OK...enough with the wine and cheese, was going for some comic relief. First, Let me say, I appreciate everyone's comments and we are having an overall great discussion. I appreciate the Porsche plaform more than you think I do...I would probably own one if the Porsche required to meet/beat my track time wasn't out of my price range (GT3 will not do it). I have driven dozens of NA 911's and compared to those cars, I'd still take my vette (I guess gold chains and all that come with it).
Let me address some of the comments. It was stated that my passing of a GT3 is merely a fact of HP and not better engineering. I disagree. I have been on the track with 1250lbs 250hp sports racers that lap me all day long and carry so much speed through corners and out break me, that my 500+hp with 3115lbs can not catch them. Racers and advanced track guys know this all day long. But the REAL proof (not just interet forum racing) is in the January edition of Road and Track. Amongs several cars, they put a 530hp, 516ft. lbs Porsche 911TT S against a 505 hp 470ft. lbs Z06. So here the 911 has more hp and quite a bit more torque (you know, the stuff that actually wins races). The results were suprising...for the first time the tables have changed...the Porsche was faster in a strait line (for 30+ years the Corvette has held this trophy) but the Z06 was faster around the race track and in the turns (something the Porsche has been holding over the vette for 30+ years). How could this happen? We'll if it were HP or Torque (that stuff that wins races), the Porsche should have won. The acceleration decimated the Z06. So the ONLY way the Z06 could beat the Porsche around the track (famous Leguna Seca) is handling and braking. It was stated that it was the flatest handling car of the group with the least body roll.
Now back to subjective feel, still lots of the articles love the 911 compared to the Z06. I don't disagree. Again, being a race school driving instructor, I have sat in many cars over the past several years and the Porsche is VERY high on my list of favorites. Build quality is better as stated and steering feel (once you are use to rear engine) is great. But, at the end of the day fast is fast.
Now, while fresh in my mind, let me comment on the video...first I love the comedy aspect. It is a shame that Corvette has gotten this weird reputation of gold chains and cologne, but hey, it is what it is. The Porsche club and BWM club that I run and instruct with don't feel anything like that...again guys who drive at the race track and are fast, appreciate fast and I get along with them wonderfully and they have full appreciation of the Z06/ZR1. But these are guys running full cage M3 race cars with all kinds of home made assembled parts and are amazed that this basically street car utterly walks their highly invested pure race cars.
Specifically to the video...the commenter is right and wrong on certian aspects. He is right about gaps and build quality. He is very wrong about it's frame chassis vs. unibody. The frame chassis is not 2 dimensional. It is a superior hydroformed frame using aluminum and magnesium. It is stiff as a rock and does not flex. Unibody on the other hand was not invented for superior stiffness, it was invented to significantly lighten cars and give them better fuel economy. A steel framed car (like those in the 50/60's are VERY heavy and ineffecient. The corvette only uses metal (aluminum and magnesium at that) in the frame and A-Pillars. Unlike cars from that era it does not use steel or even aluminum body panels. It is light because everything else is made from plastic (fiber glass or carbon fiber).
Also, is is a fact that ALL purpose built race cars (ALMS/DTM/World Challenge) are built with a real frame and lightweight skin body panels bolted to it. Most rear race cars (again purpose built) use upper and lower A-arms (like the vette), not strut towers like unibody cars. For example, a Corvette chassis does not need ANY further bracing (hence strut tower braces or frame braces) like many unibody cars. For examle, it is well know fact that Lotus's need to be beefed up with aftermarket braces or the chassis may rip apart. You can google all day and not find a single Corvette tuner that sells ANY kind of chassis brace (unlike 911 and BMW which have a large market on unibody and strut tower braces). So the uninformed gentleman is wrong. The ony reason Unibody's are raced is because 95% of cars we drive are unibody's (as a result of fuel economy standards), so they have eventually found their way to race tracks. It is also well known with race tires, the M3 required additional chassis bracing. Again the Corvette frame has never required additional bracing.
Here is another fact that backs this claim. If unibody was SO strong, why are the towing capacities of all unibody SUV's extremely low regardless of HP? You will notice that a 275hp frame based truck SUV will have almost double the towing capacity of a 350hp unibody based SUV. There is a reason for this. You try hooking up 10,000lbs to a unibody and it will twist and rip it apart like a pretzel in a 5 year old's hand.
Now onto drving a Corvette through corners...power comes on early and hard, you need to be delicate. Push to hard and it will come out. Driving a Miata, I can almost hold the pedal flat, put a Miata driver in a Vette and he just can't understand why he can push the pedal down and focus on steering the car. That is because in a Vette, the throttle IS the steering wheel and the steering wheel is secondary device use to point the car in the general direction (no one seems to get this). Once you understand this concept, you will get as high or higher corner speeds than it's german or italian counterparts (these cars don't produce enough torque to warrant such a unique driving style). So just like the comment that you need to be a Porsche specialist to drive it fast, we'll the same is true in a way for Corvette. You can't drive a vette like you would a Mazda RX8, and anyone who refuses to accept this (like the video commenter) is just going to spin in circles (you don't use a drill like you use a circular saw)
Also, couple of another points for you guys that a regular Corvette guy would never admit...to stiffen the suspension and gain better lap times, GM REALLY softened the bushings on the C6 Z06. They wanted a stiff suspension, but didn't want articles saying it was uncivilized. The answer...use softer bushing to allow more compliance. This is Corvette owners #1 issue...we replace them constantly as they deform under race conditions constantly. It is a compromise the factory made to sastify the common buyer. You can't have a stiff frame, stiff suspension and stiff bushings...this is why the vette feels mushy and vague (it is the sole reason). Those who went to poly or spherical have said it was the single biggest difference made to the car, but at that point was not as driveable on the street (if streetable at all).
The leaf spring issue....guys we all need to get over this. Right now the record holding Corvette at most US race tracks in open class (means allows the use of OEM leafs or coil-overs), it is the leaf cars even with less spring rate are holding the fastest lap times.