Father-Son Z06 Road Trip

[Michael A Riley]

So my 17 year old son and I left our home in Oklahoma at 5 am this morning, headed to watch the 12 Hours of Sebring. Yes, we are driving our new Z06.

Since I was suffering from food poisoning on our trip home from museum delivery, my wife did almost all of the driving that day.. Today is my first normal, extended driving experience in this car (multiple hours).

I am not a big guy by any means, but one thing I’ve noticed is that my 3LZ seats fit a little tight in the sides. After fidgeting with the buttons a bit, it loosened up. Mine are the standard seats that come with the 3LZ- I did not change them. After getting the settings just right, it is quite a comfortable ride. We are about eleven hours into our road trip and my back is fine.

I know we all know this already, but these Z06’s are NOT fuel efficient by any stretch of the imagination. I have been in tour mode thus far and have an average today of 17 mpg.

We got pulled over by the Arkansas Drug Task Force just outside of Little Rock this morning. He said he was reminding me to not drive in the left lane unless passing. What I wanted to say, was “I’m going to be passing everyone, so can I please just stay in the left lane?”…but I kept my thoughts to myself.😂

We just stopped to fuel up again, and now it’s my son’s turn to drive for a bit. We will see how long I can wait to be back behind the wheel!

[Nasty2ss]

Very cool.Enjoy your time in that beast, and be safe

[John]

What great pictures and what an adventure you two are having. Thank you for sharing its beginnings with us. I see you cropped out the gasoline tanker truck following behind you. It started out your trip full. I hope it gets you to Sebring before it is empty.. During the period of time after the Z06’s reveal and lots of facts about it still being hidden, one member of the Corvette team volunteered (I had not asked), that it was “very thirsty.” Not an economy car.

Glad your seats are now working well for you. They often take 4,000 miles to wear in. What a fun challenge, eh?

As they all say, enjoy your ride!

[Speedy]

Fun road trip for you and your soon and i hope the C8.R does great at Sebring.

[MGfoursixeight]

I remember that old saying from the muscle car era, "passes everything but gas stations"! Seriously though, I'm glad that your getting to share your new toy with your son. Sounds like an awesome father/son experience!👍

[Neogenesis]

That's awesome. So glad to see someone using the car as a car. A very fun, awesome, amazing car no less. Here's to many more adventures. And remember, it's not the miles per gallon that we measure these vehicles in, its the Smiles per gallon that we count 😉

[JohnnyBsZ06]

Great trip w/ your son. I remember back in Dec '00 my 10 y/o son and I drove from NE IN to southern AZ to visit my parents in my '99 Dakota R/T club-cab. I had a camcorder setup on a tripod in the back seat to record any memorable moments during the long 3-day trip out (and back). I think the best MPG I recorded on that trip was 17 MPG! Dad took advantage of my truck and loaded it up w/ wood-working tools (table saw, band saw, etc.) to bring back to IN.

Speaking of MPGs, it looks like in your photos that you were cruising in 6th gear. Was that just a moment captured on the camera, or was that 17 MPG all in 6th gear?

[MikeC8]

Pictures from the C8R pit area please and on the track. Thanks in advance. Watch out for the parties going on in the infield. That place back in the late 70’s was wild as hell. Even had a dog run out on the track. No more of that today.

[SullyC8er]

Enjoy these special times with your son!

[tgbtgb]

Happy to see you experiencing your beautiful Z with your son. Enjoy the Ride ! 😎

[rickg747]

What you were thinking, I would have said. 🤣 I’ve never been one to hold back on attempted humor.

[Cerberus]

Nice!

Enjoy the quality time with your son and of course the Z06!

[Ragtop 99]

The MPG does suck, but 83 MPH in 6th gear isn't helping.

After putting 10k miles on a stingray, which got decent MPG, I'm throwing in the towel on the Z06. With the Z06, I'm surprised every time when I get down to a 1/2 tank and see my DTE is 120 miles or less. I've learned that the Z06 is going to suck down the fuel, whether I drive in tour mode or more aggressively using sport mode or manual shifting, so I might as well drive it on a more aggressive basis and increase my smiles per gallon.

[John]

Understand though not as if this is any surprise with GM telling us before anyone ordered, that it would be 12 MPG city. I think setting one’s IP gauges to other things different from gas economy info is a good idea. I know I will be doing that. I want a gauge instead that measures smiles each second.

[Ragtop 99]

^^^ MPG is not shown on my IP cluster. It's hard to miss how much faster the white bar on the gas gauge moves left on my Z06. I haven't checked MPG on my Z06 and I rarely checked MPG on my stingray. I notice it simply from having put 10k of miles on a stingray and developing a feel of DTE mileage vs tank level.