So for a few months now a buddy and I have had new Z06's on order. Specifically, both with the Z07 package. After all the issues I was seeing upon release I cancelled my order for the Z06 and began my search for something else. My buddy kept his order. Long story short, I found a beautiful '13 Gen V Track Pack Viper with almost no miles and picked it up within a week of my buddy picking up his '15 Z06. It's one of the lightest if not the lightest of the Gen V's. Weighs somewhere in the 3250 range.
My buddy's Z with the Viper
Wish I had more pics of the Z but it was getting late and we wanted to take the Z out for a spin.
Many moons ago I was a test driver for a large tire manufacturer and have raced cars all my life. I would not call myself great by any means, but I can at least tell what's going on with a vehicle from a driver's perspective. I bought the Viper so we could bump up a mph class in our open road races without having to do a lot of work to the BPU supra I have been using. So it's with that goal in mind that I'm really writing this review. I thought you guys might find it interesting as I feel VERY lucky and blessed to have driven both. For notes in this review, Viper had the factory Pirelli Corsa P's while the Vette had the factory Michelin Cup 2's.
First, they are both extremely nice, well built cars. You can tell Dodge and GM have really upped the stakes with better materials in the cars overall. Leathers, fit, finish and the overall "tight" feel of both cars are closer to European supercar territory than any American made car has ever come. With that said...they are still COMPLETELY DIFFERENT beasts. The Vette sounds crisp, clean and responsive. The Viper...well, not so much. It sounds more blurbly with slower response just sitting at idle and revving the engine. The Vette easily wins the exhaust note challenge. Under throttle, the Viper screams in your ear while the Z06 sounds more caged and controlled, a muffled high hp V8 that could probably use headers and a little leaner tune.
Acceleration: The Z06 was a manual tranny car. It and the Viper both had no problem finding traction from a roll or a dead. From the get go, the Viper is faster in a straight line. It's way obvious from the driver's seat. In the same distance I had the Z06 measured at about 160mph and the Viper at just over 170mph. Viper engine pulls like a beast, for a NA engine there is an incredible area under the curve, the torque is smooth and constant with no noticeable peaks or dropoff. NONE. The Z pulls even smoother but the kick in the pants is noticeably more constrained than the Viper. It feels burdened. Maybe the weight, maybe the aero. Maybe both. Nothing objective except just noting where these vehicles were at speed vs. road markers and seat of the pants. The Z06 had the full Z07 aero package on the car. You can tell the car gets heavier as you accelerate over 120-130mph. That's where the Viper kept going very strong although the Viper does not feel as stable over that speed. The nose of the Viper needs a splitter (mine is not a TA, but a Track Pack) to keep the nose down. It felt noticeably lighter in steering feel and stability at 150+. One note: The shifter in the Z feels remote, very remote as compared to the Viper. The shifter in the Viper is the best factory shifter of any sports car I've ever driven. The tension is perfect, the precision is spot on and the clutch effort (although maybe light for some drivers) makes shifting the car both easy and phenomenally quick. Z feels longer and more "insulated" from what's actually happening. If you're drag racing both cars as a manual....the Viper is the car.
Steering: The center feel of the Z is definitely tighter. You feel more on top of the steering with a more direct response than the Viper. The Viper is still very tight, but just a notch off. And the Viper has that remote feeling. Don't get me wrong, it's still very racecar like and responds to your input but you can tell it's doing it farther away from you. Going to have to adjust to that. At speed the Z definitely keeps that tight feel whereas the Viper gets a little lighter in the front. It needs front aero work without a doubt to run sustained high speeds.
Overall, the Z wins in the technology department as well as aero and stability. In a straight line you can tell the Viper has it but needs a few thousand dollars in aero work and maybe better tires to tighten the steering a little. I'm pleased with the Viper and I hope I'll be happy with it. If not...I'll find something else. But I'm going to love the experiment. Thanks to my lovely wife. What a blessing she is to let me play with these things.
