Corvette man Burroughs (left) and Porsche lifer Vann (center) are grilled by author Dyer (right) as he tries to get to the bottom of what drives their passions.
Initial impressions out of the way, Vann and Burroughs hit the track simultaneously. It’s evident even from pit lane that their comfort levels are increasing, as the cars carry a little more speed with each lap. Soon each pass down the straightaway is a glorious event — the 911’s RSR flat-six wailing, the LT-1’s solid-lifter thunder reflecting off the adja- cent wall as the cars blow past. Te idea had been to take it easy, 70 mph or so, but when you put two guys on an empty track with two cars like this, well … they’re not exactly racing, but they’re definitely playing, two kids with the keys to their own amusement park. Eventually, the cars pull back onto the infield and Burroughs and
They’re definitely playing, two kids with the keys to their own amusement park.
Vann emerge to talk shop. We raise the hoods for motor-ogling pur- poses, and Burroughs’ well of Corvette expertise momentarily preempts his Porsche critique. Te sun is hitting the LT-1’s gleaming chrome air cleaner and sending a veritable laser death ray toward the upright hood. “Does anybody have a towel we can put over the air cleaner?” he asks. “Te sun will reflect up and burn the paint on the hood.” Tat sounds like a lesson learned the hard way. Te ’Vette’s pristine paint saved, Vann and Burroughs launch into a discussion of the merits and drawbacks of one another’s chosen chari- ots. “In a way, the comparison’s skewed, because the Porsche’s a factory race car,” Vann says. “Te Corvette is still a street car, which accounts
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for the body roll.” Burroughs protests the “street car” assessment of the LT-1. “Tis is a hybrid,” he says, “a high-performance street car.” Vann concedes that the Corvette’s composure in the corners was better than he’d anticipated. “I was surprised at how well the Corvette handled,” he says. “On the big sweepers and the bankings, I went 85 or 90 mph and it felt good. Tough if you got it on a track and had to chase a Porsche, after five or six laps you’d overheat the brakes.” Both guys agree about one thing. “Te Corvette has a much more positive shifter,” Burroughs says. “You can really bang the shifter into the next gear. With the 911, I had to be tentative and really think about it each time I shifted.” Vann points out that the layouts of the two powertrains directly affect the shift quality. “In the Corvette, you’re sitting right on top of the transmission, where the Porsche has a linkage to the back. But you bring up a good point. Tis car has the Porsche synchros that’ll lock you out of a gear. You’ve got to feel the pressure, hesitate, feel the pres- sure and it slips into gear. But if you try to push through that resistance, you’ll wipe the synchros.”
In its racing days, Vann’s RS was always fast, always competitive, but bedeviled with mechanical problems, including transmission woes. Perhaps in the quest for light weight and speed, Porsche pared down certain components a little too far. Te Corvette had a different mar- ket and different goals, and was built to survive the harsh treatment expected from a gleeful new owner. “Chevy builds the Corvette for people to go out and beat on it,” Burroughs says. “And if you break it, it gets fixed at a Chevy dealership.”
Te Porsche’s gearbox is emblematic of the RS’s generally steeper learning curve. Vann says, “On my first or second lap with the Cor- vette, I thought, ‘I’m surprised at how fast I can go already. I could get
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