2011 Chevrolet Corvette
Welcome to my Corvette page!
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Specifications
- Current Modifications
- Future Upgrades
- 2024 Engine Failure
- 2025 Autocross Season
- Gallery
Overview
I picked up this base C6 in December of 2020. I had been watching base model C5s autocross for a few years and was fascinated with how much they didnd’t have to shift on the slower courses. The base model Corvette has a little bit taller gears, and the same holds true for the TR6060 in the later C6 Corvettes. This taller gearing makes things a bit less awkward on autocrosses, allowing me to use first gear a bit more before I’m forced into second gear - and you’re going really fast in second gear in a Corvette.
This is the second half of the C6 generation - that means it has the LS3 V8 with the TR6060 6 speed transmission. All Corvettes of this generation come with limited slip differentials, so it’s well equipped there. In this part of the C6 production, the Z51 package didn’t exist. In their infinite wisdom, Chevrolet introduced the Grand Sport in 2010 and eliminated the Z51 package. My car has all of the sub-packages that came in the Z51 except for the engine oil cooler, which is an integrated unit in the factory radiator. This has turned out to be the Achilles Heel of the car as I discovered that when I push the car a little more on the racetrack during a track day, engine oil temps will exceed 300 degrees fahrenheit.
The car currently has about 75,000 miles on it and I’ve left the car mostly stock. I bought a second set of more aesthetically-pleasing OEM wheels with slightly wider Falken RT660s, which proved to be a very nice addition to the car. Current changes since I bought the car:
- Sam Strano front adjustable swaybar
- Fresh OEM harmonic balancer
- Carbotech XP10/XP8 pads front/rear
- Fresh OEM high pressure rack & pinion line
- Bridgestone RE-71RS 255/40R18 / 285/35R19
- New-to-me torque tube (roughly 35k miles when installed)
- Fresh clutch, flywheel and pilot bearing
- Remote clutch bleeder line
Specifications
- Engine: LS3 V8 (430hp from factory, 436hp with NPP exhaust)
- Transmission: TR6060 6-speed manual
- Differential: Limited slip differential
- Mileage: ~80,000 miles
Current Modifications
- Sam Strano front adjustable swaybar
- Bridgestone RE-71RS 255/40R18 / 285/35R19
- New-to-me torque tube (roughly 35k miles when installed)
- Remote clutch bleeder line
- Koni adjustable shocks (replacing blown magride units)
Future Upgrades
Potential upgrades in the future, should I decide to keep the car and move to CAM or Street Touring:
- Upgrade the radiator (Dewitts?)
- Add an oil cooler (Gspeed or Improved Racing? Delta T issues when coolers are stacked)
- Install the Vetteworks Sharkbar
- Add harnesses for AX & trackdays
- Add the DEI heat shielding I purchased 2 years ago to the torque tube tunnel - it gets HOT in the center console. Hot enough to force my phone to shut down
- Replace endlinks
- Replace corner weight adjusters
2024 Engine Failure
At some point either during competition runs of the 2024 SCCA Packwood National Tour, and arriving at my house, the #5 intake valve spring broke, though not entirely failed. This allowed reversion of combustion gases back up into the intake manifold. Beyond the valve spring breaking there was no internal damage to the engine, but it ended my points run in the ORSCCA S1 superclass.
I worked with Jeff @ Kaioti Motorsports Dynamics to install a fresh 430hp LS3 crate engine from GM via Summit Racing. This is the same engine that came in the car, and the extra 6hp (436hp) came from the NPP exhaust package on the car.
While the engine was being replaced, I had a used pair of Koni adjustables installed to replace the horribly blown magride shocks. I also ordered a set of magride simulators to address the lack of magride shocks causing the BCM to limit the car to 80MPH, however, due to a wiring change around 2010, magride simulators do not work on this car. So, I purchased a knock-off Tech 2 from Alibaba and disabled the Real-Time Dampening feature in the BCM. This is reversible should a future owner choose to restore magride functionality at their expense.
Jeff also replaced the input shaft bearing in the transmission, as well as resealed the transmission as it had been leaking for some time. The previous owner(s) of the car apparently wasn’t super interested in maintenance.
After all of this, the passenger side catalytic converter failed and threw a P0430 code. I had to replace the cat with an aftermarket Magnaflow unit in order to satisfy the ECU and afterwards, I was able to get back to regular MPG on the freeway.
2025 Autocross Season
This year I decided to run the Corvette in B Street again. This would put me in the S1 superclass in both Oregon Region SCCA and Bridge City Autosports. I have also ran a couple of Oregon region Porsche Club of America events.
I’ve been fairly competitive in the open PAX class, but next year I’ll be diving into ProPAX for more competition in the hopes of improving my own driving.
There’s a laundry list of items that need to be addressed on the car currently:
- Ride height in the front is an issue. It looks like the ride height adjuster bushings are completely destroyed. I’ll be replacing those before the season is out.
- The front airdam needs replacing because of impacts and grinding on pavement during autocross. I have a replacement, it will go on when I replace the ride height adjusters.
- I am going to get the car re-aligned with a couple of goals: add more rear toe-in for better tractiona nd the ability to get the car to rotate easier; corner balance the car with me in it.
July 2025 I went to Packwood National Tour and Packwood ProSolo - my first ProSolo. I had a blast at both and I came in 6th out of 13 in B Street which was an improvement from last of 10. I think I managed to hold 5 of 8 in the ProSolo. The car had some issues and I took it easy most of the weekend.