New Z06 - European rivals look like fancy overpriced pussies
Discussion
A 200mph Le Mans racer for less than £60,000? The new Corvette Z06 makes its fancy European rivals look like puny, overpriced pussies, says Andrew English (Daily Telegraph).
An observant pigeon [who brought him into it?] flying around the Detroit Auto Show halls last January would have noticed a single journalist standing by a yellow car, patting the roof while cooing and billing. That was me. The car was the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (with a Zee), not just the most powerful Corvette ever made but also the most potent General Motors production car of all time. The Corvette's 7.0-litre V8 - 'a tuner's dream' - develops 512bhp
Yeah, yeah, American cars always have big, powerful engines, so what's new about a 512bhp, 7.0-litre V8? In fact it's what lies beneath the Z06's skin that makes it special. This is effectively a 200mph racing car for the road.
The works Corvette team dominated its class in American endurance racing and the Le Mans 24 Hours with its previous C5-R and, this year, the new C6-R. Strip the roll cage and the fire extinguishers out of that, add air-con and leather seats and you have the Z06. [Believe that if you choose! 5USA]
I tend to come over all misty-eyed about cars like these. In the case of the Z06, there really aren't many original parts left. Aluminium alloy replaces steel and carbon fibre replaces aluminium alloy all over the car. Kneel down (as well you might, before this monster) and look underneath: you'll see the hydro-pressure-formed, aluminium-alloy perimeter chassis rails, two stainless-steel exhausts as big as transatlantic pipelines, forged wishbones and dulled alloy panels.
There are even carbon-fibre and balsa-wood floors to save weight. How about that? Balsa - just like the Second World War De Havilland Mosquito aeroplane. The only other things it needs are a couple of Rolls-Royce Merlins under the hood.
Instead, though, you get a small-block Chevy V8, an engine that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Powering everything from pick-ups and SUVs to saloon cars, it is one of the world's most popular engines. You can hear them waffling outside every American diner.
Except this one's different. It's made of aluminium alloy and is a tuner's delight, using every trick in the book plus a few that weren't there in the first place. It's hand-built in Wixom, Michigan, where they even deck-plate hone the bores, a laborious process designed to seal in every last whistle of engine compression.
This 7,008cc lump incorporates a litany of trick bits: titanium rods, inlet valves, pushrods and valve springs; sodium-filled exhaust valves; CNC-ported aluminium cylinder heads; a forged steel crank; forged pistons; dowelled main bearings…
To prevent the sump oil sloshing away from the oil pump's pick-up when cornering hard, the engine has a dry sump, with a small pan under the engine from which oil is scavenged into a separate reservoir and then fed at high pressure to the engine bearings by a two-stage pump.
The six-speed transmission and the uprated limited-slip differential have separate oil coolers and the diff, halfshafts and clutch have been beefed up to cope with the power and torque. There's even an exhaust valve that opens a freer-flowing silencer at 3,500rpm and makes the Z06 sound like the racetrack refugee it is.
Days of Thunder? Make that a week or two. Unfortunately, any fantasies of lighting up the opening credits of our own road movie were swiftly dispelled. One of our Korean colleagues had been timed at 77mph in a 20mph zone the previous day and the local police chief was understandably incandescent.
As a subdued bunch of hacks turned the ignitions on a handful of Z06s, the Koreans were having the book thrown at them in the local courthouse.
"That's nothing," said a GM engineer. "Years ago we had a Corvette launch in a wine-growing area of California and two journalists lost it big time and left the road on a corner near a winery.
They left the 'Vette in the field where it landed and staggered back to the road to hail a GM sweeper car. Unfortunately the exhaust catalysts were red hot and set light to the grass, which then burnt the car out … followed by the winery."
At Telegraph Motoring our experience with Corvettes has been less destructive, but almost as inflammatory. We asked for and were promised - but didn't get - the first UK road test of the standard C6. We were then offered the first test of the Z06, but that didn't happen either. As if to rub it in, while we politely rumbled through the Michigan 'burbs, the US news stands screamed stories from the Z06's European launch, when the cream of American automotive journalism was let loose at the fabulous Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Someone up there really doesn't like us.
Even though we were still eager to have a go in this car, on first acquaintance you wonder what all the fuss is about. It might have bigger wheels and tyres, wider rear bodywork and vestigial inner wings, but there isn't a lot of difference between the appearance of the Z06 and the standard car.
