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[Music] Welcome to Corvette Today, the podcast
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that talks about everything Corvette with your host Steve Garrett, MC and DJ at one of the largest Corvette weekends
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in the country, Corvette Funfest, president of the Corvette Club of Kansas City, Missouri, and radio disc jockey at
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the number one radio station in Kansas City for over 40 years. Here's Steve Garrett.
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Thanks for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette and the only
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current podcast dedicated to Corvette. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. I appreciate you tuning in. Corvette Today
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enthusiasts from around the world. It's time to bring you the latest Corvette news and headlines with my buddy Keith
2:33
Cornet from corvette blogger.com. Keith is here every other week to keep us current and up to date on what's
2:39
happening with America's sports car. Keith, welcome back to the show. I always look forward to April. April
2:44
means springtime and we can get our Corvettes back out on the road. Yeah, so much fun stuff happening too in April.
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Of course, we got the bash coming up later this month. We're going to find out hopefully more news. We're going to find out when the model year for 2024
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will hopefully start. any new options or upgrades or colors coming to the car, we'll see hopefully in real time as
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well. So, yeah, there's so much good stuff happening in April. We're ready to get to it. Absolutely right. And as a matter of fact, next week we have a NCM Bash
3:11
preview coming up on Corvette today. Keith, let's start out the news section like we always do with a production
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update from the Bowling Green assembly plant. So, we're talking here. We were closed a week ago. It's always happens. We go
3:22
through this closure. It's unexpected. We lay off for a week, but meanwhile, things are still happening behind the scenes and then we usually come back and
3:29
have a pretty good couple weeks after that as they've had a chance to bank some of those supplies and parts and stuff. When we came back from this
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closure, production takes off. We are probably right around 28,500 stingrays.
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It's probably a little bit more once this podcast starts on Monday, but 28,500 stingrays for the 2023 model
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year. And that's just the regular produced stingrays. We also have 3,100 70th anniversaries. So 31,600 Stingrays
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we're showing so far for 2023 model year and we've still got several months to go. So we're really excited about the
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production numbers for Stingray and and actually we had a very good week for Z06 production as well with some new records
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set for those daily numbers. Last Wednesday we saw 46 Corvette Z06es built
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in a single day. Wow. That's just blows my mind. That's a great number. It was 38 regular models
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and eight 70th anniversary editions. If we could do those kinds of numbers sustained, that would make a lot of
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buyers happy. Yeah, we'll see how it goes. And I think sometimes they were able to do that number and then it'll fall back down
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into the high teens, maybe low 20s again. But we're keeping an eye on it. The Wednesday production was the last
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number we had before recording this. So, we'll see how it closes out the week. Z06 production, again, you get all
4:40
excited about it and then you get bad news and then everybody's all glum and doom and gloom, but then you get good
4:46
news again. So, you get excited. And of course, we had some real good news with the Z06 allocation. Yeah. Tell me about what allocation
4:52
everybody got last Thursday. So, it was supposed to come in the week prior to that. Let's step back. In fact,
4:57
February was the last scheduled Z06 order cycle that was planned. Chevy told
5:02
us about it 3 months in advance. They told us about it back in November that there was going to be one in February. Well, February came and went. There was
5:08
no Z06 allocations. And then we had the cycle one for Stingray in March. That went well for Stingray. And then for
5:15
Z06, again, zero allocations. But there were some inklings that well maybe it's
5:20
going to actually come the following week. So it's a little bit out of cycle for what was planned. But yet Thursday morning we called our dealers and they
5:26
were all real happy because they did get numbers. It was the small dealers and large dealers that we spoke with that
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did get numbers. So that's real good there. The one thing that we didn't see was we did not see any Z07s that were
5:38
granted to dealers. So it still looks like they're having some issues trying to reach those. But having that order
5:43
cycle there coming for Z06. The other thing too is this is most likely the final customer allocations for Z06 for
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the 2023 model year. Chevy had said all customer orders for Z06 must be in by 11:59 p.m. on April 4th, which is
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Tuesday. And if there are any allocations left over in April, they would be given out as dealer stock
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orders only. So by doing a dealer stock order, Chevy's not worried about any model year changeovers or rollovers with
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those orders. And of course, if you roll over a customer order, generally you're offering price protection as well. So by
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doing the dealer stock order that kind of eliminates that. And then there are some dealers out there that said if we
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get additional dealer stock orders in April, we're just going to build them to our customer specs. And we specifically
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heard that from Sioka and we hope that some others follow along if that's the case and there is some allocations in
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April. But otherwise, it looks like these are the final customer allocations for 2023. And again, we're waiting to
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see when the model year starts and ends for 2023 and starts for 2024. A lot of things up in the air right now. So we're
6:41
just rolling with the changes and see what happens. Just like the Ario Speed Wagon song, Roll with the Changers.
