Cam Riley

C6 Corvette Lap Times

C7 Grand Sport Fastest Lap Times

C7 Grand Sport Lap Times

2007 C6 Corvette

Corvette number seven. I decided I wanted to build a dedicated track car that was still streetable. There were a few things driving the decision, the main one being tires. After the last track day with the C7 GS, the bill for tires courtesy of wheel size and COVID was 4k. Too much. I wanted to downgrade to a Corvette with smaller wheels. The second reason is that the C7 GS is awesome and was making me fast. I wanted to be a better driver with a less capable car that was not helping me as much. I got that in spades with the C6.

Modifications:

• LG Motorsports G2 Coil Overs
• Morimoto headlights, taillights and sidemarker lights.
• Baer J55/Z51 brake rotors front/back
• Corbeau A4 seats and harnesses
• F1 paddles

I use Powerstop Track Day brake pads when tracking and Baer Brakes Claw brake pads for the street.

2017 C7 Corvette Grand Sport

Corvette number six. I was tracking the Stingray and it was not strong enough as I had issues with the water pump and then oil desaturation. This was the replacement. Added bonus the Grand Sport has a PDR so I can record videos and lap times!

The main advantage of the Grand Sport is that it has all the go faster bits the Z06 does but without the super-charger which was a cause of strain and heat on the Z06 cars. The Grand Sport is the sweet spot for trackable Corvettes.

The Grand Sport had the Z07 package which includes carbon ceramic brakes. Replacing the front pads cost were 1k and to replace the rotors was going to be 20k. I sold the car before the rotors needed replacing. Between the cost of the brakes and tires on the Grand Sport I decided I wanted a strong track car (that wasn't a Miata) with cheaper consumables.

2014 C7 Corvette Stingray

Corvette number five. I bought this in November 2013 when the C7 first began deliveries after all the delays of the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 that led to General Motors going bankrupt and being bailed out by the US government. I had not put a payment down on one, but someone else had, and they ordered a red one, not a black one. I was lucky enough to snap it up before anyone else did.

We drive a lot to Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas. On one trip to San Diego over a fifty mile length the car averaged 39.6 mpg. For most of the trip the car averaged between 34 and 36 mpg, which is impressive from a 6.2L V8. All the LT and LS engines have been economical on the US highways but this is the highest I have seen from any of the vette's I have owned.

I started tracking the Stringray in 2017 but had issues with over heating and oil desaturation. I decided I wanted a factory Corvette with track features which is why I got the Grand Sport.

2005 C6 Convertible

Corvette number four. I felt as someone living in Arizona that I needed to take advantage of the climate and get a convertible. I also wanted to get a low mileage Corvette that would retain its value since I knew the 2014 model year was coming out in a couple of years. I solved all of these problems with this car. It had 6000 miles on the odometer, was a convertible and the LS engine had been chipped for an extra 50 horsepower (450 hp total)

Was the convertible worth it? The honest answer is no. In Arizona there are really only two months when you can drive with the top down. October and maybe March. It is too short a time period to put up with the small luggage space and the other handicaps of a convertible.

When it is October and the top is down, it is wonderful. I did a trip to Yarnell, AZ from Phoenix in October of 2013 and it was a wonderful trip. I had the top down the entire time. Yarnell has some twisties as you climb the mountain before entering the town too. However, you can do that with the targa coupe as well.

2005 C6 Coupe

Corvette number three and the first C6 I owned. The C6 felt more like a muscle car; you sit higher in the cockpit and the C6 is brutish in how it lays down it's horsepower. I thought the seats and interior in the C5 were better than in the C6, though both were lagging in comparison to the C7.

The Coupe has a remarkable amount of space in the trunk. My Corvettes are working Corvettes. They are daily drivers and I have had bean bags, tables, chairs, book cases, trees, etc in the back of the Corvette. At about 80,000 miles this car started to give me issues. The rear axle got messed up, part of engine was askew, and a few other things. It was starting to cost me more money than it was worth, so I replaced it with another C6 that was low mileage.

1999 C5 Coupe

Corvette number two. The C5 is probably best described as a Sports Car. It was lower to the ground - anecdotally - than a C6 or a C4. When you drove the C5 you felt you were in a Le Mans racing car. The downside was that it hit every slight undulation on the road and speed bump in the parking lot. I bought this car after a software project that went through an extended crunch mode. I bought it as a gift to myself for the work I had done.

I used to drive this car between Virginia and New Jersey once a month. I can recall one time being stuck in traffic in Delaware for three hours. The percent oil life remaining went from 80% to 20%. I also drove this car with its big wide tires through a snow storm in Maryland and slushy roads in Morgantown, West Virginia.

This was a lovely, poised, reliable car which I only gave up as it was hitting 100,000 miles. This was also the first Corvette that I replaced the exhaust with Billy Boats Route 66's. They have a great muscle car rumble and roar when you put your foot down. The two C6's I bought after this car also got Billy Boats put on them.

1988 C4 Coupe

Corvette number one. A mate in Virginia was buying summer cars, he would drive them for three months and then sell them off at worst losing a couple of hundred dollars. I decided that was a great idea and bought the C4. I kept it, then sunk money into it: replacing the fuel system, electronics, getting the hood painted and so on and so on.

The C4 became a weekend car. Ultimately I was driving the C5 more often and I ended up selling the C4.