Summary: The Z is like a REALLY nice, fast housecat. The Viper feels more like a lion that you dumped a bucket of water on while poking it in the butt with a hot stick.
My buddy's Z with the Viper
Wish I had more pics of the Z but it was getting late and we wanted to take the Z out for a spin.
Many moons ago I was a test driver for a large tire manufacturer and have raced cars all my life. I would not call myself great by any means, but I can at least tell what's going on with a vehicle from a driver's perspective. I bought the Viper so we could bump up a mph class in our open road races without having to do a lot of work to the BPU supra I have been using. So it's with that goal in mind that I'm really writing this review. I thought you guys might find it interesting as I feel VERY lucky and blessed to have driven both. For notes in this review, Viper had the factory Pirelli Corsa P's while the Vette had the factory Michelin Cup 2's.
First, they are both extremely nice, well built cars. You can tell Dodge and GM have really upped the stakes with better materials in the cars overall. Leathers, fit, finish and the overall "tight" feel of both cars are closer to European supercar territory than any American made car has ever come. With that said...they are still COMPLETELY DIFFERENT beasts. The Vette sounds crisp, clean and responsive. The Viper...well, not so much. It sounds more blurbly with slower response just sitting at idle and revving the engine. The Vette easily wins the exhaust note challenge. Under throttle, the Viper screams in your ear while the Z06 sounds more caged and controlled, a muffled high hp V8 that could probably use headers and a little leaner tune.
Acceleration: The Z06 was a manual tranny car. It and the Viper both had no problem finding traction from a roll or a dead. From the get go, the Viper is faster in a straight line. It's way obvious from the driver's seat. In the same distance I had the Z06 measured at about 160mph and the Viper at just over 170mph. Viper engine pulls like a beast, for a NA engine there is an incredible area under the curve, the torque is smooth and constant with no noticeable peaks or dropoff. NONE. The Z pulls even smoother but the kick in the pants is noticeably more constrained than the Viper. It feels burdened. Maybe the weight, maybe the aero. Maybe both. Nothing objective except just noting where these vehicles were at speed vs. road markers and seat of the pants. The Z06 had the full Z07 aero package on the car. You can tell the car gets heavier as you accelerate over 120-130mph. That's where the Viper kept going very strong although the Viper does not feel as stable over that speed. The nose of the Viper needs a splitter (mine is not a TA, but a Track Pack) to keep the nose down. It felt noticeably lighter in steering feel and stability at 150+. One note: The shifter in the Z feels remote, very remote as compared to the Viper. The shifter in the Viper is the best factory shifter of any sports car I've ever driven. The tension is perfect, the precision is spot on and the clutch effort (although maybe light for some drivers) makes shifting the car both easy and phenomenally quick. Z feels longer and more "insulated" from what's actually happening. If you're drag racing both cars as a manual....the Viper is the car.
Steering: The center feel of the Z is definitely tighter. You feel more on top of the steering with a more direct response than the Viper. The Viper is still very tight, but just a notch off. And the Viper has that remote feeling. Don't get me wrong, it's still very racecar like and responds to your input but you can tell it's doing it farther away from you. Going to have to adjust to that. At speed the Z definitely keeps that tight feel whereas the Viper gets a little lighter in the front. It needs front aero work without a doubt to run sustained high speeds.
Overall, the Z wins in the technology department as well as aero and stability. In a straight line you can tell the Viper has it but needs a few thousand dollars in aero work and maybe better tires to tighten the steering a little. I'm pleased with the Viper and I hope I'll be happy with it. If not...I'll find something else. But I'm going to love the experiment. Thanks to my lovely wife. What a blessing she is to let me play with these things.
Summary: The Z is like a REALLY nice, fast housecat. The Viper feels more like a lion that you dumped a bucket of water on while poking it in the butt with a hot stick.
haha
