C5, C6, Z06--Which 'Vette at a track car?

If you were looking for pure value for a track car you're going to beat up, go with an early C5 by all means.
If you want the best performance for the dollar, then the C5 Z06.

The C6 and C6 z06 are greater cars than the C5, and are themselves the best value for their age or for a new car. But compared to the C5, in my opinion dollar for dollar you get more with the C5 than the C6 (especially if you buy right and don't overpay for a late one).

 

Here's my two cents: Spend the money to take the racing course at Bondurant. You'll get to improve your driving skills and check out the C6 on the track. I just did this and was very impressed with the C6. And, get this, they detune the car down to 300 HP!

If Skippy didn't have the MX-5 racing series, I would look very seriously at picking up a used C6 for, say, $30k and putting another $30k into it. The result would be one hellva of a car.

Dale

 

go for a 2002 c5 z06.

That would be my suggestion.

Go over to www.z06vette.com if you want specific questions answered.

Good luck and have fun.

JB

 

depends... Id rather have a $20k 98 vette with $20k in mods then a $40k C6 zo6


BTW the c5 z06s are a bit lighter then the rest of them. That plus suspension and motor goodies. But it doesnt take a lot of $$$ to make that up.


Persoanlly id get an early C4 for call it $5k, put a LS7 or comparable built, big cube motor, cage, big brakes, coilovers, etc...


Im a big C4 fan

but...

C5 zo6 > C6 for track duty

 

Well said.

 

Look for a low mile late 90's FRC. These cars are light, they were kinda the pre Z06 IMO. With some minor work these cars make great track cars and are extremly fast.

 

get the Z

my mechanic has a low miles C5 Z for sale now in FL

PM me if you want his #

 

IMHO, the biggest killer of steering communication is tires. The vette has quite a bit of tire on the front. (especially compared to a 911 or a European car that doesn't have the mass of an eight cylinder up there)

also, TRW kind've sucks wiith steering gear. Did ZF ever supply racks for the Vette?

 

People always complain about the T-56 trans, I love it. It might not be the smoothest shifting trans in the world but its a sports car. FRC is fixed roof coupe. I think they weigh 3100+ lbs but you could easily make them weigh 30xx IMO.

 

Same here, change the shifter and you're all set.

 

I have no doubt my 07 Z06 would smoke an F40 easily

This car pulls like a freight train, the power is Very impressive, suspension is good, brakes are good for the street

and parts are cheap and plentiful

I just wish I could find more carbon fiber for it

I already added a new exhaust, intake, & roll bar

Soon I will upgrade the brakes, suspension, seats, and add race harnesses

 

I used to always get that GM Sponsored Corvette magazine...some time (years) back, they had a track comparison of the then-new original C5 and the last generation ZR1.

The idea was to prove that the C5 handling would overcome the greater power of the ZR1 on the track. And, indeed it did - for drivers like Steve Millen or such. For the ordinary press people or owners, the ZR1 was faster as they really depended more on the power down the straights than they did the last ounce of cornering.

Now for my comment: As some may know, I own both a 1995 ZR1, and a 2004 Z06. The Z06 came along when my previous daily driver LT4 1996 spun the front main bearing for the second time in two years (this engine has a little known "oiling" problem if you pull any G loads even on the street).

The thing was, I drove the new C6 400hp model and this C5 Z06 (along with my ZR1) all in the same day. I ended up with the C5, mainly because I just did not like the early electronic stability on the C6. I am not a tracker, but the guys who are in my ZR1 group all held about the same opinion; UNTIL the C6 Z06 came out. Now, they are moving up. (of course, many of these guys still have their old bored & strokes ZR1 cars with coil-overs etc. just for old times sake).

But everybody who does this kind of thing from ZR1net says the bang for the buck in the C5 is pretty hard to beat - if you need more power, you can always go to somebody like LPE. For just fun only, it can do pretty well with minor tuning.

 

If the F40 had newer tires and upgraded brakes, GOOD driver to driver I'd have to disagree.

Stock to stock, with an average driver, I'd agree....due to the ZO6 being easier to drive.

At a track day last summer a guy had both, he was a SCCA class winner, very good, ran a little quicker in his F40.

 

William has both as well. He is also a pretty avid track guy too.

 

Again, my only experience was driving a detuned C6 at Bondurant. And, yeah, the shifter wasn't the best. Sometimes when I'd go for 3rd, I would get 5th. Then again, this may have been more to me being a crappy driver and car that has spent its entire life being molested on track.

About the steering feel, I'm real old school. To me, anything that doesn't immediately fly off the track has good steering feel.

However, there was one guy who races a BMW in the World Challenge series who said that while the C6 wasn't as good as his furrin car, it was pretty damn close.

Dale

 

In terms of bang for the buck and a "track ready" (or closer to it than most other cars) go for the C5 Z06..

It is the lightest and most responsive of all the cars mentioned and it far more fun and less expensive than a C6 Z51.

If you want to spend a lot more go with the C6 Z06, but if you aren't looking for the last increment of straight line performance the C5Z is the right choice. You will need to upgrade the brake pads, add the C6Z cooling ducts, do an alignment and get a set of track tires and that will just about do it. Remember you will have to throw away the front disks after about three or four track weekends (or a bit sooner if you are too hard on the brakes), but you can get disks cheap at Rock Auto.. If you want to get more out of it, a set of shocks is about it for a dual purpose car, forget the T1 upgrades if you are running it on street. All that and even if you do a low mileage 04 you will only have a bit over $30k in it.

The C5Z feels like it is a tight skin stretched over an engine and chassis and that makes it one of the most fun track day cars that there is. The 08 C6 is amost as fast, but it's more of GT car (read cruiser) than the C5Z..

 

The other thing to keep in mind is that if you start changing things (C5 for the track) vs taking a great car (C5 ZO6) and just driving it w/ some R compound tires you are going to start breaking the weakest link continually till you have replaced everything and then you will have spent more money than you would have on a pretty much track ready ZO6...

There is much truth in what Dale said though. Taking a pro drivers course is always a good idea.

You may find that you go through a fair number of brakes on the Vette like you already are on the M3... In all my track experience the US cars (even the Vette's) tend to have more brake issues than the P-cars. Not sure why that is. I have noticed plenty of M3's having brake issues as you have noted too...seems odd to me since they are just down the road from Porsche and those guys do brakes so well!

Best,
James
Austin, TX

 

If you are thinking of a T1 spec Corvette, right now T1 C5 Z's are really cheap. The reason is that the newer 08 C6 to T1 spec is a bit faster, so a goodly number of T1 C5 drivers are unloading their fully prepped C5's and going to C6's. That being the case, very fresh C5 Z's are, right now going for bargain basement prices. I suspect that after a while the slower regional drivers will buy them up, but since the car is percieved not to be the hot ticket for the runoffs, they are going for a song. Look in the SCCA forums and ads and you should see some really fresh cars at a fire sale price.

Yes, Vettes and M3's have the performance potential to eat their brakes. That's just the nature of the beast. More power in means more heat to get out, and the brakes can cook. A good set of performance pads and added cooling ducts will make the problem liveable, but from what I see on the Corvette Forum, even the C6z cooks its' brakes, so if you think that going to the C6 will remedy the brake issue, that's not the case.

 

I'm going to join the C5 Z06 vote.
And since there so cheap you can have more confidence vs babying a C6.