CORVETTE TODAY #165 - Corvette News & Headlines, Early June 2023

Name: CORVETTE TODAY #165 - Corvette News & Headlines, Early June 2023
Uploaded: 2025-05-09T02:12:09+00:00
Duration: 38 min 26 s

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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 Fun Fest 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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[Music] thanks for listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about
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Corvette enthusiasts from around the world it's time to bring you the latest Corvette news and headlines with my pal
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Keith Cornett from Corvette blogger.com Keith is here every other week we keep you current and up to date on what's
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happening with America's Sports Car Keith welcome back to the show where the week before Father's Day yeah it's a
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good week I always expect a lot of presents it never happens but we can have high expectations right I'll get
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the call that's good enough for me and in fact I saw the kids over this weekend anyways this is one of these things that
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we deal with and we move on but yeah Happy Father's Day to everybody out there this week a happy early Father's Day to all the Corvette dads out there
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exactly Keith let's start our Corvette news as we always do with Corvette production update from the Bowling Green
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assembly plant yeah sure thing Steve so again we continue to see steady production of the 2023 Corvette since
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our last conversation for the stingray models we always had just a little couple days off here there so the numbers are always going to be just a
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little bit more than what I'm going to give you but right now we're showing 34 650 stingrays have been produced plus we
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have another 3 600 70th Anniversary Corvette so our totals right now are 38
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326 Corvette Stingrays for the model year which again if you said oh you're gonna build 38 000 stingrays now we also
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have Z06 numbers and again they're just continuing to grow it seems like they've reached a point where they found this
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happy medium between the Stingrays and the z06s and they're just putting out these same numbers almost daily now for the Z06 we're seeing
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2841 produced and then another 573 of those are 70th Anniversary models that's
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a total of 3 400 z06s already wow and again we still have plenty of time to
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boost that number up totaling the stingraying Z06 numbers together 41 740
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again just an amazing number we talked about I think last time we were together we had just broken through the 40 000
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barrier we're already at forty one thousand seven or forty and probably we're a little bit behind we're already closing in on 42 000 cars and guess what
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4 200 of those our 70th Anniversary models wow we've been looking ahead and obviously trying to figure out where
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we'll end up on September 1st when the 2023 model year closes we could have 5
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000 70th Anniversary models produced if they're still able to make them we know that there's been a little bit of constraints there they actually took the
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bags off the 70th Anniversary bags are no longer available the luggage but yeah we could really see some really huge
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numbers for 2023 model year that's amazing that we've got over 40 000 Corvettes and last week Bowling Green
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built 150 e-rays as well which is a great number oh yeah so these are
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pre-production cars but they're salable bins so up until right around the bash in fact it was Kai spandy at The Bash
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that that week they were just starting to build salable bins prior to that the vins were ex bins or experimental vins
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so any car built with an experimental bin is getting crushed but these cars are pre-production so they'll have a
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different Vin structure than when the customer cars go through but they built 150 of these I think it was between May
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24th and May 26th this comes from Roger Keel who charged the production of the stingray and z06s on Facebook and who we
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get a lot of our numbers from definitely shows that these 50 e-rays were built per day over those three days really
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interesting and again what we think about the e-rays is that they're going to use these cars for testing and evaluation and then eventually they'll
