[sholzer]

Hi all,

New here, but wanted to share my experience from this past weekend. My brother in law bought a 1LE last week and wanted to take it autocrossing. I have a C6Z I'm planning on running in AS, but haven't bought wheels or tires yet so I was happy to show him the ropes and drive his car at the event.

I came in with high hopes based on how the car felt on the street, but I was still very surprised at how well the car performed. The car was still in straight off the showroom floor condition, didn't do the track alignment, stock tires, etc. I just ran the car in sport, with the suspension and exhaust set to track, and TCS fully off. I ended up winning AS against some mildly prepped C5Zs (one did cone away the win, but his scratch time was still only less .1 faster) and placed 22/254 in PAX. This was only my second event of the year (rusty as seen in video) and first in the car (drove a focus st in GS last year)

I'm curious to see how well this car can do in AS with a good setup and good driver. I don't think it'll be at the pointy end, but I think it would be closer than most people give it credit for.

Videos:
PDR


side view


Thanks for watching,
Stephen

[wrankin]

Originally Posted by sholzer

Hi all,

New here, but wanted to share my experience from this past weekend. My brother in law bought a 1LE last week and wanted to take it autocrossing. I have a C6Z I'm planning on running in AS, but haven't bought wheels or tires yet so I was happy to show him the ropes and drive his car at the event.

I came in with high hopes based on how the car felt on the street, but I was still very surprised at how well the car performed. The car was still in straight off the showroom floor condition, didn't do the track alignment, stock tires, etc. I just ran the car in sport, with the suspension and exhaust set to track, and TCS fully off. I ended up winning AS against some mildly prepped C5Zs (one did cone away the win, but his scratch time was still only less .1 faster) and placed 22/254 in PAX. This was only my second event of the year (rusty as seen in video) and first in the car (drove a focus st in GS last year)

I'm curious to see how well this car can do in AS with a good setup and good driver. I don't think it'll be at the pointy end, but I think it would be closer than most people give it credit for.


Thanks for watching,
Stephen

Wow! Great driving

[glebulon]

very good driving, how was the car balance in turns?

[sholzer]

Originally Posted by glebulon

very good driving, how was the car balance in turns?

Thanks! The car felt pretty balanced. Turn in is in good; the car has a ton of front grip. On exit, the car feels bit pushy easing into the throttle, but it's easy to add a little more gas to get the car to rotate when needed.

[apexit53]

I almost bought a 1LE, couldn't get the deal to go through, but I was going to run it nationally in AS with good wheels and tires. Mainly to see how it would do and to see if we could get it moved.

Car looked good and you seem to have a handle on it! Where was this at?

[sholzer]

Originally Posted by apexit53

I almost bought a 1LE, couldn't get the deal to go through, but I was going to run it nationally in AS with good wheels and tires. Mainly to see how it would do and to see if we could get it moved.

Car looked good and you seem to have a handle on it! Where was this at?

If I'd have driven one before I bought my C6Z back in March, I may have tried to do the same. This was a Washington DC region event at FedEx Field in Maryland.

[mjk3888]

Originally Posted by sholzer

Hi all,

New here, but wanted to share my experience from this past weekend. My brother in law bought a 1LE last week and wanted to take it autocrossing. I have a C6Z I'm planning on running in AS, but haven't bought wheels or tires yet so I was happy to show him the ropes and drive his car at the event.

I came in with high hopes based on how the car felt on the street, but I was still very surprised at how well the car performed. The car was still in straight off the showroom floor condition, didn't do the track alignment, stock tires, etc. I just ran the car in sport, with the suspension and exhaust set to track, and TCS fully off. I ended up winning AS against some mildly prepped C5Zs (one did cone away the win, but his scratch time was still only less .1 faster) and placed 22/254 in PAX. This was only my second event of the year (rusty as seen in video) and first in the car (drove a focus st in GS last year)

I'm curious to see how well this car can do in AS with a good setup and good driver. I don't think it'll be at the pointy end, but I think it would be closer than most people give it credit for.

Videos:
PDR


side view


Thanks for watching,
Stephen

What pressures did you run? Did you tweak them any throughout the day? As you can see from my video my last time out I really buried the car way too deep in some braking zones and completely trashed my line, but I almost feel a slight understeer tendency. I run with an almost empty tank of fuel when autocrossing but I run a nearly full tank when I run through the mountains and it feels like I might be taking the balance away from the car on an empty tank. After all the empty tank takes away the weight from the rear so the weight bias is even more nose heavy. How much fuel did you run with?

