mid engine corvette qtr panels leaked photo

2 laps maybe the corvette wins if it has a pro driver who can handle the unpredictability on the limit. After 5 laps a C7 z06 simply blows, too much weight the power dials back(even on the later ones) and thats assuming the motor holds together, Point is theres 2 fast laps and lapping all day. The reason the GS exists is becasue the z06 cant hack it, and the zr1 is too heavy. Plus the 458 will be infintely more entertaining to drive on track.

However for 50k you can buy a C6 z06 put 10-20k into it and have a near unbeatable track car.

 

Oh my lord...MAKE IT STOP!!!
This single page has SO much misinformation, it feels like Fox/CNN/MSNBC got together and dove in this thread.

 

If it’s spelled correctly and is on the inter web, it must be true.

 

Atom is actualy a crap car esp for track, theyre just light enough to accelerate really fast, but thats about it..
The orgional NSX is a cool car and a great road car, on track even modded, by todays standards theyre sloooow. The new NSX is just heavy and complex, it would be a fright ontrack.

Elise and exige work out the box, but you have to be able to deal with the minimalism, theyre more like track cars that work on road, as opposed to a cayman which is a road car that works on track. On the elige as you learn to go faster the car can be modded to grow ahead of you, theyre also very light on their toes with a swb so you need to be able to deal with that. The fast eliges these days are running intercooled superchargers and putting north of 300hp to the wheels or 350+ at the crank, plus close ratio boxes, but at that point while street legal theyre really not for the street esp if you have track suspension. Then you get into the v6 exige which is in another orbit, esp once you start to let the engine breathe and loose a little weight, but once again youre quickly out of road car territory..

The beuty of an elige or a miata is theyre turnkey, you can run on track all day and its under $500 in consumables because with the light weight tires and brakes really last. Tires and brake pads are the big direct cost when you run on track. A Gt2 is more like 1500-2k to run on track all day.

 

^^^^
I love that you THINK the current Corvette is "bendy" (which it is not), C7 chassis is actually 56% stiffer than the C6 Z06 chassis was and NO ONE ever accused that car of being flappy.
Now, if you want a flappy chassis, the 1st gen NSX is your boy. It was Senna's biggest complaint with the car (this is well documented).

And Elise/Exige and Miatas are easy on consumables because they are light....AND REALLY SLOW. Sorry if that offends you but it is just a FACT.
To get an Elise/Exige/Miata anywhere CLOSE to a C7 GS's track performance, you would have to spend 10's of thousands of dollars.

 

And what does any of this have to do with the C8?

 

Not exactly. The GS was a response to the popularity of the wide-body design featured on the Z06 model. The GS offered the wide-body styling without the higher performance spec at a more affordable price. It is perhaps ironic that the GS is named after a 1963 Corvette racing car that was ultimately not competitive. The lighter Shelby Cobra proved the merit of light weight in a race car design.
The typical Corvette convertible buyer is 67 years old. This fixation with racing is a myth for the typical Corvette buyer.

 

C8 is a triumph all things considered to suggest otherwise is asinine. You might not love but you can’t deny it.

 

The gs is the only c7 that really works on track out the box, that’s a fact.

Most 911 buyers are wagers too. As are Ferrari’s etc. but somewhere in the portfolio you need something real

 

My dealer got back to me late today. Will try to talk tomorrow.

 

I look forward to driving these cars and those that follow from Team Corvette. Their exterior appearance as well as their interior will make every drive a special occasion, an event! The expertise that makes the current generation so capable on track remains present and accounted for on the design/engineering team. This car will do very well in the same settings.

 

starting to feel bad for cars like z4/supra, gt4/spyder, etc that no one is paying any attention to now that c8 has stolen the show. even f8 and sf90 seem to be garnering less excitement levels than i would expect

 

Mmmm....no not really.

The F8 had it's splash for a week two. The Sf90 is an expensive hybrid. Some will like it, some will hate it. It has a limited audience because of its price. The supra though is a basketcase stylistically.

Also Chevy has given very little information on this car -- intentionally. All we know is "the price" (which really isn't the price) and that it goes fast according to them. So, there's a lot to discuss because every one wants to learn something new about the price or performance or delivery or where they can see it or when its going to start production, etc.

A week from now not many will be talking about this car other than when they can get one.