6:47
Also, Keith, GM, Mexico posted a 375% increase in Corvette sales. Wow.
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Yeah, we're huge in Mexico, which translates to 19 cars, Steve. Oh, wow. I fed in there specifically that way
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because people really kind of get bent out of shape when talking about Corvette exports, right? They think that all these should go to American customers
7:06
first. But in the grand scheme, you're talking 19 cars to one market, which is the equivalent of about two maybe two
7:13
and a half hours of production for the Corvette assembly plant to build those cars. These numbers don't really hurt
7:19
the American buyers all that much. And in fact, it puts the prestige of the Corvette into these other markets. It's good news for Mexico. They're selling
7:25
the Corvette Z06 down there now. And in fact, if you recall, they're selling only the Z07 version of it. They can
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sell a few of these cars, make a little bit more money down there, but yet here in the United States market, we do see
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Z06s moving. Although the Z07s are still highly constrained, but they're probably highly constrained there as well. We
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just like to bring these kinds of point counterpoints when we can. 375% sales growth in Mexico. I know a lot of
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automakers would love to have that, but when you're talking 19 cars, you're not overwhelming the workers in Bowling
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Green to build those, right? It's reality and perspective, right? Exact. Yeah. There you go. Also, Keith,
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a judge has granted a class action status to a GM 8-speed transmission lawsuit. Give us the backstory on this.
8:07
Yeah, there's a couple of these lawsuits that are still kind of hanging around from the C7 era. Most notably, the
8:12
defective wheels for Grand Sport Z06 and then this one on the 8-speed automatic transmission. The owners call it the
8:18
Chevy shake because what they experienced anything from hesitations to shake and shutters and clunks and hard
8:25
shifts from this automatic transmission. So the judge, what they did was they granted class action status. There's 39
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plaintiffs in 26 states that have all reported this problem. And it's not just Corvettes that are affected. There's
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actually over 800,000 of these 8-speed transmissions were sold during 2015 to 2019. And they went into Silverados,
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Camaros, Escalades, the GMC Sierra, and a whole bunch of other GM vehicles that had the AL90 or the AL45 8-speed
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transmissions. Where this goes, we don't know. We'll be watching it, obviously, and we'll see how it ends up.
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Unfortunately, these class action suits are needed because, you know, a lot of times manufacturers will walk away from
9:02
a problem, say, "Oh, well, we dealt with it on our next upgrade." Well, no. They had 800,000 of these out there and
9:07
people have real problems and they can't get stuff fixed. They're back in the shop over and over and over. It's a mess
9:12
and we're hoping that the legal systems able to clean it up. Yeah. Keep us updated on that. That's for sure.
9:18
Yeah, we'll do. Also, we now can download the 2023 Corvette brochure. I would love to have
9:23
one in my hands, but downloading it is the next best thing, right? It is. I mean, for anybody that really
9:28
doesn't have a 2023, I mean, the PDF's fine. It gives you all the information, all the pictures, the colors, the wheel
9:34
options, some of the different performance options you can add on the cars. For people like you that actually have a 2023, you're going to want the
9:40
printed version. Check with your dealer. Some dealers will get like a case of them. They might only have 20 or 30 of
9:46
them available, so they'll give them only to customers that buy a car. If you can't find one at your local dealer, generally the National Corvette Museum
9:52
always gets them in. And in fact, they're pretty cheap when you do get them through the NCM there. Yeah, that's what I would do is I would
9:57
look for those and then if you can get them at the bash, hopefully they'll be at the bash, you can get them and then you can walk around and get them signed by some of the staff that's there. You
10:04
know, the GM engineers, Harland and Taj, and those guys, that always makes a unique collectible. And again, when you
10:09
own the car yourself, you know, you have a 70th anniversary car, it's great to have that brochure to go along with it.
