For the Z06 they use siamesed iron liners, so neighboring cylinders effectively share a single wall. Can't get any tighter. The stroke is long, but its still an oversquare engine.

Any figures from a 1960s magazine road test are highly suspect. Both the magazines and the manufacturers did a healthy amount of cheating and outright lying in those days. C&Ds fabricated GTO comparison test is legendary.

The last thoroughly suspicious road test I remember was a mid-1980s test of the Merkur XR4Ti in C&D. After getting the thing to 60 in 7 flat, very quick at the time, they couldn't stop gushing about it. Production cars later proved at least 1.5 seconds slower. Ford had slipped them a car with a bit of extra boost, and perhaps other mods as well.

The Ford exec behind the car? Bob Lutz.

C&D's initial test of a Forester XT yielded a 0-60 in the low 5s. Seems quite suspicious, as Subaru could have easily turned up the boost to STI levels, but no proof in this case.

 

btw I have to correct myself.. the C6 Z06 motor is based on the C5R motor, not the C6R.

 

It is oversquare, but just barely.. as in 1/8 of an inch. They do manage to get a 7000 RPM redline with that 4 inch stroke. Now that's impressive.

The Car and Driver GTO road test you refer to is the first serious magazine road test I ever read. As best as I recall, it was the September '63 issue and I still remember what the cover looked like. They did the road course testing at Bridgehampton and one of the pictures (all black and white) had a woman in jodpers standing next to the Goat. They stated that it was quicker than the 1963 Mercury Marauder with the 427 NASCAR side-oiler dual-quad 425 horsepower engine. Car and Driver got a lot of negative mail from the foreign car auto-bigots when they stated that the Pontiac GTO would beat any Ferrari GTO on any American road course.

What Pontiac (John DeLoren) did for this test was to replace the 389 with a 421 in the Goat. Since they are the same basic block, who would know? Still had tri-power and all the chrome trimmings.

In some cases, the reverse of what you mentioned about road tests took place. I can well remember road tests of the 1966 396/360 HP L34 Chevelle in Hi-Performance Cars (when they were pro-Mopar, before they turned very pro-Chevy) and in Hot Rod where the quarter mile times were in the high 14's and low 15's. I'm here to tell you right now that those numbers are hogwash. I owned one of those cars (I ordered it to my specificatons - still have the original order form) and it was a low 13-second car in stock condition with tires. Those articles came out AFTER I had ordered the car and scared the heck out of me. After I took delivery and got some miles on it, I knew they were full of crap.

Oh one more thing. Did you know that the road test of the GTO in the above mentioned issue of Car and Driver (and other magazines, too) tested a none-existing car?

There was no Pontiac GTO in 1964. Nor was there one in 1965, either. The Pontiac GTO didn't exist until the 1966 model year. Prior to that, the GTO was an option package available on the Pontiac Tempest LeMans. It did not become a distinct model until 1966.

I well remember American supercars of that period running at our local drag strips and turning some very good times. Most ran in the low 13's to the high 12's and a few turned in the 12.4 second bracket (a black 1966 442 comes to mind). GM ruled the tracks back then. Ford and Chrysler just couldn't seem to cut it in the supercar picture. The Ford 390 was never a serious contender and neither was the 383 Mopar. There weren't very many street Hemi's then (the option for this engine cost $907 in 1966).

Oh well, I could go on and on about this since those days were my times. I loved the machinery and hung out at the local drag strips a lot back then.

 

Oversquare by a bit is still oversquare. There are many severely undersquare engines out there. I agree that 7000 RPM with a 4 inch stroke is impressive. I'd love to drive one of these bad boys. But I suppose I'd likely be disappointed with the steering anyway.

C&D long ago admitted that they never had a Ferrari GTO to test against the cheated Pontiac. This was discussed most recently in their 50th anniversary issue. They only tested the Pontiac, then pretended the Ferrari was there. They used drawings to show the cars together, not photos, for obvious reasons. They might have used some published times to provide stats for the Ferrari, but certainly no road course times. I cannot recall the details here.

At any rate, a totally fake comparison deserves negative letters. Not their brightest moment. No one today believes the Pontiac was comparable to the Ferrari. Well, almost no one.

Option package vs. distinct model is just semantics. Manufacturers go back and forth on this all the time. Doesn't make the car any different.

 

Yep, Car and Driver had the wool pulled over their eyes with that particular GTO road test. But I can confirm that those early models were quick. They came in two flavors: the 325 HP single four-barrel version and the 348 HP Tri-Power baby. I well remember these cars and most with decent gears, slicks, headers, and rejetted carbs with blocked heat risers and after-market throttle linkage managed the very low 13's (one I recall cranking a 13.08 at 75 & 80 Drag-a-way).

