Speed Phenom’s Z06 Latest Video

[John]

Sub-titled that it has a “secret cheat code.” What does that mean?

[John]

2.6 vs 2.7 0-to-60 MPH: Speed Phenom is reporting that as on the placards, the Z07 does it in 2.6 seconds and that the engineers have told him it is 2.7 seconds for the standard Z06 — the difference being the stickiness of the Cup2 R’s.

[BangBang]

Is a tenth of a second worth the price of Cup2 R’s? This dang things wear out fast.

[11ZSenator]

Sub-titled that it has a “secret cheat code.” What does that mean?

Yeah, I watched it twice to see if I'd missed the "cheat code" reference but nothing? The actual full video title is "THE 2023 C8 CORVETTE Z06 IS HIDING A SECRET CHEAT CODE... IT TOPS THE BUGATTI CHIRON!".....so something similar to what Bugatti do with their "additional speed key"?
Either Austin is getting nice and cryptic or he forgot to add the "cheat code" content. I'm sure it wasn't clickbait - he doesn't need it 😀

[John]

Sub-titled that it has a “secret cheat code.” What does that mean?

I rarely re-quote myself but I think it useful in this case to explain fully what Speed Phenom meant in his video title using “Secret Cheat Code.”

First please look at these two tire pictures but before you do, note that they, while having massively different amounts of tread depth are both Cup2 R’s. Second, we know from GM Engineers, as restated by Speed Phenom on an earlier C8 Z06 video that the Cup2 R’s on the Z07 are bespoke tires (they even have the TPC code on their sidewall), meaning that GM worked intensively with Michelin to custom alter the Cup2 R’s that are on the Z07 to best maximum its performance.

Now to the two comparative pictures showing the massive tread depth and pattern difference — with further analysis in the next post.

[John]

Compared to the Bugatti, the Z07 Cup2 R approaches IMO being closer to a drag slick. Of course it still meets every DOT public road requirements, but visually it appears to have significant traction advantage due to more of its surface being flat (without grooves and sipes) than does the Bugatti.

On the the Bugatti tire picture above I cut off the visual that they are Cup2 R’s also; this shows that they are:

[Campi]

The Cup 2R's are definitely a hero lap tire, GM will be able to claim all sorts of production car records with them as they are a factory option. That being said for 99.9% of buyers even those of us who will track the car they will simply wear to fast to be enjoyable. The difference between the 4S and the Cup 2R to a amateur's lap times will be negligible.