Having the opportunity to drive a well setup Z06 on a good course and *trying* to drive 10/10ths was extremely educational & fun. Les was kind enough to let me co-drive with him. Plus, the bonus was that he had new shocks and Kumho 710s on the car. He felt that he'd been struggling a bit in the car, but the shock and tire change seemed to solve most of those problems immediately. Les drove really well and taught me a bunch about how to drive the Z06.
Having driven several Corvettes at schools, on smaller courses, and at 80% - 90% was definitely helpful, but it still did not completely prepare me for the first several runs in Les' Z06. It was still a lot to digest because things happen so bloody fast. Literally having about 4 times the torque of what I'm use to driving took some adjusting...I think I'm still adjusting 24 hours later
To me, driving most A Stock cars (e.g., Boxster, Solstice, STi, S2000) is a logical step up from a Miata, clearly more challenging but pretty manageable. If those cars are one (1) step up in challenge the Z06 was about 5 levels. Out of all the really good autox cars I've driven, the Z06 is definitely the most difficult to drive to it's potential. Tim Aro said it best whe we were at a testing day in Peru back about 5 years ago and he went for a ride with multi-time National Champ Erik Strelniks in his Z06. When he got out of the car he said, "it's like a completely different sport" when you're in one of those cars.
I struggled most with 1) throttle modulation (big surpise) in that it took my right foot time to smooth out my inputs, not so much over aggression, just smoothness and 2) not taking full advantage of the amazing grip of the car through the offests, especially in the taxiway where Les killed me.
As Keith said, there was definitely a lot of poential left in the car, especially since Les & I were about 1.7 seconds behind G.H. on pax. Nonetheless, I was pretty happy with my effort and very pleased to almost run even with Les. Anyway, it was a blast and I had a great time.
The most interesting part of the day was when we went to get gas after Les' runs. I was running in the very next group so we didn't have much time to get back before 2nd group started. After we fill up, the Vette will not start and is totally dead. Fortunately, Mo Monroe was there and drove back to get jumper cables. She jumped us off and saved the day, Les then drove next door to Advance Auto to buy a new battery. The sign said "fast & free" battery installation. Les said we were going to put them to the test. No one was in there that could install a battery, so they gave him a cart with tools. In the process of putting the battery in one of the terminal connectors fell down into the engine compartment, so Les went in and bought some more. So, the sign was right, it's "fast and free" if you do it yourself
Amazingly, we got back in the middle of the second round of runs. The Triad folks were cool and let me make my runs up.
I'll be back in the Miata at Laurinburg, so hopefully I'll be able to put some of the lessons to use that Karl and Les have taught me over the past month in their high performance cars.
Eric
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