Thanks for sharing. I've never driven a Corvette. A friend just took delivery of a 50th anniversary edition.

I do like the similarity between the original Corvettes and our S2000.

 

Street tires Quikag (btw, saw a silver Z06 out here in Cali with that license plate - well QWIKAG :-).

But race tires shouldn't change the balance of the car, only the grip level. You couldn't really push the car into a corner. It was more of a point and shoot drive. And it felt very "herky-jerky" to drive - the components/controls just didn't mesh well at 10/10ths. Still a great car, and the owner was scared shitless even at 8/10ths (said he was getting sick), so its got more than enough capability for most people. Never felt unsafe or unstable either.

Its just that there are some cars, the Miata standing out foremost (followed by cars like the S2K) that just _work_. You get in and go. The C5 didn't feel that way. As I said, I'm sure the Z06 is a sharper tool, but I don't know if the control interfaces are improved at all.

UL

 

Very interesting with the license plate. Very similar to my personalized plate.

I agree that tires should change the balance, but going to race tires really allows you to explore the very high limits of the chassis. Do you know if this guy had the base, electronic, or performance Z51 suspension? My Z51 suspension is great and I really feel no disconnect between the interfaces and what the car does. Not doubting what you experienced, but I find it out. The C5 has a lot of thrust, but it's definitely not just a point and shoot kind of road course car.

That said, the feel between a Miata/S2k and a C5 are fairly evident. The Miata/S2k responds more instantly to input, while the C5 is more deliberate, but still plenty quick and tossable, just in a heavier way. That is because the C5 is heavier and bigger in all exterior dimensions. Duh.

Another thing is that you probably weren't familiar with the Corvette (obviously). Did you have any electronic stability on like the active handling or traction control? That would definitely cause the "herky-Jerky" motions you experienced.

I wish you lived in the area, I'd love to take you out for a session at a local roadcourse in my Coupe (not even a Z06) and show you the capabilities of the car.

In my hundreds of miles of sessions, I've been consistenly outgunned by another C5 with a very skilled driver running Hoosier racing slicks and quite a few mods, a 996 TT with slicks, and a totally race-prepped E36 M3. That's it. Of course, most driver's are more sane than I. I get that 'red mist' thing going when I'm on a track and become extremely competitive.

 

Drove it with stability control on and off. It had the Z51 suspension according to the owner - I didn't know you could get that on the convertible, but I'll take his word for it. Very predictable, just required very deliberate driving and lots of patience - feedback was largely visual.

I've spent plenty of track time in the company of Vettes running in the "Red" (fastest) run group. Running on Toyo RA-1s, it usually goes something like this (on fast wide open tracks) vs. good drivers on race tires. Twisty section - rapidly catch up. Long straight - lose 5-6 car lengths. Twisties, catch back up. With the Z06's, I don't make up much, if any ground in the corners and then lose even more on the straight. On tighter twistier tracks, the LS1's rarely get to stretch their legs.

 

Yes, you can get Z51 in the convertible, no problem. I guess going from an S2k to a C5 can be quite a change in 'feel' so I'll stop with that.

I autocross with the S2k club here in Dallas as well as a few other clubs in addition to my roadracing and the S2k is a worthy competitor on the autocross course, but I have never had much problem with any S2k on a roadcourse even in the twisties. I'm not necessarily pulling away from them in the twisties, but they're not gaining any significant ground. On the straight stretches, it's a bloodbath.

 

That's a very fair report. The car IS hella fast, (I just won 6 pulls with 3 different 03 Cobras in my bone stock 2002 coupe this past weekend) but the power is VERY smooth...almost to the point of being unimpressive unless you watch the speedo wrap around while you're on it.

Leather is thin to drop weight, and therefore softer, but easily damaged. they corrected this in later years.

The tranny is a nice tremacT56. the "bad" feel is due to the shift lever, a very popular piece to mod out. Still, the S2000 tranny will feel better any way you cut it.

 

With equal drivers I don't care what track you are on, a C5 is gonna smoke an S2K or a 350Z like I drive (just showing I am not trying to put down the S2K). C5 has huge torque to pull off corners on slow speed tracks and huge HP to run down the straights on high speed tracks. I highly doubt the C5 gives up any cornering speed to an S2K.

I also don't know how anyone can say an S2K has more headroom than a C5. I can't even wear a helmet in an S2k, but haveabout 2" of headroom with my helmet on in a C5.