[Zl1+911]

Ken i know nick and his car well. There are three big differences between yours and his - 1) engine is rebuilt with aftermarket parts 2) stripped for weight 3) ethanol and hes on A7s I believe

[RUQWIKR]

My 17 SS 1LE has ZLE front aero, APR rear wing, Z28 CCM's. On stock engine and stock suspension, it is a very stable and capable, and very quick overall. I have so much more seat time in it vs. my 22 ZLE (M6), when on the same tires, I am as quick or a bit quicker in the 17 if not a "power" track like COTA. With additional seat time in the ZLE, that will change. The ZLE is the "easy" button to go quick, but, for value, if not concerned about a warranty, I'd rather have a head / cam SS 1LE.

You can definitely feel the extra weight over the nose on the ZLE, plus, even with it being a manual, and even in cooler weather, you can see the heat soak in the data in a 20 to 30-minute session. My speed on the two long straights at COTA drops throughout the session. Haven't ran it in really hot weather, but, I know what the result would be on 93 octane. If you want to run $$$ 100+ octane, you can limit some of the power drop off but for a lot more money considering it gets 3'ish mpg on track.

While I love manuals, my 22 SS 1LE auto (BCD J6H brakes) is VERY quick bone stock on track - surprisingly quick. It doesn't have the engagement of a manual trans, but, I'm sure the Porsche owners debating between a PDK and a manual know the tradeoffs.

That said, if not worried about rowing your own gears, a head / cam auto SS 1LE with some aero, suspension, & brake upgrades (or get a 22+ with BCD J6H brakes and change pads) would be my choice of track weapon if sticking only with a Camaro in the equation. However, with the auto, especially if you add more power, the overall system cooling could be an issue. The average rpm is much higher with the auto, and I am seeing higher oil (and of course trans) temps in my auto SS 1LE than I do in my manual ZLE in same ambients, same track, etc. We know that, for the Gen 6 1LE's, an auto ZLE is the worst case for system cooling capacity overall. Still way better than C7's.

In summary: any 1LE V8 is a great value overall. [not saying the non-V8 1LE's are not...] Decide what you goals are, must have's, like to have's, don't cares, budget (including consumeables). If you want a new one, you better grab one while you still can!

[khcoaching]

Originally Posted by Zl1+911

Ken i know nick and his car well. There are three big differences between yours and his - 1) engine is rebuilt with aftermarket parts 2) stripped for weight 3) ethanol and hes on A7s I believe

For sure there are big differences, more making the point about the lap time he's at for Tbolt....

[NG329]

Gonna lay this to bed

[NG329]

Sticky

[5.M0NSTER]

Lol, what? Gonna lay what to bed? Your sister wife?

Just kidding, you sleep with tires, we got it.

[NG329]

Originally Posted by 5.M0NSTER

Lol, what? Gonna lay what to bed? Your sister wife?

Just kidding, you sleep with tires, we got it.

You mean my wife's sister. She's hot as hell. But I digress.

I owe it to myself to try new slicks at least once this season. Been running scrubs for 2 months already.

[5.M0NSTER]

Originally Posted by NG329

You mean my wife's sister. She's hot has hell. But I digress.

Whatever it takes

[khcoaching]

Awesome....interested to see how the Hankooks do....

My guess....27.9.

[NG329]

Originally Posted by khcoaching

Awesome....interested to see how the Hankooks do....

My guess....27.9.

ahahahaha Imma try my best to get into the mid 20s and get as close as possible to Nick Yoskin's time. hahahaha

I mean, there's no record of it on Lapmeta. Nor are there any pics or vids that I can find on the web of his 1:24, but Imma give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he ran it.

At the end of the day, I just want to go fast enough to make ZL1+911 want to keep his car.

I've got three more attempts this season to lay down a fast time so that I can talk smack all winter and make more people hate me. hahahahahaha

[Zl1+911]

I love it! I am in for a 25! Come on NG329!

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by NG329

ahahahaha Imma try my best to get into the mid 20s and get as close as possible to Nick Yoskin's time. hahahaha

I mean, there's no record of it on Lapmeta. Nor are there any pics or vids that I can find on the web of his 1:24, but Imma give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he ran it.

At the end of the day, I just want to go fast enough to make ZL1+911 want to keep his car.

I've got three more attempts this season to lay down a fast time so that I can talk smack all winter and make more people hate me. hahahahahaha

Good luck, it does look like Nick has spent a ton of time, effort and money on that car and it's probably much faster than a stock ZLE at this point.

My bet 26.9!

[NG329]

Hey guys,

So I wanted to revisit this thread and close the loop on it.