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end up being offered to dealers to sellers used vehicles we see the Corvette team members they're among the recipients are getting these erase and
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they'll be driving them and there'll be some other VIPs around GN that'll also be driving them so pretty cool to see
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those numbers out there and again we're getting closer to production on the 2024 so it just shows that everything seems
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to be moving along That's so exciting I can't wait to see these e-rays on the street buddy that'll be great also we
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had the first 2024 order cycle for Corvettes and we found out that's going to start at the end of July yeah so we
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always seem to be getting these different things happening it used to be used to set your clock to how they would structure sure these order Cycles but
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now all of a sudden it's like what was supposed to happen this week doesn't happen this week GM doesn't tell the dealers this they just don't get the
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numbers to do any ordering this week it was actually last week's having to change up their ordering cycle again we're supposed to see it probably June
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22nd now and then we're guessing June 29th we'll see the final Z06 allocations go in but yeah what we did learn was
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that there was a memo that did go out and according to that memo it showed that we already had this news the 2024
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Corvette order guy will drop on July 10th and then a week later we'll get the build your own configurator with pricing
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for 2024s on July 18th that's when that'll go live good this is the third part of that Cog is that the first order
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cycle for the 2024s will open on July 27th if they do it like they've been
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doing it we assume that that'll just be only for stingrays and then they'll probably follow up either a week or two
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weeks later with Z06 and maybe a week or two weeks later with e-ray those could be changed we don't know exactly how
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they're going to drop that we don't even know if erase gonna start right away they're going to take orders right away or if the stingrays in the Z06 is going
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and then move into production again we don't know that information but we do know 2024 the first order allocations
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will happen on July 27th good and we had something come out called the 2024
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Corvette eray Playbook what is that well Steve it's actually something I made up
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and I'll tell you how I got that data back in 2020 when the Corvette Stingray Was preparing to launch Chevy reps had
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access to a specialty website called the 2020 Corvette Playbook it was a really slick website it all had information to
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educate and inform them about the packages the options of course this was a big move going from the front engine
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rear wheel drives to the mid-engine rear drive cars there was a lot there to inform and educate the Reps basically it
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was a eight page PDF guide that came out for the Reps and it was all about the e-ray there was some differentiation
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that showed the stingray the Z06 and the e-ray what they're all good for where they all excel at and then of course all
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the options and these special stuff that makes the e-ray special with the battery pack and the front wheel drive Motors
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there we called it the 2024 e-ray Playbook because it mirrored the 2020 Corvette Stingray Playbook and again
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just Chuck full of great information most of this information's already been out but for the Chevy rep that wants to
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brush up on all the details and have it all right there at their fingertips it was a really cool PDF to see it was
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actually shared by a guy on Facebook who works at a Chevy store down here in Florida it does come directly from
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Chevrolet nice also speaking of Chevrolet they did adjust the rewards points programs for Z06 buyers which I
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was really glad to see yeah so I'll go through the details here real quick although many I'm sure are aware of
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everything that's gone on it was last summer Chevrolet announced a new program for reward buyers of the 2023 Corvette
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Z06 for their loyalty with 500 000 reward points and these are valued at five thousand dollars they would get