[sholzer]

Originally Posted by mjk3888

What pressures did you run? Did you tweak them any throughout the day? As you can see from my video my last time out I really buried the car way too deep in some braking zones and completely trashed my line, but I almost feel a slight understeer tendency. I run with an almost empty tank of fuel when autocrossing but I run a nearly full tank when I run through the mountains and it feels like I might be taking the balance away from the car on an empty tank. After all the empty tank takes away the weight from the rear so the weight bias is even more nose heavy. How much fuel did you run with?

I ran 37f/36r and it seemed fine on my first run so I kept them there. We ran with about a 1/2 tank of fuel.

I saw your video before this weekend, but I just went back and watched it a few times. The biggest thing that stuck out comparing my video to yours was your brake and throttle inputs. These are big heavy cars and while they do have a lot of mechanical grip, you have to get them slowed down before the turns. Based on your video, I'd say you're not slowing the car down enough and trying to carry too much speed which is causing the tendency to understeer you're experiencing.

[mjk3888]

Originally Posted by sholzer

I ran 37f/36r and it seemed fine on my first run so I kept them there. We ran with about a 1/2 tank of fuel.

I saw your video before this weekend, but I just went back and watched it a few times. The biggest thing that stuck out comparing my video to yours was your brake and throttle inputs. These are big heavy cars and while they do have a lot of mechanical grip, you have to get them slowed down before the turns. Based on your video, I'd say you're not slowing the car down enough and trying to carry too much speed which is causing the tendency to understeer you're experiencing.

Definitely agree with your assessment of my lap. Braking was all on me. However, I was running race mode PTM which I have found is perfect for covering up my agressive throttle inputs. Although its probably a crutch that will actually make my lead foot worse, as GM says to flat foot it on corner exit and let the computer manage the throttle progression. It's actually very unintrusive and still allows a dab of oversteer at times which feels perfect! Doesn't feel like power is being strangled.

Unrelated to my driving skills though, I ran way less PSI than you I ran 31F/31R hot and on a near empty tank. I imagine that would've given a large difference in feel. Maybe I'll experiment with higher pressures and a little more fuel in the car.

[apexit53]

Originally Posted by sholzer

If I'd have driven one before I bought my C6Z back in March, I may have tried to do the same. This was a Washington DC region event at FedEx Field in Maryland.

for sure! might as well run what you know is competitive in the class right?

[FlowForm_Wheels]

Looks like you had some fun

[sholzer]

Originally Posted by mjk3888

Definitely agree with your assessment of my lap. Braking was all on me. However, I was running race mode PTM which I have found is perfect for covering up my agressive throttle inputs. Although its probably a crutch that will actually make my lead foot worse, as GM says to flat foot it on corner exit and let the computer manage the throttle progression. It's actually very unintrusive and still allows a dab of oversteer at times which feels perfect! Doesn't feel like power is being strangled.

Unrelated to my driving skills though, I ran way less PSI than you I ran 31F/31R hot and on a near empty tank. I imagine that would've given a large difference in feel. Maybe I'll experiment with higher pressures and a little more fuel in the car.

Yea I've heard great about PTM and I wanted to try it out, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get to the different modes before I ran so I just turned it all off. I think the car has to be in track mode? I'm still not sure really, but if thats the case, personally I'll stick with all nannies off since I do not like the throttle mapping in track mode.

But yea, definitely try some higher pressures, I don't think gas levels will play too much a role. If anything else, I'd try and get the car on an alignment rack to at least see where it is. From there you can tweak it to your liking.

[sholzer]

Originally Posted by apexit53

for sure! might as well run what you know is competitive in the class right?

Yep! Plus the noise and power of that LS7 are intoxicating. I will say that the 1LE was much easier to drive based on my 1 event in each car. To be fair though, the Z is on 5 or 5 year old mismatched run flats, so I'm sure that isn't helping lol

[mjk3888]

Originally Posted by sholzer

Yea I've heard great about PTM and I wanted to try it out, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get to the different modes before I ran so I just turned it all off. I think the car has to be in track mode? I'm still not sure really, but if thats the case, personally I'll stick with all nannies off since I do not like the throttle mapping in track mode.

But yea, definitely try some higher pressures, I don't think gas levels will play too much a role. If anything else, I'd try and get the car on an alignment rack to at least see where it is. From there you can tweak it to your liking.

You do have to be in Track mode to access the PTM. Track mode the 2 presses of the t/c off button the use mode switch to toggle between PTM modes. I would strongly recommend experimenting with it. Frankly I don't feel a huge difference between Sport and Track in terms of throttle response. Keep in mind the PTM is supposed to handle the throttle for you on exit when you would be squeezing it with PTM off. Once your on the back side of your element flat foot it and let PTM work for you. Remember it uses the tire temps to tune the PTM so on your first run it may be more conservative than on warm tires.

I run Track mode PTM Race with Tour Mode steering to have as little resistance to direction changes as possible.

I certainly do need to check the alignment and see if anything is slightly out of line.