2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 First Test

Our resident hot shoe Randy Pobst idles back into the pits in the Z06. It's turned into a humid, 85-degree afternoon here at Road Atlanta -- we'd spent the morning in the garages waiting out a rainstorm -- and the white car with the black wheels and black wings looks purposeful against the tarmac and bright green trees. Pobst gets out, and the small group of Chevrolet engineers approaches, eager to hear his thoughts. Impatient for our data acquisition hardware's results, they'd been timing his laps on their phones: 1:30.17, 1:30.21, 1:30.67. One of Pobst's thoughts: "The power felt great. Honestly, I want another hundred more. It's stable enough. You don't feel threatened."

It's a strange comment when you consider the last-generation ZR1, whose powerband made you keenly aware of its awesome potential. During our 2009 Best Driver's Car test at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Pobst said, "It's one of the very few cars I've ever driven here where I didn't want to keep my foot down over Turn 1." This new Z06 not only generates more power, making it the most powerful vehicle General Motors has ever produced, but this white one Pobst just exited also has an automatic and a removable roof. It's also available as a convertible. And Pobst wants more power. The world's gone mad.

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Tadge Juechter, the chief engineer of Corvette, is in the group. Earlier he told us the automatic gearbox and roofless construction were part of the goal, but supplanting the ZR1 wasn't. They'd started with a high-revving, big-displacement "spinner" V-8 like the 7.0-liter in the last Z06, but they couldn't hit emissions targets. So they hit reset and started again with a supercharger. It's a compact Eaton TVS Roots-type unit, smaller in displacement and more compact than the blower atop the ZR1's mill. Versus that engine, at 650 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque, the Z06's LT4 V-8 makes more power (12 hp and 46 lb-ft of torque), weighs 33 pounds less, and employs direct injection and cylinder deactivation.

Advancements in aluminum construction permitted a stronger chassis that doesn't suffer a performance penalty when you remove the roof. It is heavier, though. The Z06 we tested had a Z07 package ($7,995 for carbon-ceramic brakes, third-stage aero package, and gumball tires) and a seven-speed manual. At 3,533 pounds on our scales, it has gained 189 pounds versus the last ZR1 we tested.

That new eight-speed automatic must add more, right? Nope, it appears to be the product of the Have Your Cake and Eat It Department. Chevy engineers looked into twin-clutch gearboxes but couldn't find one that withstood the torque output, fit the packaging constraints, or met weight targets. They built an automatic that would, and the remarkably compact result weighs only 8 pounds more than the manual. With faster and more aggressive shifts, a wider ratio spread, and a tall eighth gear (1,200 rpm at 60 mph), it benefits both performance and fuel economy. It also helps produce an utterly satisfying bark on full throttle upshifts.

The Z06 appears to be the product of the Have Your Cake and Eat It Department.

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Leave the transmission to its own devices in Track mode, and it makes impeccable gear selections, even finding speed by shifting in places you normally wouldn't. Road Atlanta's Turn 3 at race speed puts two wheels in the air. You want to downshift for the next corner, but this isn't the time to take one hand off the wheel. "Consistently I'd go over the bump," Pobst said. "The landing is sweet, so sweet -- and I'd go to the power and say 'Whoa!' I was not expecting to be in that low of a gear, but it put the power to the ground." The automatic makes the shift in the air.

While the automatic makes the Z06 the faster car, limited vehicle availability meant we could only run performance tests on a manual. As with the last-gen ZR1, launch control is more consistent but ultimately slower. Exercise some patience, find the right amount of tire chatter, and you'll reach 60 mph in 3.2 seconds and the quarter mile in 11.3 seconds at 126.2 mph. Peak stopping performance -- 91 feet from 60 mph -- remains as absurdly low as the last ZR1's, and all stops during this test stayed under 100 feet.

Would it be shocking to call the Z06's lateral capabilities more impressive than its acceleration? Its 22.5-second lap on the figure eight is the second-fastest production car we've tested behind the Porsche 918's 22.2 seconds; the Z06's 1.16 average lateral g is the highest we've seen from anything that wasn't a race car. Credit the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires included in the Z07 package. Their bare shoulders have small "vestigial" tread marks, per Juechter, and their combined section width totals 4.1 feet. With my right knee and elbow against the tunnel, my left against the door, it felt like driving a Tilt-A-Whirl.