Most of the magazines of the time which did road tests of these cars, did not reflect what the cars were actually capable of on the street and the strip. I always found this rather curious. In fact, on another website, I got into a few "discussions" with members who swore the Altima SE was quicker than mid-60's GTOs and Chevelle SS's and most other supercars of that time based on some magazine articles he had seen.

BS! The is no way an Altima SE is going to blow away a mid-60's supercar unless the guy driving the supercar is asleep and the Altima is either blown or running a heavy dose of NOS. Having lived through that era and owned a real supercar and having hung out frequently at the local tracks (plus a lot of street racing on my part), I know this to be fact.

With that out of the way, I will freely and easily admit that we are firmly entrenched back in the horsepower wars (thank God) and there is some terrific machinery available to the gearhead today. Even our TL's have one heck of a lot to offer the enthusiast. For such a small 6-cylinder engine (196 cubes) the TL will most definitely crank. I'd love to have some more torque, but you know what? I love mine and it's one heck of a great all around driving machine.

Like you, I would love to test drive a new Z06. Pohanka Chevrolet had a yellow one for a few weeks but I just checked their inventory and it's gone. Crazy.. I have the funds to buy one if I wanted, but I'm not doing it. I loved the recent past Z06's, but this new one has really go to me. I wouldn't take a whole bunch to push me over the edge I'm afraid.

My friend, it's been great holding this discourse with you on these topics. Take car and enjoy.

 

Most guys that run the track have second set of tires. So find an old guy that is selling the car (no modification to engine) and has very little miles on the car. Most Corvette owner garage his/her car (no snow or rain).

 

yea...he definitely could have gotten a better time. I have a 2003 Zo6 and I could manage that time easily.

 

umm.... you could manage what time easily?

 

wow, that is one of my all time favs. its so odeyum sexyyyyyy

 

Consider this post a push over the edge. Buy it!

 

consider this post another push!!! buy it!!!! ASAP. kthx

 

btw SouthernBoy, here's a SWEET big-block Camaro on the charger for you, making hp well into the 1000's.... can you imagine how FUN this thing must be to drive!!

http://videos.streetfire.net/Player....D0275DC7D8&p=0

 

So Sunday evening, I'm driving out of my development to dry off my rotors after having washed the brake dust from the wheels and to mail some bills. As I was heading back into town (mind you, my town is only .58 square miles in size), several cars with their headlamps on are passing by me in the opposite direction. And then one became fully visible.. and identifiable.

I saw my first 2006 Z06 (Silver) driving through my town!! Granted, there are one heck of a lot of serious machines in our end of the county, but this is my first new Z06 sighting!

 

nice.. I know Peter Farrell Supercars is/was located in Manassas VA.... he used to race and tune FD3S RX-7's back in the day... pretty much the best RX-7 tuner, along with Pettit. Wonder what he's doing nowadays.

 

Yeah, they still show up on Yahoo in Manassas. I know the area where they are and went over there a few years ago to see about getting an exhaust hung on my 2002 Altima SE.

 

Oh , when I mentioned that mey end of the county has some super rods, hot machines, and fine stuff (cars, mind you) running around, I wasn't kidding. One of my next door neighbors built a Factory Five replica of a 1966 427 Shelby AC Cobra.. which I already mentioned. Well he was at a car show (or meet or display or such) in Bealeton a week ago Saturday. Bealeton is a little town about 20 miles from me, south of Warrenton, VA. Anyway, there were two, count 'em, two Ford GT's there. One was white with blue racing stripes and one was red with white stripes. The guy with the white one paid $205,000 for his.. he also has another very expensive car toy (forgot what it was).

I mean, you should see the stuff that runs around here. There is a Burger King on route 28, just south of Manassas that is a collection spot for these machines and inside, you should see the pictures on the walls of some of them.

Great place for gearheads.

 

11.540 @ 127.590 in the 1/4 mile (video)

http://www.dragtimes.com/2006-Chevro...deos-7055.html

 

^^^

is that stock??

 

yeah.... but I think it has DR's.

 

It didn't see to launch very well if it had DR's.. It seemed as if he had to feather it off the line a bit

 

yea I'm not 100% sure.... neither are the guys in the originating thread...

http://www.z06vette.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92114

whatever way you look at it, it's fast.

 

PFS is still around. The father of my best friend in middle school as a '93 R1 with just about everything PFS can do to a stock turbo RX-7. It runs 11.0's on DRs with a full interior.

 

good to hear PFS is still around. nice RX.