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those reward points if they didn't sell their car within six months of taking delivery obviously for those buyers planning on owning their cars long term
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this is great because you could use these points for parts and accessories you can use them for service visits if
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you're financing your car through General Motors you can even pay down your loan through GM financials it sounded like you just signed on the
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dotted line we saw the form that people had to sign off that they said yeah hold your car for six months you get the points but it was never really
9:42
understood that there were some extra Hoops that a buyer had to jump through we didn't find that out until Austin
9:48
speed Phenom on YouTube went live with a video saying that he had owned the car for six months and reached out to
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Chevrolet and found out that he'd been denied his points due to a technicality for not registering correctly within
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that 30 days of ownership of course that blew up people were calling Chevy reps left and right thankfully Chevrolet
10:04
jumped in and they corrected this pretty quickly I'm glad to see this happen so what they've said now is that they're
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giving all 2023 Corvette Z06 buyers until December 1st to enroll in the my Chevy rewards programs and to get that
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500 000 Point vehicle retention Awards and I'm going to read you what Chevy said they said documentation signed by
10:22
the customer will be updated to state that enrolling in my Chevy rewards is required for claiming points it will
10:28
also alert customers that points will be uploaded 45 days after the customer reaches six months of ownership and is
10:34
enrolled in the mighty medium Rewards program they give that 45 days because they actually contact the states either
10:40
the DMV the Secretary of States or whatever office handles the Department of Motor Vehicles in that state to inquire whether that then is still
10:47
registered to that owner or if it was transferred to somebody else some states do a quicker some states take a little
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bit longer so they've given themselves 45 days to do that as we close out this model year we're not sure if the GM is
10:59
going to continue this program into the 2024 models we've seen that over the course of the year it really doesn't do
11:04
much to discourage flipping the real problem affecting Z06 sales and the perception of Chevrolet in the minds of
11:10
Z06 buyers it's the dealers that are the ones that with exorbitant Market adjustments it's not the flippers that
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are causing this so it'll be interesting to see but we're glad to see that General Motors did step up and is making sure that anybody that did buy a 2023
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Corvette Z06 can register and get their Reward Points as they promised absolutely right I'm surprised that they
11:27
don't get people registered when they take delivery of their Z06 at the dealership some dealers are really good
11:33
about it you get points just for buying a car it's not you're waiting for these 500 000 rewards points for owning for
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six months and this is down to any General Motors product you buy a car you register for the program you get a
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certain amount of points just for the amount that you paid for that car that's even good for some service visits for
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parts and accessories and the accessory catalog it's definitely worth doing a good rep will walk you through that
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process and have you all set up that's great well buddy let's take our first break when we come back we're going to flip things around a little bit we're
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and now back to the only current podcast on Corvette Corvette today with your
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host Steve Garrett thanks for listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about everything Corvette
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833-639-4231 I'm your host Steve Garrett with me is Keith Cornett from corvettebblogger.com we keep you current
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and up to date on what's happening with America's sports car we're going to cover the lighter side of Corvette in
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segment two here Keith the e-ray is featured on the cover of Forza Motorsports which I thought was really
16:43
really cool yeah for being a new car and out it's always a cool honor you know we always talked about well I don't say we
16:48
always talk about but I remember it was a big deal with my sons whenever the new Madden game came out you know who was
16:54
going to be on the cover right the Madden football game so when if we think about Motorsports it's pretty cool that
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we'll see the 2024 Corvette e-ray on the cover this is a racing game too and so it's also on the cover it's gonna be
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joined by the 2023 Cadillac v-series R the Le Mans racer that we just watched at Le Mans this weekend so yeah they
