2015 Corvette C7 Z06 - the anatomy of the biggest high performance failure of 2015?

On several occasions, this blog pointed out the absolute disregard for the most basic laws of physics, fluid dynamics and thermodynamics that seem to be the M.O. of the +General Motors Corvette design and engineering team led by none other than +Tadge Juechter .  

The truly disappointing lack of performance and endurance exhibited by the latest Corvette flagship appears to send shockwaves through the automotive enthusiasts community, catching everyone by surprise. 

This surprise actually is a very sad testimony to the ignorance of the typical automotive enthusiasts and the consistent refusal to employ at least a fraction of independent and critical thinking while adopting the newest GM creation.  Unfortunately, any critical analyses require a minimum scientific and engineering background and ability to think independently and by now, it is painfully obvious that the Corvette enthusiasts and buyers have none of these minimum requirements.  Ignorance and reliance on marketing assurances and claims have permanently replaced any cognitive abilities and thus, the big disappointment and surprise.

In reality, the C7 Z06 failure was a given, even before the actual car ever took shape.  The base Stingray, on which the Z06 is based had already a slew of problems, problems that continue until today.  The flawed aerodynamics, subpar cooling, AFM and VVT and DI problems and restrictions were always there, along with overheating transmissions and differentials.  Certainly, only someone completely retarded would be surprised when a car using identical layout but with more horsepower would not be exhibiting the same problems while creating new ones.

One cannot single out the Corvette enthusiasts for their insistence on believing in the gospel preached by Juechter.   Juechter is not the only one misleading enthusiasts and GM is not the only car maker blowing smoke up buyers asses.  Given the choice between critical and  objective analyses and vox populi sheep followers, the outcome is not difficult to figure out.

What is really interesting here is Tadge Juechter's and his engineers inability to apply even the most basic scientific and engineering principals and even worse, a complete inability to learn from the mistakes made by ironically enough, GM itself.

As expected, the typical Corvette enthusiasts and Juechter believers do not understand what is actually wrong with Z06 and expect either aftermarket tuners or GM to rectify the problem.  Have they understood that symptoms like power robbing heat soak are merely EFFECTS and not the CAUSE of Z06 problems, they would either start looking for another car or accepted this newest flagship for what it is.

Can the heat soak and ineffective cooling problems be corrected?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!  Why? 
For one thing, the undersized supercharger cannot be upgraded to a larger unit due to its location, this is it, not a thing can change here.  Without any doubt, the supercharger is the root (no pun intended) of majority of problems with the newest Z06 and once again, Juechter chose to ignore the basic laws of physics and thermodynamics while designing this unit and all architecture necessary to support it.

The undersized and fast spinning supercharger is the reason for the heat soak in Z06.  Under normal driving conditions, a smaller and lighter supercharger can provide benefits, thus, the relatively quick off the line performance but the benefits are quickly erased in a car like Z06 that is supposedly a high performance car meant to be driven fast and hard. 

The most ironic part here is the fact that GM continues to have big problems and ongoing recall regarding a 1.9 supercharger used on Cadillac CTS-V and Camaro ZL1, equipped with the LSa engine.  The problems and subsequent self destruction of the superchargers mirror exactly problems already surfacing on the Z06.  In fact, the problem is so bad that GM was forced to issue a recall on the superchargers found in Cadillacs and Camaros using the 1.9 superchargers.

Now, someone even semi intelligent would expect  Juechter and his team to realize that going with a smaller than ZR1 size supercharger may be not the right way but of course, what does Juechter do? This genius goes with even smaller supercharger!!!  Why?  More instantaneous off the line response!!!  The problem lies here with smaller and faster spooling blower generating considerably more heat and less oxygen content in the compressed air.  When combined with insufficient supercharger heat exchanger system and inadequate engine cooling, the results are one big disaster and one that cannot be corrected.

As already pointed out in this blog, Chrysler and Tom Kuniskis, Dodge CEO learned from the TVS1900 failure, unlike Juechter and GM.  Now, this is the ultimate irony!!!  The performance of Hellcat evil twins certainly demonstrates this ultimate irony.