CORVETTE TODAY #189 - Corvette News & Headlines, Late November 2023
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Jul 11, 2025
Happy Holidays from CORVETTE TODAY! This is the time when we give thanks for our family and friends. We also give thanks for the continuing news and information about Corvette! This week is our every-other-week News & Headlines show with your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett and Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger.com. And yes, we have plenty to tell you about in the world of Corvette! Here are a few of the topics that Steve and Keith will cover next week: 1. Corvette wins Strategic Vision's Total Quality Award 2. GM ratifies the new UAW contract 3. MotorTrend adds the C8 Z06 to its long-term test fleet 4. Car & Driver recreates it's 0-150-0 test and the C8 Z06 shines
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[Music] Welcome to Corvette Today, the show that
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City for over 45 years. Here's Steve Garrett.
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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
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Cornet from corvette blogger.com. Keith's here every other week. We both keep you current and uptodate on what's
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happening with America's sports car. Keith, welcome back to the show. Happy holidays. How was your Thanksgiving,
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buddy? Hey, we had a great time. Family, friends, big turkey, the whole gamut. Couldn't be much better. You know, we
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usually travel on Thanksgiving, but we were home this year. kind of nice to be home and and kind of do it on home field advantage, so to speak. Had a wonderful
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Thanksgiving. Thankful for everything about this car, the people, our friends. How was yours? It was great. It was great. And you got
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to love it because you're down in Tampa, so you had great weather as well. I had great weather. You got a little bit of a cold front coming through. It's
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a little chilly. And when I say chilly, it's 61 here today. For people in Florida, that's jacket and
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shorts weather as we like to call it. Exactly. Yeah. Here in Kansas City, we're bundling up at about 27 28
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degrees, buddy. Yikes. Yeah. Well, let's get started as we always do.
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Keith, let's get a Corvette production update from the Bowling Green assembly plant. Absolutely. So, we're about two months into the 2024 model year production
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right now and we got our VIN counts over from Roger Keel on Facebook and we're looking at the counts. I mean, just
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amazing numbers, you know, again with all the stuff going on to see these kinds of numbers. But we we're showing 5,92 stingrays have been produced
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through Wednesday before Thanksgiving and then another 1851 Z06s have also
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been produced. So that totals out to approximately 7,753 Corvettes produced for the model year.
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Again, big numbers there for the first few months of production. We still have no start yet for 2024 Corvettees. You
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know, many of the TPWs that we've seen are coming from the R8 program. They get theirs a little bit different than
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somebody that's just ordering through a dealership and going through the normal production. They just know that their car is at 3000 status. But some of those
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going first with the -ay at the RAC program actually get a TPW from Shane and some of the other people there.
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They've been shifting recently and they're officially around December 4th or so. We now have people saying that
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their -ray TPW is now shifted back to either the first or second week of January. So, it's something we're
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obviously keeping an eye about. And then the first retail -ay is going to Rick Hendendrick, and we know that that
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hasn't been scheduled yet either. So, we're obviously keeping our eyes on that one because I think that would sort of signal the fact that they're ready to
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start customer production, right, once Hendrick's car does go down the line. Nothing set up yet. We kind of knew that
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this might be happening. Although they said originally production would start around October, but we see it slip to November. We've seen it slip December.
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Now we see it slip to January. It's just part of the overall issues that GM's going through with supply and parts. And
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of course they we just wrapped up the UAW strike which took 6 weeks or so. So there's probably a lot of starting and
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stopping all based on when that was going to be over and done with. It is over and done with. So hopefully now we
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can move on. And we'll talk about the UAW strike here in just a minute. But before that, I saw there there was no allocation for
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November. What's going on with that? Yeah. So, like we said, it looks like Chevy, and this is just not for
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Corvettes. This is looks like across the Chevrolet product lineup. Oh, wow. It looks like they're tightening up
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ordering a little bit. You could say that's a good thing. You want a little bit more demand for the cars opposed to a glut of cars and you can't sell them.
