C8 Corvette Track Day at Watkins Glen - Apr 22 2022 - HPDE3 with HPDE2

[@hunterlogan2913]

Looking Good!

[@dougm8050]

Nice drive. Nice video. It may motivate me to head over there from central MA.

[@salvatorecacopardo5460]

Hi Matt : Got the track alignment done and wow what a difference ! I picked up 5 seconds a lap at Watkins , from 2:19.5 to 2:14.4 .

[@mattevans2003]

It helps. You are probably also becoming a better driver too. Don't credit everything to the car.

[@salvatorecacopardo5460]

@@mattevans2003 Your too kind ! Thanks

[@salvatorecacopardo5460]

@@mattevans2003 One more thing , I have been going with Chin Track Days HPED - these guys a a step above 3 hrs run time and they go to many great tracks .

[@redstingraycorvette]

Great driving man can’t wait to get my car been waiting a long time rumors of the ZR one are floating on KZbin now I might wait for the ZR one

[@thomaswelshans7287]

OK looking further at your videos, I see that yours is Z51 equipped.

[@greatwhitenorthcorvette8133]

Great racing! love the PVR in the C8

[@mattevans2003]

Yeah, it's so convenient and really does enable some thinking about how to improve. Key thing I'm focused on at the moment is the braking zone and trail braking into a corner. I realized how much I was tending to charge corners then turn, now I'm trying to finesse those corner entries to achieve better stability and pace.

[@salvatorecacopardo5460]

Hi Matt : I was at Watkins Glen June 30 , what an awesome track . My best lap time was 2:19.06 - Im in a stock non z51 c8 - Hawk brakes DCT 60's and cup 2 tires I put on at the track . ( I put a hitch on the C8 & tow a small tire trailer with tools ) My question is again on track alignment : Did It make a BIG difference than the stock alignment ? I'm wearing out the outside edges in 5 track days on the front tires . What was the cost of the alignment ? Thank you for your help - You are one of the few who use your C8 as I do .

[@mattevans2003]

I'm sold on doing the track alignment but you may not value it for various reasons. The reason I go for the track alignment is partly because of the learning experience i had with my 2016 Camaro SS. I drove this with and without track alignment and kept pushing as I gained experience. I came out of that with a better appreciation of what the tire footprint is doing and how the vehicle dynamics change. I realize the dynamics of the Corvette are somewhat different but the same concepts apply. So from the beginning I was confident that the track alignment would give me more performance and that I would detect and decide if it was too much camber or not. After 10 track days I feel it is right for me. In contrast to this, a person with less or no track time might not actually find any value at all. I would save the cost of the alignment, get some experience and change it after doing enough to get into intermediate group. The main reason is that there is so much to learn before camber becomes a concern. I didn't find the Corvette suffering from understeer on the road like several journalists talked about, so I'm sure it will do just fine on the track without the track alignment, up to a point. The chevrolet dealer near me quoted a lot to get a track alignment so I took it to a shop that does track set ups and they found that it is a difficult and time consuming job to do the alignment. I'll need to look it up but from memory it was about $400 and they should have probably charged more.

[@salvatorecacopardo5460]

@@mattevans2003 : It's time to get the alignment for me . I run intermediate in 3 different groups SCDA , NASA, ERMA . I know this will help shave a few seconds out of a lap . The problem I am having is finding a shop that can do it ? seems like they will need a couple of tools - a digital angle adapter & alignment adapter mounting pins . I do understand it's easily a 400.00 job if not more . Did you get your done in NC ?

[@josephdesimone5761]

Your excessive front tire wear is likely from not enough negative camber. I too have a 2020 C8 Z51 with Cup 2s and Hawk DCT60s and my best at WGI is 2:10.3 . You'll need negative 3.5 camber in the front (this exceeds the factory spec because the Cup 2 is stickier) in the front and negative 2 in the rear. Your front toe should be 0.10 degree positive (toe-in, NOT TOE-OUT). The rear caster needs to be adjusted to 0 degrees. All the best! Joe

[@thomaswelshans7287]

Matt, I was there in my C8 in September `21. Mine is a non Z51 1LT coupe. Had a very scary and wild drive (my first fast laps in my C8). Wasn`t too sure about the stock brakes and I felt a little fade. Is yours a Z51? When I went to Spring Mountain, I found that the Z51 brakes really worked very well. I didn`t get up to 146MPH on the back straight like you did but I did see 130. really enjoyed your PDR footage.

[@marcusrusek]

So, how did you get the track lay out in the upper left display of your PDR ?

[@mattevans2003]

It's a standard part of one of the PDR overlay choices. Either Timing or Track. So go into the PDR stuff via the nav screen then look at the settings available.