Aspiring Racer Shreds Plenty of Tarmac in Her C6 Z06 Corvette
Tracy Gaudu is works in the medical field during the week but punishes tires and gender bias on the weekends in her killer Corvette.
Natural-born Texan and avid car enthusiast, Tracy Gaudu is a prominent driver for Team Race Chick and Team Lingenfelter. Which is a team made up of—you guessed it—chicks who race. Since 2005, Gaudu has been a regular at race tracks around the country in her 2008 C6 Z06 Corvette.
Quick to get her sealegs (or, track legs?), she caught wind of low-speed auto crossing shortly after joining the Longhorn Corvette Club in Texas. Feeling a connection with fellow female drivers, she knew she had another great love aside from racing—racing with other women.
Having competed with both the NCCC and the SCCA, she developed a taste for NASA HPDEs, and road courses. As of 2018, Gaudu obtained her time trial license and is set up with a full schedule to race in the NASA TT1 group. Since climbing to the top of a game she never thought she’d be good at, she earned the respect of many males when she won the NASA Southeast TT1 championship in 2019.
When she’s not at the track setting records, Gaudu works in the vascular surgery and trauma field as a physician’s assistant. Built for dominating the track, her car is a specialist’s dream—one of the first things Tracy took care of was the power plant. Doing away with the stock V8 under the hood, she replaced it with a Lingenfelter LS7 427 CID 11.5 crate engine. While it’s rated for an average of 545 HP, Gaudu was quick to get it to a dyno, where she had it tuned to make a max output of 561.28 HP, and a max torque of 483.40 lb ft. To make the transmission better able to handle the power, she threw in a Katech LS9 ZR1 racing clutch.
Suspension wise, the first thing she did was upgrade the tires. Next was an upgraded T1 sway bar, poly bushings, Girodisc C6Z two-piece rotors and upgraded pads, beefier differentials with racing friendly ratios (3.90, to be exact), and much, much more.
Here’s the complete spec list:
- Lingenfelter LS7 427 CID 650HP 11.5 Crate Engine
- Dyno, detuned for NASA TT1 class (6:1 wt to HP ratio)
- Doug Rippie Motorsports oil cooler
- LG Super Pro Long Tube Headers
- Upgraded dry sump (with upgraded oil pan and baffling)
- Ron Davis radiator
- Mighty Mouse “Mild” catch can
- Elite Engineering catch can
- Katech LS9 ZR1 racing clutch
- Katech belt tensioner
- High-flow power water pump
- T1 sway bar, adjustable end links, poly mounts
- APR carbon fiber front splitter with CTC-500 carbon fiber wing
- ACS Composite World Challenge Hood
- Forgeline Wheels
- Hoosier A7 315/30-18; 345/35-18 from Trackday Tire
- Girodisc C6Z 2 piece rotors
- Cobalt brakes: XR1(front) and XR2 (rear) carbon ceramic single piece pad fitment
- Pfadt poly bushings
- Stainless Works exhaust
- MGW short throw shifter
- Auto Blip
- GSpeed solid engine and trans mounts
- GSpeed C6 coilovers (with double adjustable Penske shock package)
- Roll cage
- Cobra racing seat
- RPM Level VI TR6060 exchange with 2.29 ZR1 ratio upgrade
- RPM C6Z differential, Stage 3, fully micro polished 300M LH/RH axles, carbon clutches, 30-spline, gear ratio: 3.90
- Rebuilt GM torque tube (Stage 3)
The story of how she came across her beloved race car is even more charming. In late 2007, the orange C6 beckoned to Tracy from a showroom floor. After buying it, the drive home was the first time she’d ever driven a manual transmission. It didn’t stop her from racing though, and as a fledgling manual driver, she began collecting victories. In 2008, just three years since she got her racing feet wet, she won the national championship of NCCC. Additionally, Gaudu was known for getting the fastest times of the day at every low-speed autocross and high-speed track event.
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Tracy is the kind of role model car-loving women need. She stands to show that racing doesn’t have to take a back seat when it’s something that brings so much joy. Gaudu didn’t have to work around her career to make her racing dreams come true – she’s still able to maintain an impressive career in vascular trauma & surgery, while also maintaining and continuing to build her racing career with her Corvette. We’re genuinely excited to see how Tracy’s career develops.
Follow Tracy’s exciting double life via her Instagram or her Facebook page.
Photos: Tracy Gaudu
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