GT350R and ZL1 1LE MTBDC comparison

Zitrosounds · Sep 21, 2017

I watched Randy's MTBDC hot lap of the ZL1 1LE and when he closed the segment out I was not surprised. I went back and watched his commentary of the R's hot lap and I am further convinced that faster is not always better and the R is the better drivers car. I have attached the queued videos of Randy's commentary of both cars for you to compare. Additionally I will add this year's 2nd place car, the 718 Cayman S. Compare both the 2nd place cars review and you will see that faster is not always better.

What do you think?

Enjoy!

nastang87xx · Sep 21, 2017

The one thing that would scare me about that car is how long would the spool valves shocks last. Other than that, I really do like the car. Not sure if I could drive it every day though. I'm looking forward to seeing what the aftermarket can do with our MagneRide systems.

Bossing · Sep 21, 2017

What I think? ...personally there's a reason I prefer Porsches and the GT350s. ;)

I agree that faster isn't always better... in my example, I know my ACR-E can demolish the others but in the end I actually still prefer the P cars and the Shelby. To me it's the entire package plus intangibles.... soul, character, feel, confidence, and the driving experience on or off the track.

My ACR is like the dropdead voluptuous hottie you wanna bang gears for a night or two and then well that's it... while the others are the ones you want a long term polygamous sweet bejezuz relationship with.

:headbonk:

Epiphany · Sep 21, 2017

Better driver? If you mean from an more comfortable perspective as in one that could more easily be used as a daily I'd agree, sounds plausible. But from a pure performance perspective I'm not afraid to say that Chevrolet has raised the bar quite high and easily slayed the GT350R.

If Ford is going to follow suit and counterpunch their way to victory there are a few things they'll have to do. The next top dog Mustang is going to need similar aero, front and rear in order to match the downforce it'll need at speed. A huge credit to GM for having the cojones to release a car with not just canards but massive canards. And that rear wing, basically a fiber wing supported by minimalist, industrial-style support brackets.

GM beat Ford to the punch with rev-matching and a slick Performance Data Recorder system as well. Both allow you to become a better driver, quicker.

If Ford is to bump power levels up by 100hp or so, the TR3160 isn't going to cut it and they'll need to revert back to a TR6060 (that the ZL1 1LE is using) or a Tremec 7-speed similar to that of the Corvette, a weight gain compared to the current model. Throttle/traction management would castrate the shit out of power if an attempt was made to baby the TR3160 through creative electronics. In essence, a weight gain in the transmission department may indeed be coming.

GM is using some "swiss cheese" locating links along with an aluminum K-member. Ford is going to have to follow suit if they want to stay in the game. These are things we should have seen with the S550 inception in 2015 and not in 2019 (or later).

I'm still not convinced we'll see a supercharged 5.2 CPC as it runs counter to Ford's corporate leanings as of late (V6 Raptor, V6 GT, etc). So do they take a crack at an ultra high performance V6 that gives them a weight/handling advantage at the expense of low end torque or do they go full on caveman with a blown 5.2?

Ford is in a difficult position as GM has built a pony car that outperforms most everything else, the caveat being that the car borders on uncomfortable for anything other that track driving. How far will Ford go? Because I honestly don't see a Mustang that can outperform a ZL1 1LE at t he track unless Ford is willing to follow suit and go full hardcore as well. In the meantime, yeah, the GT350 is more pleasant to drive. But the ZL1 1LE has no doubt become the king at the track and by quite a bit.

nastang87xx · Sep 21, 2017

Epiphany said:
GM is using some "swiss cheese" locating links along with an aluminum K-member. Ford is going to have to follow suit if they want to stay in the game. These are things we should have seen with the S550 inception in 2015 and not in 2019 (or later).

Agreed. The fact that at least the GT350 didn't use more aluminum in at least say the dash support and the K member or transplanted the aluminum body panel technology from the F series is kinda silly. There's probably 20lbs per door, 10 for the decklid, 10 for the roof, 10 for the K member, and 10 for the dash support. Or used the carbon composite more.

All that would bring the car to 3711lbs, 30lbs less than the SS 1LE. And a bare 920A car to 3575........

Zitrosounds · Sep 21, 2017

Epiphany said:
No doubt the better performer is the 1LE and yes, I meant a better drivers car in the same manner MT awards the cars. The R is compliant on the roads and capable on track. The 1LE checks only one block. The Cayman S was placed second although it was 8 seconds or so slower than the 1LE that placed 4th. Ultimately neither platform is a full blown race car and the formula although successful for GM previously (Z28), in terms of performance. Albeit, the car did not sell well.

stanglife · Sep 21, 2017

Bossing said:
What I think? ...personally there's a reason I prefer Porsches and the GT350s. ;)

I agree that faster isn't always better... in my example, I know my ACR-E can demolish the others but in the end I actually still prefer the P cars and the Shelby. To me it's the entire package plus intangibles.... soul, character, feel, confidence, and the driving experience on or off the track.

My ACR is like the dropdead voluptuous hottie you wanna bang gears for a night or two and then well that's it... while the others are the ones you want a long term polygamous sweet bejezuz relationship with. :headbonk:

Spoken like a true car guy.

Zitrosounds · Sep 21, 2017

Bossing said:
What I think? ...personally there's a reason I prefer Porsches and the GT350s. ;)

I agree that faster isn't always better... in my example, I know my ACR-E can demolish the others but in the end I actually still prefer the P cars and the Shelby. To me it's the entire package plus intangibles.... soul, character, feel, confidence, and the driving experience on or off the track.