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went a little pure racing with the Le Mans lmdh car and then of course the Corvette e-ray which is a touring sports
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car I had Forza Horizon back in the day my son took the Xbox when he went to college so I'm not playing too much
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anymore but this is a pure racing game as opposed to the Horizon game is just kind of an open Galaxy of wherever you
17:30
could go you could drive and stuff like that but this is kind of a huge update they've got 500 cars in the game over
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100 new vehicles have been added and there's like 800 customizations there's weather modes as you race the conditions
17:42
on the track change I mean this stuff is so realistic these days it's pretty amazing in fact you go through YouTube you sometimes get tricked you think oh
17:49
look I'm watching racing and it actually is just a clip from a video game but it's so damn realistic that you don't
17:55
catch it right away you might have to stare at a little bit longer before it realizes that wait a second this isn't quite real but yeah this is a big news
18:01
era on the cover of Forza Motorsports might make me have to go out buy another Xbox there you go you know I've never
18:06
been a gamer but it is amazing how realistic all these whether it's Madden or the forza is it's pretty cool yeah
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and people are serious about it too and of course you know there's the leagues and remember during covet we had the eye racing series which was all virtual with
18:20
real drivers so there's definitely a place for it and there's even that series I recall of a bunch of these guys
18:26
that played the racing games and then they got a shot to actually go and race real cars and make it a career so yeah
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this could open the doors you know as you start off younger this is a great way to get kids hooked on cars and
18:38
driving and be excited about Motorsports I'm all for it pretty darn amazing buddy also this is so cool and kudos to all of
18:45
our friends at the National Corvette Museum the stingray Grill at the Museum appeared with Guy Fieri on guy's show
18:51
called guys All-American road trip how darn cool yeah that was a lot of fun I
18:57
don't watch a lot of Food Network shows but I know Guy Fieri I actually saw him at a SEMA show when they did a special
19:03
car with him kind of throwing around some ideas I think it was black with some yellow accents he's actually a big
19:09
Chevy guy he's got Corvettes a bunch of cars he's a yellow car fan too as well so it's always fun to hear him and of
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course he just loves food and when you're talking about the stingray Grill where else can you go and get a wagyu
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beef Stingray burger and then take some hot laps over at the Motorsports Park across the street right exactly it was a
19:26
fun episode glad to see our friends up there getting some Kudos the stingray Grill has actually come a long way it
19:32
used to be this Diner had kind of a 50s Motif to it it was cool and all they've really upgraded and made it special with
19:39
the edition of calling it the stingray Grill it's really come a long way yeah I love it it's a must every time I go to
19:44
the National Corvette Museum is have a meal over there at the stingray Grill also Keith we saw the top 20 dealerships
19:50
come out so far didn't we yeah this was kind of a surprise one of our sources inside Chevy sent us this report that
19:56
details the top 20 Corvette dealers and it was through May 31st so it gave us a good snapshot of those first five months
20:02
we're lucky is Corvette owners because we have options when purchasing cars whether you go to a national dealer or
20:08
you go to your local or Regional dealer there's no real right or wrong answer it usually just comes down to who can get me a car the soonest and who can I pay
20:15
as close to MSRP as possible with these high volume dealers when compared to the regular Chevy dealers they just have
20:20
experience in selling Corvettes so that's why they do so well and that's why so many people go to them one of the downsides though of working with one of
20:27
these National dealers is for their in-demand vehicles like the Z06 or the e-ray they've already had these lists
20:32
that have been out for a long time and so getting on one of those now can be a real Challenge and that's where working with your local dealer might pay off so
20:39
if there's upsides and downsides to go National or going with your local or Regional dealer we've got this list here
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Nick Wilkins Chevrolet is still the world's largest Corvette dealer they took that title from Coke in 2022 and
20:50
they show no signs of letting up they have a pretty commanding lead over Coke and Corvette right now see it goes
20:55
number two for this report we did see a little bit of shake up in that top ten bombed in Chevrolet Dateland has moved
21:01
into the third position and Mike Furman at Criswell Chevrolet is just behind him in fourth we've got the list up on
21:06
Corvette blogger hopefully we're going to be adding to it through the year we call it a guide it's a great guide to
21:11
seeing who's selling Corvettes it's your choice it's good to have options absolutely right also the ghost of Henry
21:17
Ford has kind of reappeared here you know Henry Ford said you can have any color car you want as long as it's black
