speedfreak81

I'm the Vette guy, just to clear that up. Long time member on this forum, almost bought an 211 E55 and an old C43 back in the day so that's why I'm here....no troll.

Wanted to ask you guys' advice on this matter. I have a former co worker that just picked up a used SL65 and wants to race. I've got a 2008 LS3 6spd manual Vette with a tune that should be good for 117-119mph through the traps. I am pretty sure I'm going to get beat, but is there anything I can do to minimize the gap? IE: any certain speeds that would be a dead spot I could get him at? I know these monsters make MASSIVE amounts of torque, would getting him out of the hole be better than trying to take him on from a roll? I probably won't have room to go much over 100, which is unfortunate because 150+ is where I could possibly see me being able to pull back on him.

Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

-Brian

NSM

Your only shot is a hard launch.

Am now stepping away from the thread as others start the vette bashing...

jmf003

Well, personally I think GM has come a long, long way with the C5 and C6 Vettes. I hope they keep it going.

That said, Speedfreak, your best chances to win are to race him on a road course (the tighter the better) or to make an appointment with your local Vette tuner. Stage 3 cylinder heads with a really hot cam and an ecu tune should be enough, although it never hurts to open open the intake and exhaust a bit more.

TMC M5

I am not sure you would be able to get him at any speed. If he is a novice...and arrogant...he might think he could beat you by being in drive and let the car downshift on a roll..say about 30mph....he will lose about .3-.5 sec....however if he downshifts into 1st gear with the car on boost...he will slowly walk you. SL65's generally should trap into the low 120's in good weather. With the SL65's torque advantage (and assuming no wheelspin by either car on launch) that usually means the other car is playing catch-up from a dig. So it would take a 123-124 Vette to catch it. Now that the weather has gotten a bit colder, my CL65 loves the speeds over 100mph (in Mexico...of course) and the acceleration doesn't seem to tapper off as much as you would think (which I have been able to quantify in my acceleration runs up to 150mph+). If your friend bails...let me know.

Tom

speedfreak81

Tom,

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it! This guy is cocky and arrogant....so there's a chance he might do exactly what you said. I don't expect to win....just looking for a little edge to keep it somewhat close. I'll report back and see what happens.

JAYCL600

Where in NOVA are you?

speedfreak81

I'm in Fairfax city, but actually just bought a house out in Gainesville that I'll be moving into in the next couple weeks. Trying to join up? If you see a vette running around in that new jetstream blue color.....it's probably me, I haven't seen another one yet.

You don't by chance hang around or go to MIR with some of the guys from the BMW forum do you? My buddy Matt (who lives in MD) who drives a montego blue Procede 335i hits MIR for track rentals and said there was a guy with an SL600 that was a BEAST.

Thanks for all the replies too. Like I said, I don't expect to win, just trying to get any edge that I can.

-Brian

alx

your chances are up to 60-70 (if you can out-dig the heavy merc) and above 140-150 when the 5-speed auto with long gears slows down despite the 700+ pounds of tq..

just my 2 cents..

alex
few cars

TMC M5

I thought even the Z06's have problems with Vette's tall gearing above 150mph.

Tom

ItalianStallion

Yeah, there's a dead spot once you shift into 5th gear in the Z06. After about 170 or so it picks back up speed and it'll pull nicely to right around 200.

I think a tuned LS3 Vette will be a nice race for the SL65 but the SL will just walk it at basically all speeds. If you go with an intake, headers, and a camshaft you'll take the SL. Especially since you use Cartek . But in your current state, the big brute is just too much for you. Good luck, have fun, and drive smart.

speedfreak81

This is pretty much what I figured, that I will get a slow, steady pull on me all the way through the race. Even being so much lighter, I just don't have enough power in current form. Oh well, it will be fun anyway.

An intake, good set of Long tube headers and a cam from cartek, once tuned should make over 500 at the wheels, and would put me close to 130mph through the traps.....more than enough to smoke an SL65. The car is brand new though, and the wife isn't too keen on me doing mods that will void the warranty just yet.

-Brian

JAYCL600

yep i know your buddy Matt, my biz partner and I host those track rentals at MIR, we have one coming up 10/14 and 11/15 and it would be great to have you come out and make some runs, invite your buddy with the SL65
Jason

speedfreak81

I figured that might be you, Matt is a good buddy of mine. Unfortunately whenever he calls me to try to get me to attend, they have been during the week when I can't take off work. I see that the one on 11/15 is a Saturday, so there is a possibility that I could make that one. I haven't run at MIR in probably 6 or 7 years though. I quit going there and have since gone almost exclusively to Cecil County. I've heard they renovated MIR though and that it hooks much better.

JAYCL600

mir is suuuuuper sticky

LIONHEAD

I see you had some work done by Cartek. I almost bought their Stage II Heads/Cam package for my previous C5 but ended up with A.R.E. H/C. Cartek does great work.

speedfreak81

A.R.E.....now there's a blast from the past. Are they still in business? I know they had some past problems, and almost shut down.

Cartek does EXCELLENT work, and any work I "have" to have done I will have done by them. Most work, I do myself though.

-Brian

LIONHEAD

LOL...No Doubt. I think I remember MattG telling me a couple of months ago they did shutdown if I remember correctly. When I use to attend the local CF gatherings, one of our guys had the Cartek heads (C5R block?) and cam and it was a beast.

speedfreak81

Yeah I don't really know what happened with them. They were a top notch operation for YEARS. They ran into some bad times and unfortunately resorted to some pretty shoddy business practices, which bit them in the ****. Nick tried to make things right a few years back, but unfortunately I think the damage had been done. There are so many speed shops throughout the country, you really have to earn and build your reputation. With the internet and message boards the way they are, it doesn't take long for bad press to reach the masses. Unfortunately for the shop, when this happens I just think many people are leary of them, and go elsewhere. This same thing happened recently with a shop down in NC called C.A.M. (Carolina Auto Masters) The owner/tuner Jeff Creech was/is very well known throughout the community. One of his employees apparently took a customers car out for a joy ride and wrecked it after their supercharger install. The way Jeff went about trying to "make things right" was apparently sub par, and he ended up getting slandered all over the CF for it. Events like this will no doubt cost an operation dearly.

Anyways........sorry for the OT rant, I was on a roll I guess.

-Brian

LIONHEAD

Ahh....Yes....I know what you mean. Although I haven't heard about C.A.M. as I haven't been checking the CF as much since I sold the C5, my friend's Vette shop use to be a sponser on the CF. Well, after customer complaints about minor things such as the dyno number after install was off by 10HP or it's taking longer than expected for install (things happpen), people started posting then snowballed to people who never been to the shop started talking smack because they're a customer of the shop down the street....etc, etc, etc.

After your post, now I remember what happened to ARE. MattG said Nick was a standup guy (at least that was what I was told) but he got out of the business and started to run a I.T. or something with computers business. I registering with CF in 98 or 99 and can't believe how big it has grown since. I remember the days of MattG, Snowman and RamAirTony.