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Yesterday, Chevrolet confirmed that the long rumor and the long gestation
Corvette mid-engine will definitely make its debut on July 18th. And even though Zora Arkus-Duntov's US supercar is finally coming to fruition, Chevrolet's performance has not really been a shame in the last 60 years. The Corvette – the front motor car – has long been a world-class sports car, though it has been stereotyped in recent decades.
Since its introduction on General Motors Motorama in New York in 1953, Chevy's halo car has allowed engineers to push boundaries, physics and pure madness. So, before the eighth generation arrives on the street this summer, nothing has been seen, here is a preview of our top five favorite Motor Vettes before.
Superformance
The OG: 1963 Corvette Grand Sport
The Corvette Grand Sport project came about because Ford's rulers and riders did not want to shut up. In partnership with chicken producer Carroll Shelby, who speaks loudly, Ford took the MkI AC Cobra and quickly began winning races – and with it, indirectly irritating Chevrolet engineers. Duntov, however, had none. Without the approval of the company and in flagrant violation of General Motors' anti-race stance at the time, Duntov and his team built the Grand Sport in secret.
The recipe was simple: reduce weight, tighten the Corvette's already brilliant (for now) behavior, and get even more power from a caressing 377-inch V-8 that humiliated the Ford. According to legend, five Grand Sports were built under fictitious names to hide them from the lords of the company. But the project was abandoned soon after. Racing legend AJ Foyt recounted his first Corvette Grand Sports experience on the track, saying: "What's going on in this damn dinosaur? . "
Barrett-Jackson
The lover: 1968 Corvette Stingray L88
The Corvette was a success. Harley Earl's vision managed to capture the new love of the US for sports cars, and designer Zora Arkus-Duntov continued with the sublime C2. Keeping the lineage beyond the second generation, however, meant that the third generation had to be something unique that still keeps the soul of the original. Chevrolet's engineering team offered a more sensual design that was perfectly suited to the decade for which it was sold.
Launched in 1968, the Corvette C3 lasted nearly 15 years, from the design to the latest Collectors Edition, Corvette Stingray. However, none of the special editions or engine options improved throughout his life could compete with one of the first engines offered by the third-generation Corvette: the legendary L88. The L88 is the engine code for a 7.0-liter, 427-cubic-inch, large block V-8 engine designed for "racing only". This is certainly not what happened.
Callaway Cars
The Lunatic: 1988 Callaway Corvette Sledgehammer
Imagine that you fell in 1988. Reagan is the president, gasoline costs $ 0.91, and Oliver North has just been indicted for Iran-Contra. Meanwhile, Ferrari has introduced the 477 horsepower, a 197mph F40 a year ago, a high-water mark for the world of supercars. Where do you expect a challenger? Probably not a small company called Callaway and their modified Chevrolet Corvette of 898 horsepower, 254 mph.
Developed by Reeves Callaway as a way to test the new turbocharger sets of its fledgling company and according to Reeves, "Win All the Most Exciting Magazine Events", the Sledgehammer Corvette is a drop of water. In addition to using two turbochargers, Reeves seized the Corvette engine and threw it away, replacing it with a block from a NASCAR to hold the almighty power of the Sledgehammer. In addition, each internal part was made to measure from stronger and lighter materials.
Callaway hired engineer Paul Deutschman to build the Sledgehammer into an aerodynamic body that retains the original shape of the fourth-generation Corvette. This famous race at 254 mph came in 1988 on the oval on the tarmac of the Transportation Research Center in Ohio with Reeves' friend, John Lingenfelter, driving. How's that for a record race?
Corvette Racing
The champion: Corvette C5-R 2001
We now consider Corvette Racing to be one of the most successful teams in the history of America's sports car racing. However, there was no Corvette Racing before the 2001 Corvette C5-R based on the fifth-generation Corvette.
After setting aside the Grand Sport riders in the early 1960s, General Motors and Chevrolet have been racing for years. The air of the company changed before the introduction of the fifth-generation Corvette. Chevrolet knew that to properly propel the Corvette internationally, the company had to validate its performance benchmarks. Thus, the company took a handful of its Corvette that was not yet launched and began to build a race car around the platform.
Chevrolet encountered a ton of problems early in development. But a year after the Pratt & Miller manufacturers took exclusive control of the entire operation, Corvette Racing won its first victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – the first of its kind in decades and the start of a series of victories revitalizing the Corvette program.
Chevrolet Performance
The devil: 2019 Corvette ZR1
The Corvette ZR1, the latest Corvette ZR1 from Chevrolet Performance, could also come with holy water, a crucifix, a book on exorcisms and a million-dollar life insurance policy that covers possession demonic as standard. While it's slightly hyperbolic, consider that the 6.2-liter V-8 is helped with a 2.3-liter internally-called Big Supercharger compressor and pentagram-style wheels.
In an apparent prayer to the Dark Lord, Chevrolet Performance made every effort to design, design and christen the Corvette ZR1. Powered by the above-mentioned supercharged V-8, the Corvette ZR1 generates 755 horsepower and 715 lb-ft of bewitching torque sent to only the rear wheels.
The delivery of power is wild, in a word. Although the Corvette ZR1 has a series of security systems that prevent fans and more angelic owners from demolishing, she is quite capable of showing who the boss is, as she did at the GM executive vice president, Mark Reuss, when he destroyed a new Corvette ZR1 on a safety lap in front of the Detroit Grand Prix. The Corvette ZR1 also represents the swan song of the front-engine rear-wheel drive system used since the creation of the Corvette.
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