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November 16th was the day that we were supposed to get allocations for Corvettes and all the dealers that we
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spoke with said they got zero. While we think that was probably the case nationwide, we can't obviously confirm
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that every dealer got zero. So, if a dealer did get a onesie or twzi out there, the order banks don't open till
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this Thursday that they'll go in, probably not going to see these cars until the start of the new year once they're completed there. What's
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interesting though, Steve, is from the dealer communications we got on November 16th. SH kind of outlined their dealer
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order submission process for the next three months for all Chevy dealers, they'll see order cycles for their
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various cars happening every Thursday and they canled those. We've got our next opportunity to order Corvette's
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going to come on December 14th. Wow. And then the opportunity after that, the allocations will come on January 18th
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and then the order cycle opens up on January 25th. So, you can see that while there's cars in the cycle, hopefully
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things are going to calm down just a little bit. We're still finishing up cars. There's still some cars that are being built without parts. Even though
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we're talking about building 7,750 cars already for 2024, there are still
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some issues relating to that. Maybe they could slow down production just a little bit, get ahead of this, get all caught
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up. It's something that they're dealing with. And again, like I said, it's not just Corvette. We're seeing it across all Chevrolets.
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Interesting. Very interesting. All right, let's talk again, Keith, about the UAW strike because I know Bowling
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Green did not ratify the contract, but overall, all the plants did ratify it.
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So, Bowling Green has to go along with that because it's democracy rules. Isn't that right? Well, yeah, because the ratification is
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based on total members agreeing to it versus not agreeing to it. They just do the plant by plant because it's just
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easier to vote that way. It's like state by state we vote for the president. But here, yeah, you're right. Workers at Corvette Assembly plant rejected the
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plan. And so did a couple other plants. In fact, at the beginning of this, we were wondering if this was going to pass at all. Tanowanda, who makes our
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engines, they voted 58% against it. And then Bedford, who does the aluminum castings, voted against it by 57%.
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However, we did see some big plants go for it. Really, when Arlington voted yes, there was like 60% voted yes. That
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was a really big number. And then there's a couple of these new EV factories that are coming online and
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they're being converted from whatever kind of employment they had before to it being a union shop. And so some of these
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members at these battery plants are going to see huge increases. Like they can see like 75% increases in their
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salaries. Wow. Ultium Cells has 1,185 members there and they voted yes by 97.5% to ratify the
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agreement. So overall, the total agreement passed basically 55% to 45%.
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Okay. And that was well over 36,000 or so people voting for it. It did pass. It's
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been ratified. So we've got another labor contract with the UAW for four years. So we'll be doing this again in
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2028. Also, Keith, this is interesting news. The -ray is going to be going to Australia next year.
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Yeah. You know, Steve, we love to talk about the Corvette's world domination tour. Yes. Now it's almost expected. We got the
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Stingray. Then you had the announcements for Z06s were going to be sold in these various markets. So it's almost expected that the -ray is going to be there and
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that's what GM specialty vehicles just confirmed in Australia that the -ray will be coming to the Corvette lineup
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there in 2024. What's interesting is talking about the Z06, they still haven't put the Z06 on sale there yet,
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but they're already talking. In the grand scheme of things, the pricing is just going to be huge down there. The 3LZ Z06 goes for like $336,000
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Australian when it goes on sale. Wow. you think that we've got dealer markups. You should see what they've got
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down there. They call it a measured volume proposition. So, availability is going to be very controlled with the
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Z06. So, it' be interesting to see if they allow more Z-rays to go as the road car or if they will also be tight on
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quantities there as well. My guess would be they'd be a little bit more open with it. It's just one of these things we're waiting to see. We're also waiting to
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see when Z06 will officially land in markets like England and Japan. We know that they did go on sale in Japan. I
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don't think we've seen them go on sale yet in England yet. So, we're kind of watching that as well. Cool. Very nice. Also, Corvette won
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another award. Keith, it's the Strategic Visions Total Quality Award. We're kind of like in the awards show
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season for cars. So, we're getting all these end of the year stuff and then that'll kind of carry through into the beginning of the year with some of the
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big ones there. But, you know, everybody loves the convertible version of the C8 Corvette. And now the Corvette HTC was
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named the premium convertible roadster category winner in the strategic visions total quality impact competition. They