First and foremost, the Hankook F200 slicks are fantastic. I got two full days out of them. The first day I was running consistent 1:30s in 45*F temps. Exceptional grip. The tires took approximately 6 minutes to heat up without warmers on such a cold day, leaving about 13-14minutes to enjoy the 20 minute session.

On the second day with 6 full sessions already into them I ran consistent 1:31s with one session dipping into the 1:30s. The front right tire corded at some point during the 2nd day and it never lost a tick. They really do "Grip all the way down to the cords".

I rate these tires A+

The fronts seem to outgrip the rear. I recommend that you play with front tire pressures if they tend to be oversteery. The front wanted to oversteer on the exit of the fastest corner of the track so until I wrap my head around that I probably won't run 29s again. By next season I'll have adjusted. The rears grip with consistency and they never went off. I can probably throw on some front tires and get 1-2 more days out of the rears to be honest. They are that good. The reason why the fronts go so quickly is likely due to the car being so heavy and the extreme loads under braking. I'm pretty certain that is what it is. Anyhow, don't be afraid to try these. I ran 280/660/18 front, and 300/680/18. They rate their tires smaller as they measure "Tread Width". The front width is actually 304 and the rear is actually 330.

Now for the part you've been debating.

SS Racecar VS SS-1LE VS ZL1-1LE

Me, MechanicalENG, and our buddy Gabriel had a chance to test this out. MechanicalENG's SS-1LE is bone stock with brand new Supercar 3. Gabe's race car is stripped down to the frame and pushing 500rwhp. My ZL1-1LE is stock with the exception of a full straight piped exhaust. The racecar and my car both have tunes. I did not run Ethanol for this comparison. Just 93 octane so my horsepower was probably around 595 or so to the wheels. My power also seemed down on the day as my trap speeds down the straight were about 4-5mph slower overall.

One note about our tire setups. MechanicalEng ran SC3 but his tires are relatively new. My Hankook F200s were corded at the time of this session so grip was approximately 60-70% of when they were new. Gabe in his racecar had shagged Falkens.

Here are the main takeways:

SS-1LE - Greg (MECHANICALENG) drove the SNOT out of his car. Following us he lapped consistently in the 1:31s which is PR pace for him. We noticed his car had superior corner entry and he could close in several car lengths on the brakes when we pulled on him in the straights. His mid corner speed is also solid. We could only leave him on the drives out of corners and once lapped traffic shook things up the gaps were just too much for him to close. 1:31 was on the absolute limit for him with a 1:30 possible under perfect circumstances. I think 1:29s are possible with race compounds and slicks. However, that car could use a few more horses. We estimate that he is putting out about 390rwhp-415rwhp. *note: It's pretty unanimous between the three of us that Greg is the best driver. You can trust his driving. 100% Certified. So with that said, while Greg makes it look easy to keep up, keep in mind that 8 out of 10 of you don't and won't drive as well as he does. hahahahaha Sorry but that's the truth.

SS Racecar - This car was an animal. It's a non 1LE automatic stripped down to the guts with a built motor. This car seemed to be right in the middle. Just as sweet handling as the SS-1LE albeit a little less stable in the corners. In the vid I'll post below you'll see him get sideways somewhere within minutes 8 and 11. In addition to being sweet handling the damn thing was nearly as fast as my ZL1-1LE on the drives out of corners. If I am being completely honest I feel that I might have even been slowing him down in a couple of places. He could match my speed in the fastest corners of the track. There were only a couple of places on track where I could inch away and maybe pull a car or two but that just came down to track familiarity as I've been running here a while and I know what to look for. It'll be interesting to see how things play out next season when we are both on sticky tires again. The SS Racecar seems extremely close in performance to a stock ZL1-1LE. In retrospect, if you are a track guy, if you can build one of these for under $50k, then that is smart money, especially if you plan to go racing. With slicks and some more setup this car is easily mid 1:20s.

ZL1-1LE - This car shined in outright speed, and it was very stable. You do feel the weight of the car and you have to be careful not to "Overbrake" as the car can be prone to push. You can definitely drive around it though. Certain circumstances require the car to be muscled while others require the car to be finessed. Overall, while I maintain that this is still the outright fastest car, the margin is quite small -- until of course you turn the ZL1-1LE into a race car and start stripping things out etc.


Fastest times of the day:

ZL1-1LE = 1:30.x
SS Racecar = 1:31.x
SS-1LE = 1:31.x

Average lap times in this session = 1:31.x (on laps without traffic)

Enjoy Greg's video:



Gabe's Video in the SS Racecar

My cabin video in the ZL1-1LE

[MechanicalEng]

It was a fantastic session, it definitely proves that a 100% stock SS1LE is the car to have. Best $/Lap time value ever!