Look harder and you can see the aerodynamic extensions known as Gurney flaps on the front splitter, the radiused intakes to improve engine airflow and the more aggressive rear aerofoil. As usual, the plastic coachwork bends and twists like a burger box, which is possibly more forgivable on the road-race Z06 than on the standard car.
It's actually pretty hard to find a way into the Z06 because the electric door switches are well hidden, as is the rear-hatch release. Once installed, however, you find the Z06 is virtually identical to the standard 'Vette, with leather seats (albeit with bigger side bolsters), a largely plastic facia and a six-dial dash. The air-con switches on with a big whoosh and drowns out the engine's muted idle.
Stare down at the big speedo, however, and you'll see it's calibrated to 200mph, while the big rev-counter is red-lined at 7,000rpm. Such numbers are all but unknown in the world of pushrod V8s. That this is no ordinary Corvette becomes immediately clear when you push down the firm clutch and guide the Charles Atlas-spec gear lever into first.
In that moment, you can intimately feel the clacks and clunks of the selector fingers pushing big gears past spring-loaded detents, the whizz of a phosphor-bronze synchro cone spinning up and the comforting thunk as the helicals mesh. Even driving this slowly could be fun.
Turning out of the car park, you can feel the differential's powerful lock as the inside rear wheel shudders and scrapes along the asphalt. The gears remain heavy, but the engine feels tractable enough. General Motors wanted its budget supercar to be "daily driveable" and to most extents it is.
You need to develop fine clutch and throttle control, the gearbox sizzles and rattles and the ride is harsh over the worst surfaces, but it's far more forgiving than anything tuned by Porsche.
The steering is meaty, full of feedback and slightly rubbery in feel. The humongous brakes (six-piston racing calipers on the front, clamping huge crossed-drilled 335mm rotors) are as effective at low speeds as they are when you are zipping along and they emit none of the disconcerting clanks and groans of similar anchors on rival supercars.
So there you are, chuntering sleepily along, passing the weatherboarded homes of wealthy Motown executives. Yawn: 45mph with 1,000rpm on the clock in sixth. Oh look: a corner…
Well, you've got to, haven't you? Grab the big gear lever and manhandle it into third, the revs soar up and the mighty engine bellows. Despatch that pick-up in front and then squeeze the brakes gently as fuel gurgles like Victorian plumbing in the exhaust beneath you. With the corner lined up in the middle of the bonnet between the two voluptuous fenders, you come off the brakes and turn.
The steering kicks back where the wheels of semi-trailers have scuffed the asphalt - a slightly divorced feeling, but very accurate and relaxed. The transverse-mounted composite leaf springs settle imperceptibly as they take the weight of the car, not rolling exactly, but just telling you about the speed.
Back on the power and the engine instantly answers the call, the inside rear wheel spinning slightly and trailing a wisp of smoke like a streaming white horse on a surfer's wave. The rear end thumps with the differential's action and the tail slides gently wide.
By the time you've eased the power and dialled on corrective lock, the traction control has got everything under control and you are back behind a big yellow school bus. Fun's over for the day.
Endurance racing and round-the-clock traffic jams demand hugely different things of a car, yet this one will apparently do both. "We've tested this car for 24 hours at Sebring and if you want to go racing you don't need to change a damn thing," growled GM's Bob Lutz. "You can take it from the showroom to the track. Porsche and Ferrari couldn't make that statement."
He's right: the Z06 will go from being a daily driver to a superhero and back again before the school bus gets around the corner. For a 200mph supercar it also comes at a fantastic price - even if it is left-hand drive.
GM says that only 250 examples of the £60,000 Z06 are coming to Europe next year, but it will try to secure another 50 from the 7,200 produced annually in America. On this performance, it could sell three times that amount and there would still be a queue.
And I'd be somewhere near the front.
Chevrolet Corvette Z06: about £59,000. On sale January.
We like: An all-American supercar, the soccer mom's other daily driver that can change in a phone box and emerge as a superhero to crush the fancy European opposition, showing them up for the puny, over-priced pussies they really are.
We don't like: Or maybe not. The supercar pecking order doesn't really change here and the red cars from Italy are still at the top. This souped-up 'Vette is still a lovely thing, though.
