There have been a lot of people complaining lately that after a few track laps their 2015 C7 Corvette Z06 feels slower. Initially people though that the supercharger was getting too hot, and so it was heatsoaking, effectively making the air going through the supercharger to the engine too hot and not making as much power.
GM has made a statement on this topic and has said that the problem is that the car is designed to pull back timing after some use, which helps to prevent any powertrain damage. They believe that the majority of owners will never race their C7 Z06, so they will never have this problem, or they simply won’t notice. GM has said that there are aftermarket products you can purchase that will allow for you to override this feature in the ECU.
Some have said that the reason the ECU pulls back timing is because of the heat soak. The ECU sees the supercharger getting too hot, so it pulls back timing to prevent any engine damage. The real reason is still unknown, but those who are getting their C7 Z06 Corvettes dyno’d will soon test to see if the ECU pulls back timing when the supercharger air temps reach a certain temperature to cause heat soak.
If anyone has any data to prove either of the above, please contact us and we can share it here, so we can get down to the bottom of the power loss in the new Z06.
