Quote:
Originally Posted by tlr3715
The point I have been trying discuss is that in most of 1st gear, power is being left on the table, and the experience of putting a foot down and just taking off type of fun is now reserved to very specific road and temperature conditions instead of pretty much any dry day.
I would also be curious to know if someone were to experiment with putting wider tires on modern ZL1 cars and others that are breaking lap time records if their times would improve further with improved ability to power out of low speed corners more effectively. Or if there is a sweet spot of tire width that should not be crossed in a track setting to optimize grip and roll resistance. Is the consensus that GM and other manufactures of race competitive cars have picked the best tire combinations to maximize track performance or are they finding the most cost effective tire to hit their track target and stopping there, again leaving power on the table at lower speeds?
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Totally agree, this has been the challenge for some time now. I always knew my ZL1 was faster than my Tesla Model 3 Performance in all ways except off the line. It has more power but you have to feather the throttle with the A10. In the M6 you have to deal with slipping the clutch and potential bog. Torque management and lack of tire grip a the limiting factors.
If you switch to drag radials on ideal surfaces you will hook much better in first gear but as you are mentioned it is a balancing act. Manufacturers must select a tire that strike a balance between good street manners, tread wear, cost, etc. note the ZL1 and SS 1LEs comes with F1 Supercar tires. Not a great street tire but a decent track tire and hooks pretty good when warm. The standard SS comes with less aggressive tires for better street manners and increase tread life. The ZL1 1LE has Supercar 3Rs that are basically slicks with 100 tread wear.
I am driving a CT4V-BW now and it comes with Michelin PS4S tires, which are know for being pretty street friendly but offer decent performance as well. The Cadillac team took it a bit further and released a TPC spec of the PS4S tires for use on their cars. They spec in some changes to the compound on the shoulders of the tires to improve performance on track.