[PS I didn't write it! I just pass it on..... Enjoy! 5USA]
An observant pigeon [who brought him into it?] flying around the Detroit Auto Show halls last January would have noticed a single journalist standing by a yellow car, patting the roof while cooing and billing. That was me. The car was the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (with a Zee), not just the most powerful Corvette ever made but also the most potent General Motors production car of all time. The Corvette's 7.0-litre V8 - 'a tuner's dream' - develops 512bhp
Yeah, yeah, American cars always have big, powerful engines, so what's new about a 512bhp, 7.0-litre V8? In fact it's what lies beneath the Z06's skin that makes it special. This is effectively a 200mph racing car for the road.
The works Corvette team dominated its class in American endurance racing and the Le Mans 24 Hours with its previous C5-R and, this year, the new C6-R. Strip the roll cage and the fire extinguishers out of that, add air-con and leather seats and you have the Z06. [Believe that if you choose! 5USA]
I tend to come over all misty-eyed about cars like these. In the case of the Z06, there really aren't many original parts left. Aluminium alloy replaces steel and carbon fibre replaces aluminium alloy all over the car. Kneel down (as well you might, before this monster) and look underneath: you'll see the hydro-pressure-formed, aluminium-alloy perimeter chassis rails, two stainless-steel exhausts as big as transatlantic pipelines, forged wishbones and dulled alloy panels.
There are even carbon-fibre and balsa-wood floors to save weight. How about that? Balsa - just like the Second World War De Havilland Mosquito aeroplane. The only other things it needs are a couple of Rolls-Royce Merlins under the hood.
Instead, though, you get a small-block Chevy V8, an engine that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Powering everything from pick-ups and SUVs to saloon cars, it is one of the world's most popular engines. You can hear them waffling outside every American diner.
Except this one's different. It's made of aluminium alloy and is a tuner's delight, using every trick in the book plus a few that weren't there in the first place. It's hand-built in Wixom, Michigan, where they even deck-plate hone the bores, a laborious process designed to seal in every last whistle of engine compression.
This 7,008cc lump incorporates a litany of trick bits: titanium rods, inlet valves, pushrods and valve springs; sodium-filled exhaust valves; CNC-ported aluminium cylinder heads; a forged steel crank; forged pistons; dowelled main bearings…
To prevent the sump oil sloshing away from the oil pump's pick-up when cornering hard, the engine has a dry sump, with a small pan under the engine from which oil is scavenged into a separate reservoir and then fed at high pressure to the engine bearings by a two-stage pump.
The six-speed transmission and the uprated limited-slip differential have separate oil coolers and the diff, halfshafts and clutch have been beefed up to cope with the power and torque. There's even an exhaust valve that opens a freer-flowing silencer at 3,500rpm and makes the Z06 sound like the racetrack refugee it is.
Days of Thunder? Make that a week or two. Unfortunately, any fantasies of lighting up the opening credits of our own road movie were swiftly dispelled. One of our Korean colleagues had been timed at 77mph in a 20mph zone the previous day and the local police chief was understandably incandescent.
As a subdued bunch of hacks turned the ignitions on a handful of Z06s, the Koreans were having the book thrown at them in the local courthouse.
"That's nothing," said a GM engineer. "Years ago we had a Corvette launch in a wine-growing area of California and two journalists lost it big time and left the road on a corner near a winery.
They left the 'Vette in the field where it landed and staggered back to the road to hail a GM sweeper car. Unfortunately the exhaust catalysts were red hot and set light to the grass, which then burnt the car out … followed by the winery."
At Telegraph Motoring our experience with Corvettes has been less destructive, but almost as inflammatory. We asked for and were promised - but didn't get - the first UK road test of the standard C6. We were then offered the first test of the Z06, but that didn't happen either. As if to rub it in, while we politely rumbled through the Michigan 'burbs, the US news stands screamed stories from the Z06's European launch, when the cream of American automotive journalism was let loose at the fabulous Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Someone up there really doesn't like us.
Even though we were still eager to have a go in this car, on first acquaintance you wonder what all the fuss is about. It might have bigger wheels and tyres, wider rear bodywork and vestigial inner wings, but there isn't a lot of difference between the appearance of the Z06 and the standard car.
Look harder and you can see the aerodynamic extensions known as Gurney flaps on the front splitter, the radiused intakes to improve engine airflow and the more aggressive rear aerofoil. As usual, the plastic coachwork bends and twists like a burger box, which is possibly more forgivable on the road-race Z06 than on the standard car.
