What Went Wrong With The Z06 at Motor Trend’s “Driver’s Car” tests at Laguna Seca Raceway

The Z06 has been getting hammered ever since the Motor Trend’s “Driver’s Car” tests at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Tadge Junchter, Corvette Chief Engineer, addressed exactly what happened with Torque News.

I am going to have to start reading Torque News, because I was not aware how much this site digs into important issues.

Below is a snippet on Torque News and the article is well worth reading.

"General Motors has found that in many cases of 2015 Corvette Z06 owners having overheating issues, there is air in the cooling circuit of the intercooler unit. These air pockets can cause the intercooler to function less efficiently, so before sending the car off to Motor Trend for the driver’s car testing, the car was fully serviced and the intercooler’s coolant system was checked to be clear of air. However, when the technician hooked everything back up after completing the standard check-up, he or she did not correctly hook up the wiring harness for the intercooler unit. It was connected well enough that the Corvette Z06 ran fine leading up to the Motor Trend track tests, but it was loose enough that it caused the intercooler system to fail at times.

This caused the intercooler system of the new Corvette Z06 to stop functioning correctly and when intake air temperatures climbed through the roof, the LT4’s PCM cut power to protect the engine from the high temperatures. As a result, power was greatly reduced, leading to the decreased performance and Pobst comparing the most track capable Corvette to the 1962 Ford Falcon.

In short, because a technician didn’t plug in a harness correctly, the Corvette team got an unnecessary black eye via the poor performance of the C7 Z06 in the Motor Trend top driver’s car contest."