21:23
well in Japan that's the same thing you can get a C8 Z06 in any color you want
21:28
as long as it's black yeah in fact we use that in our headline the first batch of all the right hand drive Z06 is to be
21:35
sold in Japan are actually going to be black Coupes with adrenaline red interior and you think why would they do
21:41
that it's the logistics it's the logistics of customers ordering you know do you let them order anything and then
21:46
you have to build it and then you have to ship it over to Japan or do you come up with a program release which is what
21:53
we've seen them do with these export cars on initial launches I think as we go on people will eventually be able to
21:59
get to order their own custom cars but for these initial launches this is what we've seen so again in Japan it's a
22:05
black coupe with adrenaline red interior and some of the additional options include competition sport seats torch
22:11
red seat belts Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires none of these cars are going to be z07 performance package cars so they're
22:18
all going to be the lower wing cars because it's an export they're all going to have the export exhaust systems with
22:24
the quarter mile exhaust not the quad Center exhaust and that means they'll have a slightly lower horsepower rating
22:29
of around 636 horsepower because these quarter-mounted exhaust they have these gasoline particulate filters that are
22:35
required over there by the time I do an export story I get the naysayers saying oh you should be serving the United
22:40
States first Steve we're talking maybe 15 or 20 cars right that's what Chevy
22:46
can produce at Bowling Green during a single shift I don't make too much of their Steel your cars or we're giving
22:51
away all of our allocations what we're doing is we are seeding these export markets with just enough cars to make
22:58
them very exciting for the people over there they'll get to see them over there they'll get them here them over there and then hopefully they'll want to order
23:04
one when the next allocation around is coming around for those export markets again it's a great strategy it just
23:09
shows what we call the world domination tour of the Z06 just continuing to happen I think it's a great thing that
23:14
Corvette and the Z06 is a world car I see nothing wrong with that I'm looking forward to seeing it out there in Europe
23:21
and Japan and in the UK and everywhere else yeah Corvette fans everywhere we follow a couple guys over on Twitter I
23:28
don't know what they say everything they tweet about is in Japanese language and stuff like that but they are hardcore fans they get together they go on
23:34
cruises they do shows they go to the racetracks it's a way of life we do it here they do it there and we're glad
23:40
that they're celebrating America's favorite sports car absolutely right all right buddy time for our final break when we come back it's Corvette racing
23:46
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carcapsule.com or call 219-945-9493
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you're listening to the Corvette Today podcast with Steve Garrett
26:35
hey thanks once again for listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about everything Corvette brought
26:41
to you by wheelcraft summer is here and so is car show season you want your Corvette looking its best dress it up
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with bright Chrome or black chrome wheels visit wheelcraft.com and learn about their Advanced PVD chrome
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finishing they can refinish your wheels or do a wheel exchange and you get a five year warranty visit wheelcraft.com
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or call them at 833-639-4231 I'm your host Steve Garrett
27:05
with me is Keith Cornett from corvettebblogger.com don't forget if you want a deeper dive into any of the
27:10
stories Keith and I cover on this show you can always go to corvettebblogger.com in this final
27:16
segment we switch things up we're going to do Corvette racing and Corvette rumors here first of all Keith IndyCar
27:22
drivers took a lap around the Detroit Grand Prix in a brand new 2023 Z06 pace
27:28
car that was so cool to see especially because we're kind of crossing over into IndyCar a little bit you know on this is
27:34
what happens though you that Chevrolet is an engine builder in IndyCar and so we've had the Indianapolis 500 and the
27:40
Indy pace car has always been the Corvette recently they essentially just recycle that pace car from the
27:45
Indianapolis 500 and then they use it in different events going forward through the IndyCar season here this summer so
27:51
we've seen this previously the last couple years where leading up to the race there's always a little bit of dead time here and there and so team Chevy
27:57
will put a couple of their Chevy drivers into the Corvette so yeah go around the track you know we'll put a couple cameras in the car and go have some fun
28:03
first of all this was kind of a different course because for the last few years the Detroit Grand Prix was held at Belle Isle they recently moved
28:09
it downtown it was a 1.7 mile circuit runs along the Detroit River a lot of elevation changes with these streets and
28:16
of course you have the tight confines of the street course there so it's always I think a little bit more exciting anyways we had a couple Chevy drivers Callum
28:23
illit and Augustine canopino I hope I said their names correctly they got to drive the redness car around a lot of
28:29
