Yep, gonna be alot of ZR1s in the weeds as lesser C6's pass them by. however like the GT500, this beings alot of cool stuff to the table for your average vette (carbon/carbon brakes, carbon fiber body panels, some more suspension tuning options, heavy duty components, ect) if you inclined to use factory stuff.

 

they were talking about this on another forum im part of.

an old timer (drag racer) said getting from 14 to 13 seconds is easy. he said geting from 10 to 9 is a bitch. the faster these cars get the harder it is going to be to get them there especially factory cars.

think about it you not only have to engineer a car that can reach those speeds but as well has to be safe AND not cost you a fortune under warranty remember the zr1 will most likely have a 5 year 100,000 mile gm power train warranty( i could be wrong though). so you have to add all those factors in on top of having to fight physics.

 

Who estimated this performance? And how did they do it? Vehicle dynamics and performance is a very complex subject and I would seriously question any so-called performance "estimates". It could just be some dork with a low-level simulation program who plugged in a few numbers.

Let's not forget what the Chief Engineer said in regards to the ZR1 performance. I'll put more credit into what he says...

 

well horsepower x weight = acceleration (for the sake of argument) and is pretty easy to calculate and that can be useful when comparing two different vehicles with different weights & power when it comes to acceleration.

Overall vehicle dynamics comes more into play when there are a greater number of forces acting on the vehicle than just shifting all the weight to the rear.

 

I'm guessing that you don't have a career in automotive chassis engineering.

 

Of course , I've only just begun to explore the raw effect of lowering a vehicle 1.5" from stock (if its any interest, lowering a stock S-197 1.5" also entails adding an adjustable panhard rod, adjustable upper rear control arm, lower rear control arm relocation brackets, either relocating the front control arms or installing altered ball joints, plus a bumpsteer kit to get it all back in shape)

Naw, I think has more to do with my preference for buggy cart axles which dont quite exhibit the dynamic range that an IRS equipped car does in a straight line, but jeez beyond the shocks, and some pretty basic suspension geometry I can't see where it gets to invovled going down a dragstrip.

I've read where the ZR1 uses its MR shocks to optimize hard acceleration from a stop though.

Now tell me your using a simple program to simulate the ZR1's time around the ring and I can see where that simple program might have some problems accurately modeling the time.

 

Well, the ZR1 has some suspension tricks to optimize hard acceleration, and we don't know how weight transfer, coefficient of friction of those new tires, weight distribution, wind resistance (is the ZR1 lower?), etc. will effect the times going down the quarter mile. Heck, maybe those new tires have really good grip (we all know how much of a difference sticky tires can make). And whoever is estimating the ZR1's performance better at least have inputed the entire powerband of the LS9 engine into the program. Otherwise I would throw those estimations out the window.

 

It's one thing to say that a solid-axle car with a few simple links and some soft tires isn't all that complicated, but we're talking about a car with IRS, a very low CoG, and sticky tires with very stiff sidewalls. For example, how does the camber gain characteristics of the rear suspension affect the relationship between the contact patch and the road as the rear suspension position changes due to squat and roll? How does the Y-axis instant center (anti-squat) and X-axis instant center affect the weight transfer and roll? How do the myriad of bushings and their varying compliance affect the loading of the contact patch? At this power level, things such as the stiffness of the structure and control links start to get very interesting. This is complicated stuff!

 

Yes it is, and as stated the ZR1 is not designed to go head to head with Pro Street cars, its designed, geared and built to put cars from Ferrrari, Porsche and Lambo back on the trailer.
Its designed to be the best damn sports car in the world. Is it heavier then a Z06, yes. Is it still about 400lbs lighter then its nearest compeditor? UH YEAH! Outside of a Porsche GT2/3 I cant think of a lighter super car. The question we have to ask ourselves is did GM make the ZR1 the best super car inthe world? Does it have Porsche trumping steering? Does it have Ferrari like reflexes? Does it have Lambo like grip? Does it have gobs of power and torque to tear through anything the world has to throw at it?
It seems GM gave the ZR1 team all the tools it could possibly have to make this car the King of the Road. Is a car like this going to be fun on the street? I belive to a point yes. I wouldnt make it my daily driver, but I think that this car could easily be driven on the street. Do I think that it will? With its low numbers and tremendus power, I doubt you will see it. I think that people will buy this for a fun/track car.

 

Someone "gets it".

 

I personally would drive it like I stole it which coincidentally is the only way I could get my hands on one.

It is worth noting that this car was designed to be a better track car and a better street car than the Z06. The magnetic variable shocks allow a softer spring and more compliant ride on the street and the cam with less overlap provides a smoother idle for those who care about such things in their sports cars (not I )

In normal driving this car should feel like a base Corvette. Until you really need to go

 

the OEMs need to offer good mileage low compression V-8s that get great gas mileage, then offer dealer installed Supercharger kits that bolt right on and double your output, that way, you get past CAFE and you get the power you want

 

not really odd, but high compression engines get better mileage than low compression engines. I'd rather have a purpose built engine in that regard than one designed to cover all the bases. Fords 4.6 3v could pick up a few points in power if it were to use a bit more compression.

 

There have been improvements in speed with each one of those models you lists. Regardless of what mags can or can't do, the owners eventually post their own times, and each one of those cars in your example (with the exception of the ZR1 because it is not out yet, and the Super Snake because I have never read someone racing theirs), all the new models are faster. I know the companies give their own projected times, but how frequently are those times accurate? In my experience, almost never.

Obviously weight has increased on most of the models you mentioned, but their power to weight ratios have increased more than enough to increase their raw straight line speed. Contrary to popular belief, bigger tires do not mean better tires, as people mentioned earlier in this thread. Same with the whole bigger brakes equal better brakes crap. It sells to idiots, so that is more than enough incentive for the OEMs to overburden their cars with that crap.

 

Heh, I wouldn't want GT brakes on a GT500, they work fine under normal use on the street, but knock down some laps in GT and they become marginal at best, I bet on the GT500 they would be melted slag trying break late into a turn. Those bigger rotors are there to asborb all the heat you generate with 400 extra pounds leading you around by the nose.