[VIDEO] SavageGeese Explores the Limits of the Corvette Z06 and Porsche’s 911 GT3

SavageGeese, our favorite serious automotive YouTube channel with a misleadingly unserious name, is back with a matchup so great that they aren’t calling it a comparison test. No, 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vs. 2023 Porsche 911 GT3 is “a collaboration that goes beyond rivalry; it is about celebrating sports cars and uniting car enthusiasts, engineers, and the car community as a whole. They serve as a reminder of what is possible when you design a car with passion and purpose.”

Before sinking their hooks into viewers with a beautifully shot side-by-side track sparing session between the two best-sounding cars on the planet, that’s the sentiment that the SG team, as we will be calling them from here on out, kicks everything off with, and it is perfect! Fans and owners of the precious few holdout cars like these shouldn’t be beefing online over trivial differences; they should be banding together over their shared love of machines that put a connection to their driver center stage in an industry that is sprinting further away from everything that these cars represent with each passing day.

After coming out of the gate on fire like a Bond flick, SG slows things down for the long haul. The informative portion of the 40-minute video kicks off with a back-and-forth about the car’s respective interior and exterior designs that feels fair, even if we don’t always agree with all of the nits that are picked on the Z06 that is like a son to us here at Corvette Blogger. Next, the SG put the cars on a lift and take a deeper dive into mechanicals than anyone else ever will. If you want to learn something, this is the channel to watch! They go over every bit and bob of the GT3 and Z06 for more than 12 straight minutes; we’re talking suspension, steering racks, engine, glass thickness, you name it; the attention to detail on display here is commendable! One big standout in this lengthy portion of the vid is the fact that the Z06 has to be a lot of things to a lot of different customers. While our hosts point out that there is a 911 for everyone, the Corvette team had to make the Z capable of competing with this GT3 on track, but it also has to be capable of touring the country in the same league as the 911 Turbo. A tall task, but one that they hit out of the park, though we’d love to see a road-worthy Z06 done in the philosophy of the GT3.

The geek-out session ends around the 18-minute mark, and that’s when we are treated to more of the LT6 siren song that almost drowns out the crew’s driving impressions. Again, for the Z06 and GT3 drives, the presenters are very fair, even though one is a real-deal Corvette owner. The differences between the two high-revving naturally aspirated beasts are interesting, and a lot of what they say does come down to the ‘Vette’s dual-personality capability vs. the Porsche’s more single-minded mission. If you are one of the literal tens of people who might be cross-shopping the Midengined Maniac and Germany’s finest, this is the chapter of the video for you!

Finally, after almost half an hour, it’s time for a main event that both manufacturers took very seriously! Both cars were given two 15-minute lapping sessions on Illinois’ 1.4-mile Autobahn Country Club South Course with fresh – and identical – rubber. They both also came with a crew of engineers and mechanics ready to pitch in wherever and whenever they could, though we couldn’t find that option in the order guide. 2018 IMSA TCR champion, Britt Casey Jr., was tapped to pilot all laps, starting with the Son of Big Nasty. We get to ride along as the hometown favorite sets a PR of 1:27.24 on its 7th lap before Britt takes the keys to the yellow Porsche and heads back out to work on the gloomy midwestern pavement. As we join him for our ride along, previous lap data in the bottom right portion of the screen reveals that the 911 is a picture of consistency and that this is going to be an extremely close fight as both prior laps are revealed to be 1:27.41s. As great as the 911’s 503-horse 4.0 flat-six sounds here, we are also going to take this opportunity to rule in favor of the ‘Vette’s 670 HP 5.5L V8 when it comes to the car’s respective singing voices. After all, thought had been given to aural satisfaction, and our nails had been chewed to nubs, the PDK automatic-equipped and 400-pound lighter and $50,000ish more expensive Porsche ended up stopping the clock in an amazingly close, 1:27.32 good for second place.

The whole exercise closes in interesting fashion as the detail-oriented bunch breaks down the lengths that they went to ensure an equal playing field, including a sit-down with Mr. Casey to shed light on the differences between the two dream machines at speed before regaling us with some thoughtful final notes including tidbits about the Z being the far better street car and having a bigger sense of humor. On a platform that rarely lends itself to intelligence or production value and often seems to reward the exact opposite, SavageGeese delivered a masterclass that is more than worthy of an hour of any Corvette or general gearhead’s time, but they’ve got to do something about that goofy channel name!

Source:
SavageGeese / YouTube

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