by K.C. Colwell, Tony Quiroga, Aaron Robinson, and Eric Tingwall | Illustration by Raúl Allén as republished from Car and Driver

7 Questions for Corvette ride and handling Engineer, Jim Mero

Dateline October 2015 Corvette ride-and-handling engineer Jim Mero knows a thing or three about putting down a fast lap. Watch him attack the Nürburgring in a C6 ZR1 on YouTube if you don’t believe us (see above). During his 11 years working on the Corvette, he estimates that he has done more than 15,000 laps on tracks all over the world.

One of those laps happened to last a mind-numbing two minutes and forty-one seconds at VIR while he was behind the wheel of a new Z06. Corvette PR sent him to babysit the Z06 while we lapped, so we asked him a few questions between runs:

C/D: What’s the difference between Lightning Lap and renting the track for development?
JM: Everything. During Lightning Lap you have about 20 laps with any given car to get a fast lap. We typically spend several days at a track during our development trips, so I probably had 80 laps in the Z06 before I cut a fast lap. And we naturally choose a time when the conditions are as good as possible.

C/D: Over the years, the weather has been fairly consistent for our Lightning Lap tests. How do ambient conditions affect lap time, power, and tires?
JM: We were lucky to have perfect weather for our fast lap. It was sunny, dry, and about 45 degrees. Charged engines absolutely love colder ambient temps, and the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires have no problem achieving grip at these temperatures. [Compared with your runs,] the conditions for our 2:41.3 lap were easily 1.5 to 2.0 seconds faster.

C/D: How many hero laps do the Cup 2s have in them?
JM: The Cup 2 tires are bred from race compounds, and like any race tire their best grip is probably in the first two laps of a typical track, or one lap at the Nürburgring. With consecutive laps, the pressures and temperatures build, so you expect some loss in grip. That said, I’ve run hundreds of tanks of fuel through the Z06, and grip at the end of the tank is still outstanding.

C/D: When will we get a ’Ring time for the Z06?
JM: It’s complicated. [Nürburgring officials recently instituted speed limits in certain portions of the track, effectively outlawing lap-record runs. Those same officials, however, are moving to remove the restrictions sometime next year after making minor changes to the circuit.]

C/D: What do you think about Lightning Lap? Are we slow?
JM: Having to drive a variety of cars with different dynamics, trying to achieve a representative lap time, the pressure is tremendous. The C/D drivers have my sincere respect. And the times they achieve given the circumstances are completely admirable. Very few people can move from car to car and achieve these kind of times.

C/D: We’ll let Alterman know. Can a front-engine car get any better?
JM: The front-engine car can always get better.

C/D: How much better will the mid-engined Vette be?
JM: You are some funny dudes.

Click Graphic Below to Activate the Nürburgring in a C6 ZR1 Video.