10:14
Absolutely right. I love having those brochures and getting the signatures from all the guys on the team is a great
10:19
idea. Thanks for that. Yep. Also, we have a few new additions to the Corvettes and the Z06s. First of all,
10:26
the engine appearance package and the carbon fiber engine cover is now available for Stingray and Z06.
10:32
Yeah, this is really great news and it's been a long time coming. For the first couple years of C8 production, customers
10:37
could order that $995 ZZ3 engine appearance package. And it included
10:43
those two carbon fiber panels on each side of the engine and then an LED lighting kit inside so that when you
10:48
opened up the hatch, you know, you'd have a light shining down on it. Right. Back in January 2022, that vendor that
10:54
provided those closeout panels got out of the business saying they were no longer in the composite business anymore. So, it took over a year to get
11:01
the supply back going again. And that's exactly what it is. It first showed up in the order guide for 2023 two weeks
11:08
ago and then it's already now back on the build and price configurators for both Stingray and Z06. It's the same
11:15
price for both cars 995 and it's the same RPO code which is the ZZ3. That's
11:20
really great news there. And again, the engines, they just look a little bit lacking without those closeout panels.
11:25
They really provide a nice way to fish it. And in fact, I had to go back on the Z06 because none of the show cars have
11:31
them. If you go back to the Z06 reveal at the Peterson, these pieces were actually on the cutaway car there. Not
11:37
only were the closeout panels, but that visible carbon fiber, we call it the horse collar. It basically sits right on
11:43
top of the dual intakes of the Z06, right? And it looks really good. It's visible carbon fiber. It's got the
11:48
beautiful C8 Corvette logo on it. So, that's available now. Let me give you the price on that. That part number is
11:55
84643987 and the MSRP on that is 21.95. Little
12:01
expensive, but they look great. In fact, if you get those 500,000 my Chevy points for holding your Z06, that's a great
12:07
thing to spend that on. And then the other thing that came for both Stingray and Z06, but again, this is only for the
12:13
2023 models are these visible carbon fiber X braces that straddle the engine bay, right?
12:18
They not only look great, they're very functional because they add additional rigidity to the car. These X braces cost
12:24
28.95. The GM part number for those is 84983921.
12:30
You can order those through the Chevy accessories page online or through your GM dealer parts counter. And I gave you
12:36
that part number. We also have it on the blog. You can look it up and there's a number of resellers online that would have it as well, sometimes at a
12:41
discount. It seems like we're getting additional visible carbon fiber parts. If we could just apply that to the Z07
12:47
package, the Aero package, you know, we might really have something, Steve. Absolutely right. And if it's carbon fiber, it sounds good to me, buddy.
12:54
I hear you, Keith. Let's take our first break. When we come back, Corvette racing and Corvette rumors are on deck here on
13:01
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And now back to the only current podcast on Corvettes, Corvette Today with your host, Steve Garrett. Hey, thanks for
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. We keep you current and uptodate on
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what's happening with Corvette. In the second segment, we always talk Corvette racing and Corvette rumors. First in the
16:32
racing category, Keith, give us a breakdown on Corvette racing at Sebring. Yeah, the race happened before we
16:37
actually had a chance to talk about it. Now, this is our really first chance to do a recap. This is another whatif race
16:42
for Corvette racing. Early on, the team was leading. Tommy Milner then reported a broken shock on the car. So, after
16:49
that nice few hours of leading the race and being right there in contention, it really dropped us to the back of the pack. And so, the team had to really
16:55
fight to get back there. With 50 minutes to go, we did our final pit stop. We were the first one out, so we're first
17:02
in the cycle. We had Antonio Garcia, our closer at Sebring, ready to go there. What had happened was essentially we got
17:07
punted twice off the course. We ended up finishing in fifth place overall. Not really what we wanted. Of course,
17:13
Antonio wasn't real happy with the result afterwards, as you can imagine. Anything can happen there. So, not the
17:18
greatest result. Fifth place at Sebring. Corvette Racing's next race for IMSA will be April 15th at Long Beach. And
17:25
then for the WEC team, their next race is Portoo in Portugal on April 16th.
