📰 Auto News 2010 ZR1 does 0-60 in 3.4!

[Eagle]

What a disgustingly beautiful vehicle!

GM's added launch control to the Corvette ZR1 (and other manual-equipped Corvettes in the lineup!) for the 2010 model year. Good, cause wrangling 638 HP is nigh-on impossible even in a chassis as competent as the one underpinning the 'Vette.

Launch control. On face, it's an anti-manly feature. Using it is an admission of incompetence; You're fundamentally admitting the car is it's own master, and you are only a passenger. Fine. It still makes a tire-shredding drag run ride a hell of an awesome thing. Launch control for the 2010 ZR1 is buried in the traction control options. So how do you do it? Press the traction control button twice and you put the car in performance mode, rock the ZR1-only traction knob once and you're sitting pretty in the performance dry programming.

Now is when all the magic happens. You put the car in first gear and mat the accelerator with the right foot, clutch with the left one. Normally this would mean bouncing the engine off its rev limiter and being a total prick to all the internal components, but in the ZR1 the engine bounces off the 5000 RPM mark then settles in right at the 4000RPM mark. With that 6.2 liter supercharged monster serenading you, the next step is to do what you're taught to never ever do with a manual transmission car — dump the clutch with extreme prejudice. It feels wrong, but it delivers results that are oh so right.

For the controls engineer in us, this next part is like magical happy land. To provide launch control, the car starts by measuring wheel spin. By measuring fleeting instances of wheel spin, it determines the surface friction available and the maximum amount of torque the wheels can handle at a given speed, it then sends a torque request to the engine which delivers the maximum power exactly by modulating fuel and spark for every instant of torque demand. It's a beautiful feedback loop which delivers crushing performance.

It's definitely fast, but it's very dependent on the driver too. Dog the clutch release and the car will bog down and only deliver a 4 second 0-60MPH time. Shameful. But if you let if go just right, like we did, you'll see a crushing, blistering, surreal times of only 3.48 seconds (Ben's being somewhat modest here. He had the best time of the day and best of all the auto journalists in attendance — Ed.). Considering the ZR1's quoted time with an experienced pro-driver behind the wheel is 3.4 seconds, this is as close to perfect as you can possibly get.

Of course, you can easily defeat the whole system and still get the "oh-my-god-this-car-is-trying-to-kill-me-but-this-is-awesome" experience, but you won't be beating every single car you line up against.

See the full article here

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[PANDA]

Is the warranty still good if you use the launch control???

 

[Eagle]

It better be!

 

[OffshoreDrilling]

Is the warranty still good if you use the launch control???

I havent heard a good stab at the GTR in a while

 

[Riski]

AWESOME!.....Still cant afford it haha

 

[Eagle]

So anyways, like I said in the other thread mistakenly....

I'd sell my left and right nuts for that car, it's not like I need them anymore!

 

[Riski]

Id replace mine with chewed up bubble yum.....Maybe in 10 yrs I can pick one up....

 

[Primalzer]

Aside from the addition of the Grand Sport model, the biggest upgrade to the 2010 Chevrolet Corvette lineup is arguably the addition of launch control. The Corvette is by no means the first sports car to get launch control, but judging from our first impression of it this week, it may well be the best system out there.

Unlike a certain Japanese competitor, General Motors' Corvette chief Tadge Juechter made it eminently clear this week that use of the car's launch control will in no way kill your warranty. In fact, he explained that while a highly skilled driver could potentially beat the launch control system by a bit, the vast majority of drivers will find themselves getting of the line much more quickly and with markedly better consistency. Let's take a look at how the system works after the jump.

For 2010, all manual transmission Corvettes from the base model up to the ZR1 get Chevy's new launch control system. For now, at least, buyers of automatics will have to continue either managing their own wheelspin or let the traction control do it. Launch control is essentially a special mode of the traction control system designed to optimize acceleration from a standing start on high mu surfaces (roads with a coefficient of friction). The basic problem is that traction control tries to minimize the amount of wheel slip. Accelerating quickly always requires some degree of wheel slip, as utilizing the available grip of dry pavement requires having the engine revving near the peak of its torque curve.



During traditional traction control, when the system detects wheel spin, it can pull the engine torque down out of the best part of the torque band which can result in bogging. The problem is that slip control systems look at the way the wheels respond to torque inputs to try and detect what kind of surface the car is on. If the surface detection is off a bit, the system will restrict slip excessively, causing the aforementioned bogging down. Conversely, if it thinks the car is on a high traction surface when it isn't, it can allow too much slip.

Some other cars require the driver to jump through all sorts of hoop to engage launch control. For example, the Audi R8 requires pressing several different switches in the right sequence, pressing the brake, flooring the throttle and then releasing the brake. The Corvette, on the other hand, is a piece of cake: Put the traction control in 'competitive mode,' floor the throttle and then dump the clutch. Flooring the gas is the key. The launch control system looks at the throttle input and if it goes from zero to wide open throttle in less than a pre-defined time, it assumes the driver is looking to make a fast getaway.

