Hey Scotty,
I have been looking at getting my first car, one of my options is a C5 Corvette ZO6. I was wondering what you would do if you had another 5k after getting the car to modify it to be one, track ready and two, upgraded performance wise. What would you recommend doing first to get the most from that car, brakes, a tune, anti-roll bars, better cooling, better shifter, tires, or engine parts and so on. Thanks!
Have you driven the Z06 on a track yet? It is basically a track-ready car out of the box.
Be aware that performance upgrades for the LS6 engine are EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE and $5k is small change for Z06 parts.
I would say drive it first and get accustomed to how it handles out of the box. Then go from there. I would put engine mods last as 405HP is plenty in a car that light. Maybe put some good tires on it if it doesn't have some ($2000) and if you want more noise swap out the exhaust ($2000) and you basically are done with the $5000 you had left over.
Corvettes are not like Mustangs and Camaros. Parts are stupid expensive and on a Z06, they are just that much more.
I've owned a lot of C5's and a few C5Z's. Just to give you an idea on the cost of a full Pfadt suspension kit on those cars:
Which car do you think would be faster, BMW M240 vs C5 Corvette Z06 around a track?
Depends on the track and the driver.
Driver being the same on VIR, with the same tires what car would be faster?
I'd probably go with the Z06.
Thanks for the response, I am trying to get an all around sports car and am weighing my options and just want to know their capabilities on and off the track.
If you a really serious about track days with the C5Z look into cooling. Remember the air is sucked in from the bottom under the car and a problem these cars had at the track is overheating issues especially for longer races. The C6 solved the issue by opening up the grill and integrating the head light to the bumper.
I have heard that and brakes are the two main things, I am doing this on a budget of course, but it looks like you can get a decent radiator for under $1,000.
Yes you can for under 1000 but a good one costs like 1600. Also if you don't use the car much for road use get WILWOOD brakes if not get Brembo
Those brakes are the ones I plan on getting, I am going to use this car as a daily driver as well as a track car, what is wrong with the WILWOOD on the road?
The rotors or pads (don't remember well) tend to ruin quick because they don't get enough heat into them. At least what I heard from the guys I autocross with. I have no experience with them on road use just track use. I use Bremo or regular ACDELCO for road use
Do you have any recommendations, for brakes that can be both used on track and road. I do live in the mountains, and on the mountain roads we use our brakes a lot, and 18 wheelers are warned to not get their brakes to hot.
Just any drilled slotted rotors to help the brakes remain cool on heavy use during track days. Brembo hasn't failed me during road use but the Wilwoods do hold up better and perform better during track use. Safe bet are Wilwood to me the are the best. Try them out im sure you won't have trouble with them for either road or track use.
I would get to know the sports car really well first before you even think about mods. Then if you haven’t already, spend some money and go to a high performance driving school so you can really learn how to tackle the track. A really good driver (for example Randy Pobst) can beat a poor driver in a much faster car because he (Randy) is a world class driver and knows how to extract the most out of that vehicle.
All that being said, @Mod_Man can answer your question the best if you plan to mod. I would also look on the Corvette Forum to see what others are doing.
I