17:30
Wow. So, that weekend we'll have two different Corvette races to watch on each of those days. That's kind of the benefits of splitting the schedule is
17:36
you get twice as many races to watch. Yeah, that'll be fun. Also, Jordan Taylor is preparing for his first NASCAR
17:42
Cup race. Yeah, he actually had that. That was at Kota Circuit of the Americas in Austin. Really a fun thing. You know, he
17:48
qualified fourth as a rookie. They said it was like the best qualifying since
17:54
like 2000, 1999. And guess the guy who did that was also a former Corvette racing driver. Boris said Jordan started
18:00
fourth at NASCAR. It was a real slugfest. You know, any NASCAR race, unless you're a true fan, you just tune
18:05
at the end because who knows what's going to happen during the race, but at the end is when it's all important. Unfortunately, we just had all these
18:11
late yellows that continue to do the restart. They'd have to do a lap before they'd get the white flag. And of course, they'd always wreck on that
18:16
first lap, so they'd have to reset everything. This happened a couple times and actually with these restarts, Jordan
18:22
started moving up until the final restart, he was 10th again going in that turn one at Kota. It's a killer. And he
18:28
got knocked around pretty bad and actually ended up finishing 24th overall. So fun race to watch. Fun to
18:33
see Jordan competing there. Hopefully we'll see some more road race ringers from Corvette Racing doing that more
18:38
often in NASCAR cuz it's it's fun to watch. It's a great crossover for us to watch. Absolutely. In the rumors category,
18:44
Keith, topsp speeded.com is exploring the design of a Corvette sedan. Are we really going to get a Corvette sedan?
18:51
That's the rumor. Corvette EV sedan coming in 2026 according to automotive forecasters. There's obviously been a
18:58
lot of talk about this happening. So they put out this render and you know other than the front fascia that they grabbed from probably the Z06 there and
19:05
the rear tail lights from the car, this really could be anything. It's hard to really say, "Oh wow, that looks very
19:11
Corvettish on a four-door sedan." And they tried their best. I think it's just a third party rendering of what it could
19:16
look like. We do know that the Corvette engineering team was moved over. This was several years ago, was moved under
19:22
the EV. I always thought that was a good thing. You're playing with the latest tech. You've got all the money going in the development there. So, why not try
19:28
to grab some of that for Corvette, right? We're looking at 2026, a few years away, but it kind of goes into our next story
19:34
about the Porsche Tyan. Yeah, I guess that they're benchmarking the Porsche Tan EV for the Corvette
19:40
sedan, right? Yeah, exactly. So, spy photographers captured GM engineers going in and out
19:45
of the proving grounds with this Tyan Turbo S. The Tyan currently holds the lap record for electric cars at the
19:51
Nurburg Ring. It's got Z06 performance, 0 to 60 in just 2.6 6 seconds with a 750
19:57
horsepower drivetrain. It's smoking fast. It was a year ago or so. I think that there was a tan or tyan. I really
20:04
not up on my pronunciation. I always want to call it toucan like toucan sam but
20:11
yeah I don't think Porsche would like that buddy. Right. The tan was on the Hoonigans YouTube channel and they raced it
20:17
against Amelia's twin turbo stingray best of three kind of thing. It's a very fast car with that instant
20:23
torque that EVs have. And again, we see what Teslas do at the track with that energy that's just stored and then
20:28
dumped immediately and they can just go. It's just one of these things for people that want more performance and maybe
20:33
have a family of four card around an electric EV Corvette might just be the way to go. Well, if you want to take the
20:39
family in the Corvette, I guess the EV or the sedan is the way to go for sure. Our final rumor, Keith, the Corvette
20:45
engineering team was cited in Indiana and Kentucky. What are they doing out there? Yeah, very interesting. So, a reader
20:51
sent us some photos and we actually had a couple quick videos. There was five cars in this group including one that
20:56
was fully wrapped in camo scale. That car with the camo actually had those special testing exhaust pipes coming out
21:02
the rear which they do like the emissions testing on. In that group there was the five cars. We also saw
21:07
that one of those cars had the corner mounted exhaust. We think that it was a Z06 export model and then the other
21:13
three test cars all had the Z07 package. So there's where your Z07 wings are all going on to these pre-production 2024s.
