C5 Z06

Even before I liked cars, a passing corvette was quite an event for me. I knew nothing about them, and the fastest car I had ever been in was quite possibly a minivan, so I had no perspective of performance. Even with my lack of interest in cars in general I knew one thing for sure: the Corvette just had a presence about it, it was iconic, it was incredible. Years later, with a brain fully immersed in car facts, performance numbers, and reliability ratings I still somehow knew very little about the corvette. I'm not sure why it took me so long to start learning about them, but the first time I was handed the keys to my coworkers shiny red 1999 corvette I was weak at the knees. Days later I could still have described every detail of the car, because it had finally become real to me, I had finally been in my dream car. There was only one thing to wonder next, when would I get one of my own?

Chevrolet did a lot of things differently with the fifth generation Corvette: performance was up, reliability was better, comfort was improved, and the car was even more fuel efficient. While the interior has always been a drawback for the Vette, the C5 was a much nicer place to be than the previous generation. The C5 interior became very functional, but still lacks the pop and finish of many competitors. The weird thing is, none of that even matters when you drive the car. The experience, as a whole, is so incredible that the first time I ever drove a Z06 is burned into my memory, I could retrace the exact route from memory even now, years later.

When a car manufacturer updates a successful car, usually about half the components remain similar, or even the same as the previous generation. The chassis may be stiffened, the engine tweaked to produce more power, the interior freshened up, but rarely is absolutely everything changed.

The 1997 corvette was just this though, a fresh start with all new components. There was a new, sleek body, radically stiffened chassis, and a brand new engine-the coveted LS1. Fast forward to 2001, where the fifth generation gets a slight redesign, but more importantly the introduction of the C5 Z06--a high performance track oriented version of the base car. The power-plant  in this rocket ship was designated the LS6, and produced up to 50 more horsepower than the base LS1!

Changes didn't end with the engine though, nearly everything on this car was designed to make this Corvette the fastest to ever lap a track. The standard MN6 transmission was replaced with an entirely new one-the M12-which gave the car shorter gearing for quicker acceleration, and beefed up components to handle the added torque of the LS6. 60 miles and hour zips by in under four seconds, and sub 12 second 1/4 mile times have been recorded indicating that Chevrolet succeeded in making this car FAST. 

Cruising along on the highway at a tame speed fuel economy can easily travel north of 30 miles per gallon, a feat that only small four bangers typically achieved back in 2001. 

I purchased my Corvette in early 2013, a bone stock Speedway White Z06. This color is extremely rare, with only 352 of them ever produced, and only optioned in 2001. Since purchasing the car I've made a few changes and modifications; new tires, black lower rear fascia, long tube headers, a Borla exhaust, B&M Ripper short throw shifter, and what's known in the C5 world as the zip tie mod. The two absolute best changes I have made to the car were the tires (Continental ExtremeContact DW) and the XS Power 1 3/4 inch headers.

Continental doesn't make a tire in exact OEM sizes, the fronts have to be bumped to 275, but the tires fit perfectly fine and don't look bad at all. As far as street tires go, these have to be given the nod for best overall value. My car produced a mind numbing 386 foot pounds of torque to the rear wheels, and unless the temperature is below 30 degrees I CAN NOT break these tires loose in any gear (without dumping the clutch, that is). Since I purchased these tires my lovely lady can no longer ride in the car without feeling sick to her stomach from the vicious acceleration forces-something that was never a problem with the stock Goodyear tires. A friend with a set of Toyo tires opted to teach his rear tires a lesson by spinning through third gear after riding in my car because he wanted a set so badly. At the drag strip a set of drag radials will serve you better, and at the circuit the softer sidewalls of the Continentals tend to flex a little, but the long wear life and superb traction make these my favorite street tire. If you're in the market, buy them. Don't think about it, just buy them, you will not be disappointed.

After the header install and tune my car made 365 rear wheel horsepower and 386 foot pounds of torque. These numbers are a little off compared to many Z06 corvettes, but nothing absolutely out of the realm of normality. These headers make the car really scream, especially past 3000 rpms. "Eargasmic" is the best way I've heard a bystander describe the sound. At above 85 miles an hour there is a fair bit of drone, but at typical highway speeds the car sounds relatively tame.