When that happens while the car is standing still, the engine revs up to about 4,000 rpm and just stays there. At that point, the driver can just side-step the clutch and the car takes off with some controlled wheel spin. As the Vette accelerates, you can hear the engine giving off a rather unflattering belching, farting exhaust note, but the speed just climbs steadily and rapidly. During normal traction control usage, the system uses a combination of throttle manipulation, spark retardation and fuel shutoff to manage engine torque to the desired output. Some brake application is also used to control wheelspin side-to-side.

During launch control, only the spark and fuel control is used. The throttle is held steady because of the lag in response and since the time span for launch control is so short that it isn't needed. The response time for torque to change with throttle manipulation can be up to half a second. Spark and fuel adjustments can bring torque adjustments in in 10-15 milliseconds, and those tinkerings are what give the odd exhaust note.

So how well does the system work? Phenomenally well. We sampled launch control in a 2010 ZR1 on GM's "Black Lake" vehicle dynamics area. The asphalt on the pad is about 15 years old and not terribly grippy unlike the much newer pavement on proving ground's north-south straightaway, but it was all we had to work with. We started off with a best effort launch with the traction control completely off. We were able to achieve a good, smooth launch and clean getaway, feathering the throttle along the way without bogging, recorded a 4.06 second 0-60 mph time as seen on our Racelogic Vbox.

After a lap around the pad that allowed everything to cool, we came to a stop and switched on the Corvette's launch control. Flooring the gas, we waited momentarily for the revs to settle in and then dropped the clutch. Off we went, bursting to a 3.72 second run to 60 mph. Two subsequent runs matched that time within 0.01 seconds. A highly experienced driver might be able to top those times, by a bit – but we reckon that few would be able do it as consistently launch after launch.

All this, with a full factory warranty!

 

[Poopshinanigans]

GM does some things right. unfortunately it's in cars few of us can afford.

 

[Turk]

GM does some things right. unfortunately it's in cars few of us can afford.

For 130k, they still can't seem to match the paint on the hood to the rest of the car, even in a press picture. WTF!

 

[blakbearddelite]

So anyways, like I said in the other thread mistakenly....

I'd sell my left and right nuts for that car, it's not like I need them anymore!

You'd have to take testosterone shots if you lost your nuts. I guess you could ask Sara, I'm sure she could tell you that you need both of them to stay a man.

 

[Eagle]

Uhm, this I know. It was more a figure of speech than anything else. You can quit worrying about my nuts now!

 

[Riski]

 

[Primalzer]

For 130k, they still can't seem to match the paint on the hood to the rest of the car, even in a press picture. WTF!

Yeah I've heard that this is a pretty common problem, because of the two different materials of the body and the hood. You'd assume that even if they are two different materials a company like GM would be able to blend or modify the paint so that they look closer. But it also might just be the angle as well, and looking at it more dead on might make it look better. And for $130K I would've liked to have an interior that has different pieces than a $30K car.

 

[Turk]

Yeah I've heard that this is a pretty common problem, because of the two different materials of the body and the hood. You'd assume that even if they are two different materials a company like GM would be able to blend or modify the paint so that they look closer. But it also might just be the angle as well, and looking at it more dead on might make it look better. And for $130K I would've liked to have an interior that has different pieces than a $30K car.

Bingo.

 

[blakbearddelite]

You can quit worrying about my nuts now!

I know, they're safe and sound in Sara's purse.




EDIT: Just in case you didn't think that was a joke. Sara lets you get away with murder...

 

[Rebel]

Doesn't the 09 zr1 go 0-60 in 3.3 seconds?

 

[EmersonHart13]

I'd drive the wheels off of it. Car is amazing!

 

[Bru]

Doesn't the 09 zr1 go 0-60 in 3.3 seconds?

If it could it was in the hands of a professional driver. With launch control, which is what was used to get 3.4, that can be done by any idiot with a heavy foot.

 

[bluzohh6]

The car is awesome, the different materials are nearly impossible to match, and the interior comments are lame, because I don't know about you guys but if I were to buy this car the last thing id be looking at as im doing 200+ is how I don't like the stitching on the seat, or the faux leather dash. Go to Chicago Motor Cars. They have a Gray one on the show room floor. The comment I literally made when I was in there is wow the interior is a lot better than everyone makes it out to be.

 

[Riski]

That car is bad ass....When I get the winning lotto ticket Id buy a few to beat on!

 

[Turk]

Its the same interior they put in every Corvette isn't it? It's not good. For 130k, the car deserves a better interior. Compare the interior to that of a Porsche GT3, which has a more expensive motor.

 

[Riski]

I dont think they need to change it up too much...Id like to see suede in the middle of the seats instead of leather....Add a lot of carbon fiber on the dash and shifter and be done...

 

[Bru]

Most Corvette buyers -- whether buying for performance or just because of the name -- don't really care about interior quality. But it is one of the lacking attributes of the car.

 

[Eagle]

I was @ Gary Lang the other day, they had a red ZR1 there. Said they were selling it the next day for $170,000.