The Corvette Z06 This Car Means Business

I’m sitting in the Corvette Z06, the angry older brother of the Stingray. This has a 500 KW (670 hp), 5.5 litRe flat plane crank V8. This LT6 configuration with titanium internals has a red line of 8600 RPM and it is the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 ever fitted to a production car. This press model is sporting serious aerodynamics in all carbon, splitter, canards, full floor for ground effect, and one of the largest wings you’ve ever seen. This model included the carbon race brake package with dayglow yellow calipers. Believe it or not, there is an 07 upgrade package, which makes it a Z07 with even more aero, lightweight wheels, GM’s brilliant magnetic suspension and more.

You know this car means business, with its low-slung, swoopy appearance – it looks extremely formidable. Slung on vast boots, with almost 700 millimetres of rubber out back. Edgy angles and sweeping curves, to say it’s impressive looking is an understatement, but the words I need aren’t printable. One of the best features of this car is the removable carbon roof panel. It’s an easy process to remove and the rear trunk is large enough to store it securely.

The driver’s view is excellent with a wide vista and heads up display. The A pillars are chunky and obscure certain corners, yet that’s just the reality of driving a low, strong, aerodynamic car with no front engine. Mostly you can see the road incredibly well with the wheel arches reminding you that the front end does exist, and it’s superglued to the road.

The interior is predominantly shared with its younger sibling, and that’s a good thing, with stitched leather and quality surfaces throughout. This model takes it to the next level with incredible GT3 seats, carbon steering wheel, paddles and inserts everywhere, then the Alcantara, and there’s plenty of that as well. It’s not all track-based insanity here, the seats are comfortable and ventilated, which is great in summer and on a road trip, and there’s a mobile phone charger, USB ports and a 12V socket. Yet it’s a full-on cockpit in here. Everything is within the driver’s reach, and the arms-length right-sized infotainment doesn’t try to take over the world. You don’t need to use it when you’re driving, because there’s buttons – Corvette has the balance right for the driver here. The Bose sound system is superb, yet I found myself using it sparingly when I had the opportunity to hear that V8 sing.

Nose lift is becoming standard on super-low supercars. The Z06 is only millimetres from the ground, yet it never touched once. GPS remembers where you lift and does it for you next time as well. Brilliant. Cameras keep the expansive body work safe. Wing mirror rear vision is surprisingly good and rather pleasing as you look over the massive haunches and the wing, the size of a single bed. Centre rear vision is a little meagre, as you look through two layers of glass, past an engine. The camera does a decent job here, though. Drive modes include Weather, Tour, Sport and Track (where all sense of reality is thrown in the bin). Each setting progressively sharpens up steering, brakes, suspension, exhaust, and car control features. Passengers in the car reported a sense of comfort from both seats and handling. They reported it felt confident and anchored. The multi-mode digital dashboard works well, and the heads-up display means you barely need to look away from the road. It also packs a lap data recorder, G-force meter, launch control and accelerometer so you can lay down 1-100 times.

In my recent article, I waxed lyrical about how practical the Stingray is for a supercar. The Z06 is a different matter, sitting at a higher level in the pantheon of performance. There’s no question that this car belongs on a track. It looks and goes very much like General Motors’ ultimate go-fast car. I retraced my recent steps in the Z06 to get a comparison. Well…. this is not a GT, it’s not a quiet tourer. This wants to live in the corners. It can shrug off high speeds, but this car lives for high G-force where it can push the Michelin rubber to the limit of 1.16 g lateral or higher if you move to the grade up rubber.

On my two-day, 500 kilometre trip, it drove brilliantly, featuring ample storage with two boots, which is ridiculous for a mid engine supercar. That front trunk is enormous, absorbing my overnight bag and all my motorcycle gear (more on that in another story). As I experienced six months ago, a Corvette gets a huge amount of attention. Anytime you park it, you come back to crowds of people. At one stage, more than 20 people stood around it.

Driving is a feast of traction. The back end is mostly settled if you moderate the throttle. The only thing to get it to move around is to overwhelm it with grunt. But it’s ultra predictable, so I was never caught out. The front end is rock solid with all that downforce, making it very pointy. Not once in the Coromandel did it lose its way. On the dewy roads, the very stiff chassis and responsive suspension, which firms up as you move modes, make for excellent natural road holding. Only once did I see the traction control indicator come on briefly during intentional hard braking into a tight downhill turn. These are the best carbon brakes I’ve used on-road. Pleasingly progressive action, like steel without fade. Blimey, do they haul you into a quick stop. I recorded 1.15 g before ABS kicked in. Replace the tyres, and it will go harder again. There’s a saying that you can only drive as fast as your brakes will allow you, so this is a very fast car. The excellent DCT eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox can hit 100 km/h in second gear, so eight speed may seem almost like overkill, yet close ratio gear changes + high revs = maximum use of torque, and this car isn’t designed to stick to a limit. The transmission is rather clever and gives you a healthy dose of slip on any takeoff, meaning that you are almost always in launch control levels of takeoff. The torque delivery is so brutal that it very happily spins up the rear tires, making it harder to test the all-out acceleration. I clocked 3.0. I know it can go faster.

I liked the car so much that when I had the opportunity to attend the New Zealand Landspeed Association Event, I took the Corvette Z06. I parked square in the middle of the paddock and again it got an audience. The event is held annually in the Waikato and attracts amazing cars and motorcycles of all ages. Two earlier generation Corvettes took part. As I had arguably the hottest looking vehicle there, everyone asked me if I was going to do a speed run. I didn’t this time but I do know that this car is more than capable of the 300+ club. Watch this space.

Last year I had the opportunity to drive the Z07 on Melbourne’s Sandown raceway. What became clear was that this car could just go faster and faster, I was the limiting factor. It could take oodles of kerb with its lightweight carbon rims and stopping capability is incredible. By the time cars get above about 300 kW, they are next to unmanageable for mortals without moving to four-wheel drive. Corvette is not concerned by mortals. Mortals will not buy this car. This is for legends. That said, the driver aids of traction control and stability do a good job if you reach the limit in this car, which is extremely hard to do.

The Z06 is a razor-sharp track car – anything but your everyday, practical supercar like the Stingray. This is your track weapon. Angry, brooding, aggressive, purposeful. If the Stingray is an all-purpose knife, then the Z06 is a sledgehammer driven scalpel. It’s incredibly hard to fault this car. Just accept that it’s not your daily driver. It’s so potent it’s almost frustrating, because it’s like a race horse that won’t sit still. This sits in your portfolio as your angriest, wildest track car with a wink to being road legal and a thumbs up for driver comfort. Nothing about this car is average. It’s fundamentally exceptional. There is a rumour that when Corvette wanted to knock everybody’s socks off with this car, they analysed a Ferrari 458, especially the engine internals, aiming to make a car that was as good. And they’ve done it. This is America’s Ferrari.