[1]Racecars are normally fairly flashy, but sometimes the perfect details are left for those in the show car/trailer queen realm. The ‘07 Z06 owned by Mark Carlyle is the best of both worlds. Yellowbullet.com [2] showed highlights of the reassembly of Carlyle’s Z06 after the installation of a 25.3 roll cage.
The 25.3 chassis spec [3], just released last September, is for full-bodied cars weighing up to 3,600 pounds and clocking between 7.49 and 6.50 in the quarter mile, and is a response to the fact that the 25.4 and 25.5 specs for 3,600-pound cars were only good down to 7.50 – that should give you an idea of what Carlyle’s intentions are.
Carlyle’s Z06 was the first to have an NHRA-certified 10 point cage, and now he now has the honor of having the first certified 25.3 cage. He actually a long list of accomplishments; in addition to having the fastest IRS equipped Corvette in the world there are many other firsts that led to that title. His was the first C6 Z06 to run faster than 9’s, then first one to run under 8.50 as well as topping 150, 160 and 170 mph in the quarter-mile.
[4]Carlyle wants to be the first and the fastest with his Z06, and he has set his sights on competing in the in the LSX Challenge Series [5]. Last year he managed to come in as the runner up in the LSX Shootout Outlaw Drag Radial class. Currently the 427 LSX iron block is force fed by a single turbo with an air to water intercooler, which should keep him in the competition.
The devil is in the details, and Carlyle does not seem to have skipped a single one. His website, CarlyleRacing [6] has enough information to practically write a novel, but if you want to see this beauty in public check out the LSX Shootout event in Bradenton, Florida, March 18-20, 2011.