It's actually pretty hard to find a way into the Z06 because the electric door switches are well hidden, as is the rear-hatch release. Once installed, however, you find the Z06 is virtually identical to the standard 'Vette, with leather seats (albeit with bigger side bolsters), a largely plastic facia and a six-dial dash. The air-con switches on with a big whoosh and drowns out the engine's muted idle.
Stare down at the big speedo, however, and you'll see it's calibrated to 200mph, while the big rev-counter is red-lined at 7,000rpm. Such numbers are all but unknown in the world of pushrod V8s. That this is no ordinary Corvette becomes immediately clear when you push down the firm clutch and guide the Charles Atlas-spec gear lever into first.
In that moment, you can intimately feel the clacks and clunks of the selector fingers pushing big gears past spring-loaded detents, the whizz of a phosphor-bronze synchro cone spinning up and the comforting thunk as the helicals mesh. Even driving this slowly could be fun.
Turning out of the car park, you can feel the differential's powerful lock as the inside rear wheel shudders and scrapes along the asphalt. The gears remain heavy, but the engine feels tractable enough. General Motors wanted its budget supercar to be "daily driveable" and to most extents it is.
You need to develop fine clutch and throttle control, the gearbox sizzles and rattles and the ride is harsh over the worst surfaces, but it's far more forgiving than anything tuned by Porsche.
The steering is meaty, full of feedback and slightly rubbery in feel. The humongous brakes (six-piston racing calipers on the front, clamping huge crossed-drilled 335mm rotors) are as effective at low speeds as they are when you are zipping along and they emit none of the disconcerting clanks and groans of similar anchors on rival supercars.
So there you are, chuntering sleepily along, passing the weatherboarded homes of wealthy Motown executives. Yawn: 45mph with 1,000rpm on the clock in sixth. Oh look: a corner…
Well, you've got to, haven't you? Grab the big gear lever and manhandle it into third, the revs soar up and the mighty engine bellows. Despatch that pick-up in front and then squeeze the brakes gently as fuel gurgles like Victorian plumbing in the exhaust beneath you. With the corner lined up in the middle of the bonnet between the two voluptuous fenders, you come off the brakes and turn.
The steering kicks back where the wheels of semi-trailers have scuffed the asphalt - a slightly divorced feeling, but very accurate and relaxed. The transverse-mounted composite leaf springs settle imperceptibly as they take the weight of the car, not rolling exactly, but just telling you about the speed.
Back on the power and the engine instantly answers the call, the inside rear wheel spinning slightly and trailing a wisp of smoke like a streaming white horse on a surfer's wave. The rear end thumps with the differential's action and the tail slides gently wide.
By the time you've eased the power and dialled on corrective lock, the traction control has got everything under control and you are back behind a big yellow school bus. Fun's over for the day.
Endurance racing and round-the-clock traffic jams demand hugely different things of a car, yet this one will apparently do both. "We've tested this car for 24 hours at Sebring and if you want to go racing you don't need to change a damn thing," growled GM's Bob Lutz. "You can take it from the showroom to the track. Porsche and Ferrari couldn't make that statement."
He's right: the Z06 will go from being a daily driver to a superhero and back again before the school bus gets around the corner. For a 200mph supercar it also comes at a fantastic price - even if it is left-hand drive.
GM says that only 250 examples of the £60,000 Z06 are coming to Europe next year, but it will try to secure another 50 from the 7,200 produced annually in America. On this performance, it could sell three times that amount and there would still be a queue.
And I'd be somewhere near the front.
Chevrolet Corvette Z06: about £59,000. On sale January.
We like: An all-American supercar, the soccer mom's other daily driver that can change in a phone box and emerge as a superhero to crush the fancy European opposition, showing them up for the puny, over-priced pussies they really are.
We don't like: Or maybe not. The supercar pecking order doesn't really change here and the red cars from Italy are still at the top. This souped-up 'Vette is still a lovely thing, though.
[PS I didn't write it! I just pass it on..... Enjoy! 5USA]
chris_n said:
I think that is supposed to be the price for an official UK supplied car. I'd be very interested if someone who knows could work out what it would cost to buy one in the US and import into the UK (assuming you could buy at list of $65k or thereabouts).
Chris
I worked out using a 1.75 exchange rate that it would cost me about £53,000 to put the car on the road in the UK but that would be excluding a 3 year waranty.
I just bought the last UK Z06 available until next September, for January delivery. The list price is £59,850 from Stratstone Corvette in Park Lane.
