Cory’s C6 Grand Sport: Safe Not Sorry
After Cory Smetzler saw the light during a ridealong in a C6 Z06, he bought a Grand Sport from the same generation. It might not have the biggest motor or the lightest chassis in the lineup, but it has a few features which have offered him peace of mind with small few setbacks.
He’d spent several years finding his feet in a Mustang, but after his friend was kind enough to let him try their Corvette Z06 at a track day, Cory Smetzler knew he had reached a junction, and although it would cost more, the prudent thing to do was to take a left turn.
The C6’s shape stimulated his imagination, and the performance was already so much more than what he’d been accustomed to; the Z06 in near-stock trim could already outperform his highly-modded Mustang. It was clear that it was time for a major change.
But Cory is a practical person, and making an expensive shift could not be justified by the C6’s soft, curving lines and wide arches alone. Pretty as it was, it was the performance package which convinced him to shell out some more coin, since its improved weight distribution, roomier wheel wells, and dead-reliable engine package promised much more fun and fewer headaches.
A set of American Racing headers bumps output to 470 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque at the wheels.
And pragmatism kept him from buying the same model, too. Instead of taking a chance with the Z06’s LS7 motor and its propensity to swallow a valve, he instead opted for the mid-tier Grand Sport, which loses the special motor and the aluminum frame. In their place, the Grand Sport comes with a more pedestrian LS3 and a steel frame, but for the price of less power and more weight, Cory purchased peace of mind.
Though the LS3 isn’t quite the motorsports-grade product the LS7 is, the improvements already made to this particular motor helped Cory forget about lost potential. The previous owner had installed a Dewitts radiator, a FAST 102 mm intake, a Nick Williams throttle body, as well as Doug Rippie Motorsports differential and transmission coolers.
The powerplant ran smoothly in the sweltering summer heat, though the engine lacked that zing and top-end that the other Corvette had, the mid-range torque of the mildly tuned LS3 was plenty exciting.
Mated to a TR6060 six-speed transaxle, the torquey LS3 and its 400-odd horsepower could get the car to GT3RS-speeds surprisingly quickly, so Cory wasted no time giving his new track car the stopping power and safety modifications that it warranted. He doled out the big bucks for an AP Racing Essex front brakes with 372mm rotors and inch-thick pads which guaranteed stopping power, consistency, and long pad life. No sense in taking shortcuts when stopping a heavy, powerful car.
Its accessible mid-range torque is exploitable on shorter courses and still strong enough to reach similar top speeds on faster ones. Surprisingly, the wonderful spread with the right combination of wheel size and final drive make it effortless to keep the engine humming along without the need for many shifts. This is a large part of what makes it so effective at tight tracks.
A 3,300-pound Corvette shows its shortcomings on tighter tracks. The poor motion ratio of the rear leaf springs pushed Cory to double the rear spring rate, which allows for the car to break away more progressively, and the resulting confidence from this predictable sliding helps Cory drive the car with more slip angle than he has with any other car.
The willingness to push a tail-happy car hard in the butt-clenching corners takes more than just progressive breakaway. Cory added a Nine Lives Racing single-element rear wing, mounts, endplates, front tunnels, and a homemade birch splitter added the stability he needed to trust the Corvette in fourth-gear sections at faster tracks like Sonoma.
The current setup isn’t perfect, but it’s nearly there. There’s the matter of weight to deal with, and he’d still like the rear to be better settled, but it is reliable and relatively kind to its tires, and so he’s been able to put in plenty of hassle-free track miles without going through too much rubber. Low maintenance and lots of seat time has been his credo since the start, and he’s hired Joe McGuigan to help put his philosophy to good use. With a little coaching, he’s been putting down impressive times after just a couple visits to Sonoma.
Since his recent move from the Pacific Northwest to Southern Oregon, Cory’s been able to enjoy the temperate weather and make it to track days with more energy and regularity. Seeing as how he’s been able to set impressive laps at circuits that are new to him, it’s certain he’ll be a force to be reckoned with in our Challenge series very soon. We’re happy to have him.
