sketchy car to drive quickly.

07:02 You felt a lot of concern over the rate of speed you'd be

07:06 going through some corners, because it was so, so fast.

07:12 You have that fear.

07:14 This doesn't give you that sense of worry.

07:16 It doesn't, I guess, move around like that

07:18 car would on occasion.

07:19 [CAR ENGINE]

07:21 You can jump in this car, and instead of feeling threatened

07:25 that you're accelerating a red line, you can

07:29 enjoy it more instead.

07:30 [CAR ENGINE]

07:38 First impressions of this thing are pretty,

07:41 pretty, pretty awesome.

07:43 This thing offers a performance value with, so far,

07:48 not many downsides.

07:51 650 horsepower, 650 pound-feet, incredible

07:53 performance for not a ton of money.

07:58 It's kind of nuts.

08:00 [CAR ENGINE]

08:06 Pro racer Randy Popes also joined us to set Hot Laps, but

08:09 of course, he got the car the fastest way you can get it,

08:11 with the Stage 3 Aero package and the automatic.

08:14 [CAR ENGINE]

08:43 [CAR ENGINE]

09:12 [CAR ENGINE]

09:41 [CAR ENGINE]

09:56 After driving it hard, you get out of the Z06 quiet and

09:59 wide-eyed.

10:00 You just experience something serious.

10:03 There's a level of performance here that few other

10:05 production cars have.

10:07 Let alone even know of.

10:09 And those that do have exceedingly

10:11 prohibited price tags.

10:13 [CAR ENGINE]

10:18 This Corvette, $80,000 to start and just over $100,000 as

10:23 tested.

10:24 And with that price comes a clear message to the rest of

10:27 the world.

10:28 Bring it on.

10:29 [CAR ENGINE]

10:35 Just because like, I'm kind of hungry, so I'm going to buy a

10:40 fast food chain.

10:41 [LAUGHTER]

10:43 You know, like, I've got the cold, I'm going to go to the

10:49 emergency room.

10:51 I kind of feel like buying a RC airplane, so I'm going to

10:55 get an FAT.

10:56 You know what I mean?

10:57 Like, it's just so over the top.

11:01 Like, it's awesome.

11:02 It's totally great.

11:03 But like, god damn, it's so much.

11:08 Oh my god.

11:11 And the performance threshold is just off the charts.

11:16 Like--

11:18 [CAR ENGINE]

11:20 [CAR ENGINE]

11:21 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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