Corvette Enthusiasts “Do the Math” to Calculate the Corvette Z06 Nurburgring Time

One of the modern validation points for benchmarking performance among sports car fans has become the car’s ability to put down a fast lap around the 12.9 mile Nurburgring in Germany. The Corvette Z06 has been there two years in row and in each occasion, the ability to lay down a complete timed lap was thwarted by the weather.

During a recent Question and Answer session hosted by Jalopnik with Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter, Tadge said they would only make public a fast lap that was complete and captured on video as opposed to offering a pieced-together “segmented time” which is what he says was all they have due to the weather. Of course, crashing the Z06 on the ‘Ring doesn’t help either.

Tadge said the Corvette Z06’s lap time at VIR’s Grand Course was 2:41.3, beating the C6 ZR1 by 4.3 seconds and then he threw down the challenge about the Nurburgring time which has been accepted by several members of the Corvette Forum – Do the Math!

Corvette Forum member dio55 picks up the challenge first and offers a fair amount of commentary about why Tadge may have chosen to answer the question:

First of all let’s examine what’s going on here, he is on an online Q&A session at Jalopnik . He chooses which questions he wishes to answer . He ignores 90% of the questions but deliberately decides to answer a question on “ring times”

He gives his answer then SKIPS a line and says DO THE MATH, remember this is not a live interview so his answer was well thought through . He knows the ramifications, and his word is the last word on the cars performance . Guys in his position don’t just “throw things out there ” he WANTED us to know this he wanted this out there …so lets do the math

So dio55 does the math:

ZR1 Nurburgring time − (Nurburgring length÷VIR grand course length)×(Z07 VIR grand course time−ZR1 VIR grand course time)

7:19.63−{(12.9÷4.2)×4.3}

7:19.63−13.2 = 7:06.43

Estimated Nurburgring time …..7:06.43

Other Corvette Forum members chime in and some have different conclusions based on the differences in the track layout and surface as well so the another member named jsiddall stepped up with this calculation:

However there is more than one way to do the math. Another way is to apply the ratio of the two car’s times.

VIR times:
Z06: 2:41.3
ZR1: 2:45.63

Ratio:
97.39%

ZR1 Nurburgring time:
7:19.63

Projected Z06 time based on ratio above: 7:08.13

Unfortunately the two runs at VIR were not done on the same surface. Applying a typical 2 second per lap disadvantage to the Z06 turns the Z06 Nurburgring lap into: 7:13.44

The other thing that is harder to correct for is the aero advantage of the Z06 in the corners vs. the ZR1s high speed aero advantage. Since there is no data there I can’t see a good way to adjust for it so everyone can make their own guesses. One thing to keep in mind though is that the C6 Z06 was proportionally slower around VIR than the Nurburgring compared to the ZR1. It is possible that the aero on the C7 Z06 won’t hurt its Nurburgring time compared to the ZR1 like some people think, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a good run in the new Z06 come in under 7:10.

So there you have it. By “doing the math”, Corvette enthusiasts believe the 2015 Corvette Z06’s Nurburgring time to fall under 7:10 with an estimated fast lap time somewhere between 7:06.43 to 7:08.13.

Your move Tadge!

Source:
Corvette Forum

Related:
Jalopnik Hosts a Q&A with Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter
[POLL] What Will the Corvette Z06′s Nurburgring Time Be?
[VIDEO] More Sounds of the 2015 Corvette Z06 at the Nurburgring
[VIDEO] 2015 Corvette Z06 Spotted Testing at the Nurburgring; Update: Did it Crash During Testing?