times it's the first time they've been in the new Corvettes they'll be like wow there's a lot of carbon fiber wow look at this oh my God this car so that the
28:36
reactions are a lot of fun and that's why we enjoy these because generally during an IndyCar weekend this happens
28:42
and so we were always looking for it and again it's just the fun content there and of course the hero shots the picture
28:47
of the Z06 station in front of the General Motors Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit this is basically the
28:53
car and the racing coming home for all the people that work at General Motors in Detroit in the surrounding area so it's probably a big celebration for them
28:59
as well so we just enjoy this it's a great time to see the car to hear professional drivers remark about the
29:05
first times they're in the car it's always good news yeah and Street courses are always so challenging just like Monaco for formula one I'm sure the
29:12
Detroit Grand Prix is going to be something similar yeah you know and again we talked about this last time is they had this really unique format for
29:19
the pit Lanes where it was split so the pit Lane ran down the middle and half the teams were on the left-hand side and
29:25
half the teams were set up on the right hand side it was almost like a zipper effect when the cars would come in and then they'd go back out again just a
29:31
neat way to do things every street course is different but yeah like you said they're always challenging and accidents happen that's the thing that's
29:37
very very true buddy in the rumors section Keith on Wednesday of last week we got a bombshell dropped on us and it
29:43
talked about the possible ending of Corvette racing next year yeah you know we've alluded to this the fact and I
29:49
really torn on it this is like your favorite sports team not just leaving the market but bowling and going under
29:54
and you never hear from Corbett racing we've been following this team for 25 years the UPS the Downs the highs the
30:00
lows all the great drivers all the great leadership Doug Feehan included and it's just the end of an era with all the
30:07
changing regulations with GT3 we just got away from having a professional
30:12
category of GT cars and everything now is moving towards the GT3 and the amateur drivers and independent teams so
30:20
the writing's been on the wall for quite a bit it's really just coming home to roost now on the flip side I always try
30:25
to be an optimist Steve and on the flip side what we're going to end up having is more Corvettes in every race if
30:31
everything goes correctly we had two cars as professional in the Daytona Rolex 24 Daytona next year we could be
30:38
looking at four cars two in a GTB Pro car and then two in a GT amateur so there are still things there but we're
30:44
not going to see a factory-backed effort from General Motors and Corvette racing and Pratt Miller and in fact Pratt
30:50
Miller as we talked about with the live stream and everything they're doing at Le Mans they are actually transitioning
30:55
away from Corvette racing and the Corvette racing Twitter handle and now a lot of that stuff's under Prattville or
31:01
Motorsports the writing's been on the wall for quite some time and we're going to get into I know talking someone about the support of GTE I'm hoping Steve that
31:08
we will just have more racing more Corvettes everybody's gonna then have their favorite cars or teams you know
31:14
and it might not necessarily be the next one but I think it's going to be exciting and they should still be good racing for the fans even though we're
31:20
saying Corvette racing is going away the spirit of Corvette racing is still going to be with us and in fact we're going to
31:25
still see some of the same drivers we're going to see some beautiful cars I want to say that it's going to be okay yeah I
31:31
hope it will be and let's talk about the gt3r program because Pratt Miller is going to support the gt3r program yeah
31:38
so again we're looking at four teams in imsa maybe another two cars over in wek
31:45
the World Endurance challenge so six cars right away we think that they have to build 10 this year to meet
31:51
homologation standards they have to do 20 I think overall to homologate the GT3 correctly sounds like it's in the
31:57
process it sounds like people are moving we're hearing that teams are going to start getting their cars probably around November of this year in advance of
32:03
January start and all the racing that goes on there the way that they're going to support the program is obviously through parts and service and
32:10
Engineering they're going to actually even provide race strategy help and then of course there's the driver so
32:16
Chevrolet will still maintain a Cadre a quartet we don't know exactly how many drivers they'll have but they'll be Pro
32:23
level drivers that Chevrolet will have and then they'll hand those out to various teams so Jordan Taylor might be
32:30
racing in one team's car Antonio Garcia might be racing in somebody else's car they'll have different drivers a silver
32:36
or bronze underneath them but it still is a Corvette driver there's a lot of things going on a lot of moving Parts
32:42
they've been studying especially overseas how teams handle the GT3 supporting aspects of it they've been
32:48
going to school on this and so hopefully they get it all correct when it actually happens and finally Keith we had a huge
32:53
Monumental win at Le Mans last weekend you know what a way for Corvette racing to close out its 25th year with the
33:00
class win at Le Mans I think it was 2016 since we won there last it was definitely due but anything can go wrong
33:06
in these 24-hour races and generally if it's going to go wrong it does go wrong but it sure felt like stuff was going to
