1st track event with the Z
08-08-2008, 01:53 PM
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1st track event with the Z Well i got a chance to really see what my c5z would do on a short track today. My police dept is having pursuit driving training and all the officers have to attend over the next few months. Today one of my friends was teaching and he told me to bring my car out. The course is very tight and has a couple of short straights. Kind of a modded auto-cross track. It is a fun course though. My first couple of passes were at about 75% just to get the hang of how the car handled when pushed. Then it was time to make some wot passes. I did put the car in comp driving mode. First thing i noticed that was that my car had way to much power in 1st on this course. Any time i went wot the z would oversteer bad . And i hit the rev limiter on the striaghts. So for the next few runs I would leave in first, take the first turn, then i would shift into 2nd. I found that i could make the hole run in 2nd gear. Even in 2nd and with the comp mode on i could still do some cool power slides lol. The stock brakes did great on this short tight course. I made maybe 8 passes and did not notice any brake fade. Given i did not use the the brakes very much once i got serious about going fast. Smooth is fast lol. After the instructors watched me make a couple fast passes they wanted to see how a crown vic would compare to my Z. So one of the instructors got in his police car and we did a controlled pursuit on track. Even with me oversteering out of the turns and more play driving than serious driving i blew him out of the water. He is a great driver and still could not get close at all lol. No surprise uh.
Now to some things noticed about the handling of a stock c5z. First thing is it will oversteer with very little throttle in 1st and 2nd gear. But when the tail does break lose it is not a surprise. You can control the rear with steering and the throttle. The car does have some body lean but not much. My stock, rear, 6 yr old tires dont seem to have a lot of grip even though they look in great shape. There is not a lot of understeer in the car even from the factory. The brakes are okay on a short course or auto-x. I like the steering feel. The car feels solid over all.
I cant wait to see how the car does with some good race tires and better brakes. I can see why some people dont need to add power to these cars until they learn to drive lol. I have been through pursuit driving schools and have tracked my 450rwhp/500rwtq ford lightning so i am not a rookie or under est. how fast a powerful car can get you in trouble. The comp driving mode did save my butt once lol. Made me look good saving a spin in front of the class. Over all i am very happy with the way the car performs. I must say though on this course my z did not seem that much faster than my old lightning. The truck had a full hotchkis suspension (sway bars, shocks, springs, etc) and tons of low end torque. I had driven my lightning on this course a few times and had driven my lightning at the limit a lot more so not a real fair comparo. With more seat time i am sure there would be no comparo. A long road course would really let the z shine though. Sorry for the long post but i had a blast.
Now to some things noticed about the handling of a stock c5z. First thing is it will oversteer with very little throttle in 1st and 2nd gear. But when the tail does break lose it is not a surprise. You can control the rear with steering and the throttle. The car does have some body lean but not much. My stock, rear, 6 yr old tires dont seem to have a lot of grip even though they look in great shape. There is not a lot of understeer in the car even from the factory. The brakes are okay on a short course or auto-x. I like the steering feel. The car feels solid over all.
I cant wait to see how the car does with some good race tires and better brakes. I can see why some people dont need to add power to these cars until they learn to drive lol. I have been through pursuit driving schools and have tracked my 450rwhp/500rwtq ford lightning so i am not a rookie or under est. how fast a powerful car can get you in trouble. The comp driving mode did save my butt once lol. Made me look good saving a spin in front of the class. Over all i am very happy with the way the car performs. I must say though on this course my z did not seem that much faster than my old lightning. The truck had a full hotchkis suspension (sway bars, shocks, springs, etc) and tons of low end torque. I had driven my lightning on this course a few times and had driven my lightning at the limit a lot more so not a real fair comparo. With more seat time i am sure there would be no comparo. A long road course would really let the z shine though. Sorry for the long post but i had a blast.