Good luck trying to find a car in the USA that isn't offered at least $15,000 over the $65,800 list price. If you want to pay list in the USA you'll be waiting for a good 9 months for delivery. I've seen a delivery mileage secondhand car offered at $68,800 on Autotrader.com by a dealer, then all the others are between $80-90k. I'm well aware of the importing process but if you want a Z06 now, then it was cheaper and quicker to just buy one from the official dealer, weird eh. Stratstone even had US Corvette specialist "Corvette Mike" call them trying to buy cars from the UK at UK list price and ship them back to America, such is demand there!!
Good luck trying to find a car in the USA that isn't offered at least $15,000 over the $65,800 list price. If you want to pay list in the USA you'll be waiting for a good 9 months for delivery. I've seen a delivery mileage secondhand car offered at $68,800 on Autotrader.com by a dealer, then all the others are between $80-90k. I'm well aware of the importing process but if you want a Z06 now, then it was cheaper and quicker to just buy one from the official dealer, weird eh. Stratstone even had US Corvette specialist "Corvette Mike" call them trying to buy cars from the UK at UK list price and ship them back to America, such is demand there!!
[quote=JenkinsComp]I just bought the last UK Z06 available until next September, for January delivery. The list price is £59,850 from Stratstone Corvette in Park Lane.[quote]
Was it the silver one?
And are you saying that mine, specced last month and expected in March, now won't be coming until September?
Was it the silver one?
And are you saying that mine, specced last month and expected in March, now won't be coming until September?
JenkinsComp said:
Good luck trying to find a car in the USA that isn't offered at least $15,000 over the $65,800 list price.
I saw on ebay.com last night, an auction for a 2006 ZO6 with a buy it now of $20K, bids up to about $4K reserve not met - WOW ! thought I - what's this then. On looking into the auction, I found it was an auction for how much over the MSRP of $70K you were prepared to pay. Crazy !
cheeky said:
[quote=JenkinsComp]I just bought the last UK Z06 available until next September, for January delivery. The list price is £59,850 from Stratstone Corvette in Park Lane.[quote]
Was it the silver one?
And are you saying that mine, specced last month and expected in March, now won't be coming until September?
Yeah, I have bought a Silver Z06 with Ebony interior. Wanted black but beggars can't be choosers! Not sure on when you'd get delivery though, if you were one of the 4 people who bought cars from Stratstone before me, then I'd expect you'll get delivery when you were told it would be ready.
Stratstone just aren't getting any further cars (over the 5 they were allocated for this year) until September 2006. Should keep prices buoyant :-)
Steve_T said:Details, Viper comparison, pics and video at www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=2&article_id=2904
What an amazing motor! Does anyone have any pics of this beast?
Enjoy!
JenkinsComp said:
[quote=JenkinsComp]I just bought the last UK Z06 available until next September, for January delivery. The list price is £59,850 from Stratstone Corvette in Park Lane.[quote]
Was it the silver one?
And are you saying that mine, specced last month and expected in March, now won't be coming until September?
Yeah, I have bought a Silver Z06 with Ebony interior. Wanted black but beggars can't be choosers! Not sure on when you'd get delivery though, if you were one of the 4 people who bought cars from Stratstone before me, then I'd expect you'll get delivery when you were told it would be ready.
Stratstone just aren't getting any further cars (over the 5 they were allocated for this year) until September 2006. Should keep prices buoyant :-)
When I stumped up, I was told the five for this year were due in November (now January) and the next 5 were due in March. If that's six months out, I am not going to be a happy man!
dean phillips said:
Mine should land here in the UK this weekend from the US. Say 2 weeks prep, on the road before the end of the year?
Is yours through Stratstone or an importer? I'll be very interested to hear how you find it because I was told today that my Z will be a LOT longer than I had been told when ordering. A year since I ordered it in September, in fact... while Chris bought his last week and gets it in January!!!
yellowshark454 said:Yeah, I think that's really dumb. There's two US sportscars and they both look the same! Combination of the C6 lights/hood with latest Viper side treatment brings the styling soooo close together.
Looking at the road & track report, page 1, a non cogniscenti would be be hard pressed to tell which car was which.
Nice pix VHR. Can't believe how cheap (cough!) the latest Z06 is selling compared with the eye-watering price of ZR1 back in the early 1990s. It will surely stand up well against euro opposition once side by side testing gets under way.
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