33:11
start to go sideways on us but yet they put their heads down they never gave up which is again the great team motto from
33:17
Corvette racing and they made it happen Le Mans is such a Fickle Beast these ups and downs the teams go through is it's
33:22
just like another we had a great practice sessions you know and then Nico verrone had that accident where the car
33:27
went off and did some damage significant damage actually to the side they had to change all these parts out qualifying
33:33
was just two hours later but they were able to get it done and why not not only qualified they qualified in third place
33:38
and that put them in for the hyper pole which is this new competition surrounding the polls so they take the
33:44
top eight cars in each class and they have What's called the hyper pole and then they use that to set the grid of the course and then Ben Keating just
33:50
runs this great lap and Hyper pole puts the c8r on the start of the grid for GTE we're sitting pretty I think look at the
33:57
start of the race we're in the very first position all right let's get it done right and then the race gets going and you're all excited you know I know a
34:04
lot of Corvette fans were certainly worried when we saw that car back into the garage I think it was an hour two of the race it was a suspension failure but
34:10
the crew changed out that right front damper it was back out on the track again but we lost two laps and I gotta
34:16
tell you I was very nervous I know the people online were nervous too but once I saw that rain starting to fall I thought okay this is going to be our
34:21
equalizer I think this will help us get those laps back of course right around the three hour mark we had a chance to
34:26
get a lap back but the team says that nope they kind of screwed up at Le Mans this year that first time out with the
34:32
safety cars they said that a group of cars including class leader were allowed to leave the pit Lanes before the safety
34:37
car came around so not only did we not get our lap back but we lost out some Advantage with our tires we were ready
34:43
to put the pedal to the metal and see what we could do there but the only thing you can do is just keep going I got to tell you Nick overrun what he did
34:49
there 19 hours left to run he was lapping the circuit four to five seconds faster than the class leaders and when
34:56
you can do that just over and over and over again you're going to get your laps back we finally did get one of those laps back with about eight and a half
35:02
hours to go and we were on the lead lap Keating then had a triple spit in the middle of the night which got us even
35:07
closer I mean it's just amazing and he says for him it was just real easy just gets in the zone and he says it's not a
35:13
physical track so it doesn't wear you out you just lock in the zone and go it was interesting because I was waiting for the team update last night I was
35:19
expecting to come after 10 p.m and it didn't come until 2 30 almost 3 o'clock in the morning so I got that updated I
35:25
went to bed we were running key two in class at that point I couldn't believe it woke up this morning the team was leading all three drivers did fantastic
35:32
in keeping their cars out of trouble again Nick over him late race with three hours ago he said the fastest time for
35:38
all GTE drivers and then he came back and beat the fastest time again the fastest time lap was three minutes 50
35:43
seconds I mean there was just no stopping the kid Nikki Casper the final driver in the race he brought us home
35:49
win our ninth Le Mans we beat the second place Aston Martin Vantage by two minutes in the third place Porsche by
35:54
nearly three minutes so not only did we win we won with a great margins we got three races left in the wec we've
36:01
already won three races we are so far ahead I think we only need like four points to secure the championship and
36:06
there's three races left so I think that's gonna happen I think their next trip out we got Monza coming up July 9th
36:11
of course we won there last year we've got a trip to Japan coming up in September that's the six hours of Fuji
36:17
and then our final race for the c8r will happen in November at the eight hours of Bahrain just fantastic Corvette racing
36:23
has a commanding lead of something like 80 points over the other GTE cars I think it's a great way to close out the
36:29
c8r era in the factory racing era for Corvette racing just a remarkable win I couldn't be more proud out of my guys
36:35
that excitement around it you're really going to miss that next year but we'll have more cars racing next year that's always the goals maybe that'll be the
36:41
great equalizer absolutely well congratulations to Corvette racing they won the GTE amateur class and it's the
36:48
100th anniversary of Le Mans well Keith thanks for being on Corvette today we'll see you in two weeks buddy sounds good
36:54
uh everybody out there keep waving go to the shows tell everybody about Corvette racing and how well they did maybe one
36:59
day you'll grow up and be a race car driver too thanks for listening to Corvette today and please be sure to tell your family friends and other core
37:05
of that Enthusiast about the Corvette Today podcast and thanks to our sponsors wheelcraft want to dress up your
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37:51
with Steve Garrett if you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette
37:58
today you can email him at Steve Garrett DJ gmail.com that's Steve Garrett DJ
38:05
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thanks again for listening to Corvette today [Music]

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