With prices dropping to under $20,000, the C5 Z06 makes the absolute best value sports car I've ever found. If you can think of another car that matches the looks, performance, reliability, fuel economy, and ease of use PLEASE let me know!  If you have never been in a Z06, give it a try. The power delivery is entirely different from similar cars in it's class, including later model C6 corvettes with the same power ratings. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jyJqgC5_8Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVtGp7c_b0w

Not top of the line interior, but everything is perfectly where you would expect it

The LS6: Identified by the Red Engine cover

Competitive driving mode

My White Z06 with a friends Black

The classic shape of the C5

How many cars do you know of with supercar performance that hit 300,000 miles?

Happy motoring, everybody!

David.

A day in the life of an automotive enthusiast

Cars have so many different meanings to people. Some don't care at all, and would honestly rather be driven around than have to operate any controls aside from the radio. Others love cars for the convenience of not having to walk everywhere. Finally, there are those who love every single thing about cars. They love looking at cars, reading about cars, working on cars, listening to cars, smelling cars (yes, smelling. The smell of leather, oil, combustion gasses get us gear heads revved up like there's no tomorrow) but most importantly: driving cars. Hopping behind the wheel of a favorite car provides a release from the messed up world we all live in, and a few wide open throttle pulls reminds us of the amazing things this world has to offer. 

Car life isn't all good though, there are certainly drawbacks. If our cars breaking down wasn't the worst part, we have to worry about break ups too. It's a serious problem, a relationship with a car can put a serious strain on a relationship with another person. I've been blessed with a beautiful, wonderful girl who understands my borderline obsession with the automotive industry, but it's still not always easy. I couldn't count on both hands how many times in the past week she's dozed off at me talking about compression ratios, firing orders, transmission ratios, or whatever may be on my mind at the time. For the number of times I've heard someone say to me "is all you care about that stupid car?" You would think I would change, but for the life of me I just can't get my mind of cars. In fact, the main reason I started writing this was because I knew people were getting tired of non-stop car talk from me, and I wanted to reach out to an audience that wanted to hear my input. In the next couple of days I'll continue on the life of a gear head. 

Alright, we're back. Today we're gonna tackle one of the automotive enthusiasts biggest fears: breakdowns. Now nobody likes having their car breakdown. It costs money, you lose the convenience of getting up and going wherever, whenever, but most importantly you're undoubtedly going to have to call in favors from people you probably don't even like just to get rides. For a gear head all of this is still true, but there's more! 

When a car guy is without his vehicle, it's about like being homeless. At first thought you may be thinking "that's ridiculous, you may not like it, but it's not THAT bad!" Well you're wrong, it is that bad. Ever had a pet at the vet going through surgery? It's that and then some. Veterinarians at least are generally people who love animals, and want nothing more than to make your dog perfectly happy and healthy again. Car mechanics tend to want other things. While they probably do love cars, they generally don't really care what happens to yours, unless it makes them money. It's sad, but true a lot of times. If a vet had the choice, save the life of a puppy, or make $20 I would almost guarantee that you would hear a happy healthy puppy barking the next day. On the other hand, I once had a mechanic argue with me for half an hour that the spark plugs I replaced not 6 months earlier were the set from the factory with 70,000 miles on them. He already had the spark plugs out for the header install he was doing on my car, so all that arguing was to make him an extra $18 for some new plugs. After all that I was without my car for 2 weeks, and who knows how they drove the car in my absense? I've known mechanics, I knew one who wrecked a customers brand new audi s4 while showing off for his girlfriend. I knew a mechanic who swapped a good battery out of one customers car with the dead one from another customers car, charging full price for a "new" battery.  It's scary to think that the people many are forced to trust with their cars, can be so shady. 

Now, on to another topic, a bit happier than the last. As a car guy, how quickly would you jump on the opportunity to have a garage stocked with every car you could ever want, with one circumstance: you have to sleep in the garage with them. When I was first asked that my initial thought was "as long as there's a shower for me, I'll sleep on an inflatable mattress anywhere. Now my girlfriend wasn't quite as excited by this, but hey, she likes fast cars too, I'm sure she would come around eventually. That's all the time I've got for this topic though, thanks for reading!