Callaway tunes the Corvette Z06 to 757 bhp

 

The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long...

 

I will say that one of the advantages of 911s, Corvettes, GT-Rs, etc. is there is a larger options for tuning if you are into that scene. I'm more of a "stock" kind of guy. But for guys who like to tune, mod, the F-Type is fairly limited.

 

$17,000 for 107 bhp, no thanks. I'd rather add a nice dual bottle nitrous system for $1700.

 

This is really rather stupid. Other than bragging rights, that kind of power is ridiculous.

The C7R developed by the Corvette Racing Team (Pratt & Miller), which won it's class and finished high in the overall standings at the last 24 Hours of Le Mans is a detuned version of the stock C7 Z06. In order to comply with class rules it had to be detuned to under 500HP as opposed to the 650HP OEM version.

http://prattmiller.com/motorsports/corvette

 

Can't really compare with a 500 HP race car that weights probably 2400 lbs dry. You can never have enough power

 

If I was going to drive a Corvette by all means make it a 700+ hp version. It's a cartoon car even stock IMHO, more power could only add to the amusement. Nothing exceeds like excess...

 

Not quite Shift, check the specs on the link. Moreover, my post was simply illustrative of how over the top things can get, and how there is such a thing as too much power. That thing will be an absolute dog on the street, which is the only place anyone who buys one of those will ever be, other than an occasional "Friday Night Lights" trip to the local drag strip.

I obviously wasn't doing a "comparo" However, since you brought it up, the OEM Z06 has a better power-to-weight ratio than the C7R Le Mans winner. The link incorrectly understated the power of the stock car.

 

Anything over stock on that car is absolutely useless. You can spin the tires at 70+ as it is, what good is extra power going to do?

 

Yep, the same was true with my C6 Z06 at 3100 lbs. and 505HP. I enjoyed it on the track, but it was useless on the street.

 

you guys are killing me...so what about the F-Type SVR with the rumored 600 HP? I don't know about you, but if I win the lottery tomorrow, I'm buying that 1000 HP LaFerrari. Those 1000 HP will come in handy at the track and empty desert roads.

 

In your delusions, perhaps. The best way to learn how to drive fast proficiently is to do it in an underpowered car like a Miata. That is unless all you care about is going fast in a straight line, but even that will kill you if don't know how to handle too much power.

 

How did this turn into learning how to drive a car in a Miata? There
are plenty of people with high horsepower cars who drive/track quite well. It's not mutually exclusive that if you want/have a high horsepower car, even a ridiculously high HP car, that you can't drive. Its just stupid to assume that a 700 HP Z06 = guy who can't drive.

Regarding just straight line performance...there's nothing wrong with that either. There's an entire sport called drag racing that doesn't involve turning. There's nothing wrong with a guy who wants the fastest straight line car possible. You may not like it or enjoy it, but to say it's useless just reflects poorly of our openness to different things.

 

I think they are both beautiful cars in there own way. Both are just different and great for what they are. The Z is a brute, and the Jag is elegant. I love them both. Cecil...............

 

+1

 

Probably also reflects the fact that until relatively recently 'Murica couldn't produce a car that could go around corners.

 

Shift,

Sigh . . . I wasn't talking about learning "how to drive a car." I was talking about learning how to drive at the very outer edge of the performance envelope proficiently. 99% of people on the roads today can't safely use 400HP, much less 700. They can safely "drive" a car like that (if they have adequate common sense), but they can never safely use more than half it's potential.

I'm an above average driver, who has had a fair amount of high-performance instruction, and I'm not that proficient. I have enough skill and common sense to keep from killing myself, but I don't have the type of skills and experience to wring out the max performance a car like that can deliver. Only pros like Randy Probst are at that level. That was my point.

If you have a day job that doesn't involve driving cars very fast on closed courses, you're never going to develop those skills, unless you quit your day job, and spend much of your time pursuing those skills.

I'm a good example. When I was spending a lot of time doing track stuff, I owned both a Lotus Elise and a C6 Z06. I was always consistently faster in the Lotus on the same course, but a professional could have taken my Z06, and made my Lotus times look pathetic.

That brings me to the Miata example you had such difficulty with, and you can also ask any professional driver what that means. They will confirm what I said. In order to understand how to drive fast around a race track, you have to explore the absolute limits and understand how a car is going to react. The best way to do that is in a car that can't get away from you in a nano-second (e.g. a Miata or well-balanced similar car).

 

Calloway isn't selling race cars, neither is Hennessy and neither is Lamborghini. What they are all selling is "more". More power. More styling. More exclusivity. For those who don't feel that average or OEM cars offer enough, and who can afford More, we have those who will sell it to them. I for one am glad that they are free to do it and that there are enough customers to let them keep at it.

In terms of the power levels of the F-type - I drive the RWD V8S and while I don't floor it often, I do sometimes. It runs out of road pretty quickly as-is but more power would not be "unusable". What would be less frequent would be the chances to use it all if it had another 150 or 200 hp. If I lived in Nevada, Utah or somewhere like that I could justify a lot more power than what I can find room to use in western Washington. Nothing eats power like the desert.

More useful for less money at all speeds in my location would be a gear ratio change. The car has way too much gear in it as-delivered.

 

Nookie,

I don't disagree with anything you say above. Yes, certain people who have the means will always want "more." However, my "editorial" comments here reflect the reality that "more" is really rather silly from a rational standpoint. What good is "more" if you don't have the skill and experience to use it or even the inclination to take it to a track? However, I do understand that being a "stud" at a car show, or having the valet put your car out front at a trendy establishment is important to some.

Obviously, those certain people will always disagree, and car forums like this contain a lot of them. Sadly, many of them end up like Roger Rodas, who also took Paul Walker's life. He thought he could handle it, but he ran out of talent.

 

The rumor I heard was that the Porsche Carerra GT that went up in flames in that event was on old, possibly OEM tires. And had an altered fuel system contributing to the fire. The actual crash speed was not that high in any event.

I think I will just sit back and quietly applaud the achievement in getting over 700 hp in a vette now. It's obviously not for everyone but is an accomplishment nonetheless.