You're right on about the numbers and performance stats on not only the Z06, but most car test in general. Keep in mind the way it's usually run: the car arrives, the select magazine writers/drivers line up for their chance behind the wheel of each car. They drive them to evaluate several basic performance parameters, and if they are lucky the weather cooperates for the day they have the respective car. So at best, each driver probably doesn't get much real time behind the wheel to play with the best launch techniques, braking techniques on the track, or other "techniques" that may make the car deliver better performance than what they initially get.
On the other hand, the people that own them (any performance car) and is driving them almost everyday, have, through playing around, discovered the optimum parameters for each type of driving. Therefore, those are probably the true "potential" performance characteristics of that particular car and drivetrain.
I have through daily driving and the occasional spirited driving found more potential in my own car than what I thought it had during my initial driving experience. For example, the first time I hit the rev limiter it caught me really off guard... and I lost a lot of time in between shifts when this happened, now it seems like the RPM is in slow motion as it goes through 6400 and I can get a really good shift in everytime between 6400 and 6500. Rarely ever hit the rev limiter now, because I am more aware of the rate at which the RPM leaps up toward the redline. So in a nut shell, the car made me a better driver of it, simply through familiararity.
vettepilot
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