My ACR is like the dropdead voluptuous hottie you wanna bang gears for a night or two and then well that's it... while the others are the ones you want a long term polygamous sweet bejezuz relationship with. :headbonk:

When I decided to part with my troubled track pack and before I decided to buy an R, I looked at a 718 spec'd at about 99K. Drove it and loved it. I reached out to a friend at MT about the R vs the Cayman S. Needles to say I bought the R ; )

Bossing · Sep 21, 2017

Zitrosounds said:
When I decided to part with my troubled track pack and before I decided to buy an R, I looked at a 718 spec'd at about 99K. Drove it and loved it. I reached out to a friend at MT about the R vs the Cayman S. Needles to say I bought the R ; )

I would have done the same.... choose the GT350R first before the 718S and that little turbo 4-banger is a hoot! But choosing the R is a no brainer even with a "fair" ADM.

1mic · Sep 21, 2017

Bossing said:
My ACR is like the dropdead voluptuous hottie you wanna bang gears for a night or two and then well that's it... while the others are the ones you want a long term polygamous sweet bejezuz relationship with. :headbonk:

Kind of agree with this statement. The Viper is fun on the weekends and after driving for 2 days, it gets old quickly, specially when parking out in public.

During week days however, I get withdrawals and cant wait to hop in the viper again. Its thursday and want to just drive the fuggin thing. Not sure if i can make it till saturday, I just might drive it to work tomorrow. :headbonk:

czaustin · Sep 21, 2017

Ive owned a Cayman S with suspension mods and handled incredibly. But different to that, my new R is something I can't wait to get back into. Its under my skin. I can't say that about the Cayman. And, I can't wait to get the R on the track. With that said, I rode in a SS 1LE at a track near DFW last week and I was very impressed with it.

Interesting analogy with the Viper.

cosmo · Sep 21, 2017

Anyone else annoyed that there wasn't a Ford GT in this? I would've loved to have read on it in comparison to the Ferrari.

Really kind of disappointed how Ford built the hype up so much and now it's just dead. They haven't supplied it to any comparison tests, competitions, anything apart from isolated reviews. No recorded lap times, anything. They came out swinging with their initial statements of versus a Mclaren 675LT, Ferrari 458 Speciale, and their own "press" lap times but seem to have fallen flat since the release.

The LeMans was cool and all but was that it...?

Darkane · Sep 21, 2017

cosmo said:
Anyone else annoyed that there wasn't a Ford GT in this? I would've loved to have read on it in comparison to the Ferrari.

Really kind of disappointed how Ford built the hype up so much and now it's just dead. They haven't supplied it to any comparison tests, competitions, anything apart from isolated reviews. No recorded lap times, anything. They came out swinging with their initial statements of versus a Mclaren 675LT, Ferrari 458 Speciale, and their own "press" lap times but seem to have fallen flat since the release.

The LeMans was cool and all but was that it...?

It didn't quite hit the targets it set to get. It's heavy, and expensive.

It's still awesome but it's about a generation old compared to say the 720S.

Problem is ford won't make another after, so a lighter carbon monocoque V2.0 won't be made etc.

xXANCHORMONXx · Sep 22, 2017

I always thought my next car would be an ACR, good to hear the comparison between it and a 350.

Bossing said:
What I think? ...personally there's a reason I prefer Porsches and the GT350s. ;)

I agree that faster isn't always better... in my example, I know my ACR-E can demolish the others but in the end I actually still prefer the P cars and the Shelby. To me it's the entire package plus intangibles.... soul, character, feel, confidence, and the driving experience on or off the track.

My ACR is like the dropdead voluptuous hottie you wanna bang gears for a night or two and then well that's it... while the others are the ones you want a long term polygamous sweet bejezuz relationship with. :headbonk:

RyanR3KC · Sep 22, 2017

How many people here have actually seen a ZL1 1LE in the flesh or driven it? This is another bench racing magazine thread. Even MotorTrend judges couldn't agree. Best quote from the story:

"The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE’s fourth-place finish was a contentious one. We could agree on power and grip. The fact that all 650 of the Camaro’s horsepower is usable without instantly vaporizing the rear rubber is an engineering feat. But some of us maintained that a car couldn’t win Best Driver’s Car if you didn’t want to drive it every day. “I’ve probably lost all my fillings, and my kidneys are bruised,” Derek lamented, to which Jonny retorted: “Some judges thought the ride was too harsh on their way to Pilates class, but who cares? Finishing fourth is a failure of democracy.”

I'm curious how rough the ride is compared to a 5th Gen Z/28 since they roughly use the same suspension technology. I've driven the Z/28...it can be rough depending on what PTM mode you have her in. This ZL1 1LE did what it was meant to do. Destroy tracks. The car straight out performs....and that's her purpose.

**disclaimer** Yes...I know I own a '14 1LE...I'm cross shopping the ZL1 and the GT350 right now. I'm curious..and very intrigued by both cars.

GT350R and ZL1 1LE MTBDC comparison

Zitrosounds

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nastang87xx

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Bossing

attacks tracks

Epiphany

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nastang87xx

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Zitrosounds

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stanglife

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Zitrosounds

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Bossing

attacks tracks

1mic

2 mph so everybody sees u

czaustin

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cosmo

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Darkane

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xXANCHORMONXx

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RyanR3KC

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