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Can Any Production Car Beat the Corvette Z06 On-Track?


Gorehamj
  • John Goreham
    Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
    9/14/2015
    Can any production car, at any price, beat the 2016 Corvette Z06 on a road-course type track? If you are a fan and subscriber of Car and Driver magazine, you may already know the answer. CD has a unique format that they have been using now for many years. They go to the same racetrack, and they run the cars with testing equipment to record that car's best lap time. The best time the car can lay down, at the hands of the near-professional CD editorial staff, goes on record. It is put up or shut up time. This year the newest top-spec 'Vette laid down an amazing time. Nothing even close to the Corvette's price can match it on the Virginia International Raceway road course past or present. But that was not our question. We asked, could anything at any price that is a true production car beat this relatively affordable Corvette? Before we answer, it is important to note that the Corvette Z06 is not some kind of white buffalo that GM talks about but does not really make. GM will move over 8,000 of the 2015 Z06 according to our go-to Corvette expert, Patrick Rall. About 20% to 25% of the total Corvette volume. That is a hell of a lot more cars than the Miata sold in 2015, and everyone considers the Miata a pretty mainstream sports car.

    https://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/uploads/monthly_09_2015/ccs-137145-0-98039800-1442257000.jpg

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If you want to know if the Corvette Z06 is unbeatable you are going to have to buy Car and Driver's October issue and check out pages 66 and 67 (or peek at one on the newsstand ). We will give you a quick rundown of some cars its 2:44.6 lap-time beat. First, its closest competitor was the 2015 McLaren 650S Spider. Behind that was a 2016 Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4. Next up 2008 Viper ACR. The new ACR couldn't make it to the show and CD talks about that car separately in the issue (page 114). The 911, all the Ferraris and all the Mercedes cars are lower on the list as well. That's as much as we will say.

Talking about the Z06 and its performance on the VIR course Jim Mero, a Chevy ride and handling engineer, mentioned that CD will use up to 20 laps to find a car's fastest time. Interestingly, Mero says he spent more than 80 laps on the track before he tried to put down a fastest lap.

Tell us your guess about the Z06 being the fastest production car. In your answer be sure to make your case that any car you think is faster is actually a production car. Meaning you could go to a car dealership and buy one (if you had the money).


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