21:20
So to me it looks like they were testing the full range of Z06. We do believe that these are 2024 production models
21:26
because they had a different sticker on them that they were 2023. They would actually have that CTF sticker that we
21:31
all know with it being 2024. They're pre-production models. So they use these VIN stickers instead. They were seen in
21:36
Indiana and Lawrenburg, which is over on the southeast corner. And then another reader caught them down in Bowling Green
21:43
the next day. We're not sure what they're doing. It looks like they're just doing some validation, some testing, and getting ready for the 2024
21:48
model year. All right, that sounds good. Well, buddy, let's take our final break. When we come back, it's the lighter side of Corvette. Up next on Corvette Today,
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is Keith Cornett from corvette blogger.com. Don't forget if you want a deeper dive
24:52
into any of the stories that Keith and I cover on the show, you can always go to corvette blogger.com. In this final
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segment, we always talk about the lighter side of Corvette. Keith, I was interested to see that the Chevy
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Visualizer for the -ay added the full gloss black wheels as options.
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Exactly. Yeah. So, one night I was just kicking back, maybe enjoying the consumption of an adult beverage or two,
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just building a couple in the visualizer. One of my builds started taking a darker turn. I actually prefer brighter wheels.
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Yeah, I was building a Riptide blue car and I thought, well, let's put some black wheels on it and see what it looks like. Sure enough, here's these full gloss
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wheels that were added to the pallet. Before, the only other black wheel was a carbon flash metallic, but it had the
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machine lip around it. So, this is a full gloss black wheel that's now available to add on the visualizer,
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which again was a surprise because that gloss wheel was not in the leak that we had a few months back in December when
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we first learned about all this stuff that was going to be on the one of those wheels that we're still waiting on are the satin black wheels with the blue
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stripe around it. That was on the Visualizer leak, but we're still kind of waiting for that to show up hopefully on the 2024 Visualizer for E-Ray. It's
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always fun to find something new and it's just another option for Corvette owners. People really seem to like these wheels. I really do like how they look.
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They really open up nicely and show a lot of the caliper color and your ceramic carbon brakes on the car as
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well. Always fun to add a new pair of shoes to a car. It's just another option. That sounds good. I like it. I like it.
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Also, the Corvette Stingray ran 191.7 mph down the space shuttle runway. Wow.
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I need to get my car up to those kind of speeds. It's called the Johnny Bomber Proving Grounds at the Kennedy Space Center. And
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they're actually using the runway where the space shuttle used to land on. So, it's 3 mi overall, but with their time
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to speed up and stop, they run a course that's about 2.7 mi. This was actually a Z-51 Stingray, but it had the low
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profile spoiler. It ran 191.7 m an hour before when Chevy was doing the launch
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of the 2020 Stingray. They had a test video that showed 194 miles an hour, but
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that was a nonZ51 version. That was a car that had just a rear deck that was all smooth. With the additional arrow,
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they always said the Stingray would go less, and we always thought it would be around 184, but this one obviously with the low profile spotter was able to go
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over 190 with it. That would be a lot of fun just to be able to let your car wind up and really give it a chance to see
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what it could do. That'd be fun, buddy. That's for sure. Also, Barrett Jackson is going to offer
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-ay number one in auction coming up later this month in Palm Beach. Yeah, you know, it really tells us how close
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the -ray is to entering production and being, you know, an additional model for the Corvette that they're going to be
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offering the VIN 001 in April. And in fact, that's going to be happening April 15th. I think around 2:00 or so is when
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it's on the schedule. Okay. Like all these VIN 001 sales, the proceeds are donated 100% to charity. I
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think the sale of the First Performance Hybrid Corvette will benefit a organization called Donors Choose whose
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mission is to help classrooms in need and give them tools and experiences for great education. Anytime you can help
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the kids, right? Anytime you can help the kids, it's a good thing. April 15th, first-ray will be sold. We all know who
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might be looking at it. We'll just wait and see what happens. We won't drop any names Kendrick, but I think he'll probably be there. Don't you
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think so? I've seen him there previously. I've seen him there when he's purchased a couple cars. I think the last one I saw
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him there was the Z06 convertible. Fun stuff there and looking forward to it. Yeah, me too. Also, I love this next
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story, Keith. I'm a Lamborghini fan since my teenage days. It was so cool to see the -ay just smoke a Lamborghini
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Urican Evo and a Ferrari F8. I had a friend of mine ask, "Why the E-Ray? Why do you need all-wheel drive?"
