[GretchenGotGrowl]

Originally Posted by Bhobbs

Tadge answered:

There are lots of interesting back stories behind recent media tests, but the question asks about Road Atlanta so for the purposes of this thread I will focus on our long lead media event last November. We spent a week there with journalists from around the world. We had pro drivers Tommy Milner, Randy Pobst, and Andy Pilgrim behind the wheel along with many other very capable drivers. They were permitted to run consecutive laps with minimal or no traffic, so essentially "qualifying laps". Over the course of the week we had 2 cars come into the pits with a hot warning messages. The first was due to the loss of an accessory drive belt. We had a pre-production tensioner on that car which failed, throwing the belt and we lost the water pump. We have had no issues with production tensioners. The second car was an automatic. I believe it was being driven by Randy on the hottest day there which was right around our design performance target of 86 degrees (more on that below). After multiple laps at speed he came in with a hot warning message. Although the car had been out on track all week, that was the first and only incident. In Corvette's 60 year history, we have never put automatics on track for media and never encouraged people interested in track usage to buy automatics. The new 8 speed automatic gives us a chance to put more automatic transmission customers on the track. Since there is some lack of clarity around the true capability of each of the transmissions, this question gives us the opportunity to publish some guidelines:

•The Z06 Manual is designed to keep engine oil, coolant, transmission and differential fluids below the hot warning targets when driven by a professional on a 30C day (86F) on a "typical" racetrack for an indefinite period of time (effectively the time to burn through a full tank of fuel). So the automatic has the capability to run faster laps than the manual, but thermal limitations are reached more quickly. Customers who are planning to run extended track-day sessions at 'professional' speeds, are advised to go with the manual transmission, or to paddle shift the automatic and select higher gears when conditions warrant it.

So, yes, they do recommend buying the manual for tracking, or paddle shifting the auto, which defeats the one of the biggest benefits of the auto.

Not sure that is the biggest advantage. Those close gear ratios are nice, too. My point is he always leaves the last part off. Tadge doesn't exclusively suggest the Manual. Learn to use the automatic properly and you will be suprised at the results.