 

Well, the Supra is going to have a tough go of it, IMO. Had they offered it with a manual, maybe they could have grabbed some of the outgoing C7 scraps...But, the car is ungainly looking (that's being kind), the loyalists HATE it, thinking it's not a REAL Supra, and to be blunt, the car went away for a reason the first time....it's not like they were selling them hand over fist and someone in Japan said: "Ok, that's enough of that!!!"
The Z4? When was that car ever important?
The GT4/Spyder? Totally different price point at $100K STARTING price.
The Ferraris? They'll sell as many as they want to I would guess.

 

People see the Supra through rose colored glasses, and I suspect a lot of that is from the Fast and Furious crowd. People forget that Toyota cut the price of the Supra $10,000 in its last two years in the US in order to move them. It was not viewed as all that special back then.

Regarding the weight of the 4C versus the Elise, people need to remember that the Elise/Exige didn't meet US safety regulations regarding air bags, and Lotus decided to pull them from the market rather than develop them further for compliance. All of this stuff adds weight. The US 4C weighs over 300 lbs (depending on the source) more than the Euro spec due to US safety regulations (and some additional standard content like the leather dash, AC, etc.). The reality is that the Elise/Exige and 4C were developed to meet different safety regulations. I'm sure if Lotus tried to make the current Elise US compliant, the weight would probably be much closer to where the 4C is.

 

Yeah we’ll those manufacturers have gotten lazy and contemptuous of their customers who can be mistreated by having to beg for a car, paying fortunes for useless options and buying cars that are not as good as they can be.

Now they’ll have to get serious and put heir best game on.

Gt4 as an example, it dosent have the best motor or gearing, didn’t matter when there was no potion now it does.

By spec we see the bette is delivering a tremendous package and at a price. So what do we expect for 2x the price from
Porche or 4x the price from Ferrari.

To a certain extent sportscars have become Walter Mitty devices that signal intent and ability that requires zero skill or effort to drive to the golf club. Manufacturers have lost their souls and lost the plot.

If the Vette is what we think it is, it’s a disruptive to that cozy life the rest have lived I. For the past 15 years. Now they’re goi g to have to try harder and deliver more.

 

Uh no.

In capable hands they are unbelievably fast, capable and rewarding. I raced an Atom with the small motor, only 240HP (forget the 300+ variants). According to Car and Driver “Lightning Lap” only 4 cars in the world were faster than my qualifying lap on Grand Course at VIR (Aventador, P1, Viper ACR-X, and GTR, if memory serves)- that performance with brake pads and rotors that will last an entire season with tires you can put 12-15 heat cycles on. Oh yeah, terminal velocity was about 128-130 mph, which speaks even more to its capability everywhere except in a straight line.

 

Vettes are bendy that’s a fact, they’ve never been accused of being stiff. Thatbthe c7 is 56% stiffer than the c6 just shows how shocking the c6 was.

To make an Elise that blows away a gs or z06 on track takes about 10k in upgrades.
I do t know how you measure fast or slow, to me it’s all about lap time.

If you went to some alms races 2 years ago you would have seen a 2008 exige bowing away the cream of the crop putting out 300hp and forced to carry
200lbs of ballastbto handicap it.

There is such a vast chasm between a fast street car o. Road and a car that’s fast o. Track, and there are lots of components to this.

 

Lightening lap is a joke and irrelevant.
And yes a light car will outperform a big heavy car o track, even if the light car does not have a high top speed. There are simply way better light cars than an atom.

 

I don't follow what you're saying here.

Hi John, thank you for the link. I didn't see anything in there about start stop. Does the cylinder deactivation mean... No start stop!? I know the trucks use it and they don't have start stop. Hopefully this doesn't.

 

what is wrong with lightning lap? i realize its multiple drivers but they still do a nice job of getting some stats out there on huge # cars

 

To me it’s an irrelevant stat beyond selling cars.

A 10-15 lap avaerage would tell a lot more in terms of relevance.

Numerous times I read on the 1 lap test that they have to come I. And let the car cool, change tires etc. what’s relevant is how the car runs 10 laps, you know this. 1 lap is just a stunt.

 

Thhey should take the top finishers of lightning lap and lap for 24 minutes ala lemans. Most distance covered in 24 min wins. Would be fun and relevant to hpde sessions. Fast but heavy cars that ruin tires, pads, and overheat might lose to slower efficient cars.

 

2 other new models that had limelight stolen by vette -
Shelby 500 and nismo gtr. Does anyone care about them?