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Yeah, and that's why. This is why you want all-wheel drive on a sports car. The way it jumped out in front of the
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Ferrari F8 and that Hurricane Evo just amazing. And again, it just is why the E
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all-wheel drive is just so important. This car is pretty amazing. This video was amazing. This is a Hagerty video, so
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they had all these special effects in it and talking about how the cars all did something different. The Ferrari was
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really making up for it slower start and had that race been longer, it probably would have eventually caught and passed the E-Ray. But that Evo, on the other
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hand, was a mess. I mean, it struggled to find grip for the first 3.2 two seconds or so. 060 while the Ray did it
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in 2.4. In fact, the E-Ray did it faster than the previous Z06 that they tested on the same track which was 2.5. So,
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again, I really want to see more of these challenges with the Ray and going up against these different cars. Of course, Godzilla, the Nissan would be
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fun to see more of these exotics out there, Porsches and stuff, too. Just bring it now. I'm just ready for the Ray
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to dominate. Absolutely right. And our final story, Keith, this was so much fun because if you're a final four fan, you did the
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final four for Corvettes on Corvette Blogger. Yeah, this comes from Alex. He likes to throw these questions out
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there. Hey guys, what do you think about this? So, we assign the story to each of our riders. We have four riders. It's kind of like, well, what are your final
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four Corvettes for all these 70 years? And it's really tough when you start to whittle it down because you are going to
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be leaving some of your favorite cars off the list. The traditional ones, you know, the 53, the 63, 67, we have the
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ZR1s, we've got the, of course, the C8 Z06. My list was a little different. I
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went with a 1957 Corvette FY. first time with 283 was offered. 283 cubic inches
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and 283 horsepower. You're getting that one for one horsepower to cubic inches. And also, this is the first year for the
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four-speed transmission. So, that's why I chose the 57. I chose the 63 Corvette Z06, the first car to really come with a
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track spec setup that you could order from the factory. Only build 199 of those. GM constantly reaches back to the
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past to present the future. And they did that with my next car, the 2004 Corvette Z06. I think the C5 Z06s are highly
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underrated. Fantastic sports cars. Really the last great driving car without all the nanny aids and stuff on
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them. I mean, it had some stuff there, but of course it was also the first car that had a carbon fiber hood on it. Just a really great car. And then my final my
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fourth choice might be a little controversial. I did not go C8 Z06. My final choice was the 2019 ZR1. Of
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course, you know, they built 25 2600 of these cars. The prices just continue to go up on them as people seek out that
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last front engine design. 755 horsepower. That big engine sticking way
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up in the hood there. So, that was my final four picks. I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but do you have some
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cars that you would name as your final four? Yeah, I was thinking about this as you were talking and mine is pretty similar
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to yours. I would choose a 53 Corvette because that's the true C1 Corvette. I
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really love the 53, 54, and 55s. Then, naturally, the 63 split window. Any
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version of the split window would be in my final four. Also the 78 pace car. I love those 78 pace cars.
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Oh yeah, good one. Absolutely. And then the C7 2019 ZR1.
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I'm still kicking myself for not getting one of those. Yeah, what a great car. And again, it's just the quintessential Corvette, you
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know? Yeah, that big wing on the back. I mean, that's what a lot of people remember. I think about kids these days seeing that car and hopefully they'll
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grow up and say, "Man, someday I'm going to have a Corvette, too." And that's the kind of car I think the ZR1 really is.
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They only built so many of them. We all can't have one, but we could dream what they could be in the future. This was a fun exercise. I definitely enjoyed doing
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these. We've got three others to read on the site if you want to see what some of our other writers came up with. Awesome. That's great. Well, buddy,
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thanks for being on Corvette Today. We will talk in two weeks. And actually, our next news and headline show starts
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year number four for Corvette Today. Wow. That's probably what, number 156 or
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so? Episode 156. 157. Wow. Unbelievable. Well, good job, Steve. Hey, everybody. We appreciate you
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tuning in. listening and if we see you out on the road, keep waving. Thanks for listening to Corvette Today and please be sure to tell your family,
32:29
friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today podcast. And thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want
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33:13
You've been listening to Corvette Today with Steve Garrett. If you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the
33:18
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33:26
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33:33
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33:40
Thanks again for listening to Corvette today.