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obviously are looking at the quality of the builds and then also it's not just the Corvette that scored well from
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General Motors. General Motors actually was the second highest manufacturer just behind Hyundai. They scored with their
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Chevy Blazer, the GMC Yukon and the GMC Sierra HD all won their segments. We've
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always thought the quality was improving at General Motors. Of course, we have our own questions about what's happening right now behind the Corvette plant. We
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say that if you want to be America's favorite sports car, that process starts at the quality part of the plant where
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they make sure that everything is dotted and crossed off and everything looks correct before it goes out to their customers. When you do that and
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customers like Corvette owners who just love their cars get them, you know, obviously they're going to speak highly about them, but got to eliminate those
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little errors to keep that quality award high. Yeah, absolutely right. And finally, Keith, our chief engineer, Josh Holder
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for Corvette, discussed thermal management with the Z06. Where did he do that? Yeah, this was interesting. You know,
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this is coming from the Z06 ride and drive that was held last year. A guy named Dan Carney, who does a podcast,
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who writes for Design News, and they have a podcast there called Engineering Solutions by Design. He had Josh on
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during that ride and drive of the Z06. I love hearing Josh talk, especially any of the engineers, talking about the
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challenge they had with the car. And he said one of the big things was be really easy thermal management if the car didn't have a trunk. That was obviously
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one of the priorities was you had to be able to put the two golf clubs in the back there and show that the car was ready for any crosscountry trips and
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things like that. So they came up with what they called thoughtful airflow management. Basically the various ways
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to keep things cool in the back. He talks about how they route the hot air through the vents and the openings and the glass in the car. Not only did they
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have to deal with that, but they also had to deal with sound management as well. whether the glass was thicker or thinner in the rear, what kind of noises
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that you had to cancel out. You only want to hear the good noises, not the bad noises. So again, it's always nice to listen to the Corvette team members
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in their own voices as they're talking about these challenges. This clip was only about 5 minutes long, so very easy to listen to. So if you want to hear
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Josh talk about the Z06 and the things that they had to kind of work around. Very interesting. Go take a listen to it. I will definitely check that out. Buddy,
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let's take our first break. When we come back, it's Corvette racing and Corvette rumors on deck here at Corvette today.
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You're enjoying the only current podcast on Corvettes. Corvette today.
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Hey, thanks for checking out Corvette Today on podcast and YouTube. It's the only current podcast dedicated to
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Corvette. Corvette today is brought to you by Wheelcraft. Wheelcraft has the ultimate holiday gift for you. Buy a
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Garrett. With me is my buddy Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. Every other week, we keep you current and up
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to date on what's happening with Corvette. In this second segment, we always talk Corvette Racing and Corvette
16:43
rumors. In the racing department, Keith, Corvette Racing is expanding its driver lineup for next year.
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Yeah, Corvette Racing has already announced their main lineup for the 2024 season in GTD Pro. Of course, we're
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going to see Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner in the cars, as well as Nikki Catsburg and Alexander Sims. All those
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guys have raced Corvettes before, and we're glad to actually have them. And so, now we've got the two endurance drivers named. They are Danielle
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Juncadella. Boy, I hope I said his last name right. Yeah, I think he raced prototypes in the last few years. He won
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the 2023 Rolex 24 Daytona, Petite Lemons, GTD Pro winner, 2022 Spa 24
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hours. He was a Indianapolis 8 hour winner. So, the guy's been a lot of places and won some races. And then
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everybody knows pretty much Earl Bamberg who's coming to Corvette. He's 2023 Nurburgg 24-hour winner. 2020 Sebring
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12-h hour winner. 2020 Spa 24 hours winner. Guy's been around a long time. He should really take to the Corvette as
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well, I think. Good to see that. We've got our expanded lineups there. And we got some more Corvette dues coming. Yeah, we saw the racing livery, which is
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really nice to see a little early. The cars were introduced last year at the Rolex 24. Either we've seen them in
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about raw black carbon. Yeah. Or in that promotional livery that they showed when the car was parked up at
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Road America last year. IMSA held their first test for the beginning of the new year at Sebring. And Corvette Racing was
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there with their two Z06 GT3s, but they were dressed finally in the familiar yellow and black livery.
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Yeah. Good. It's almost like seeing an old friend, but when you look closer, there are things that are different. Obviously,
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these cars are much closer in appearance to the Z06 street car. We now have the matching Wishbone trim on the side
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intakes. That's new. And then another big change for Pratt Miller Motorsports is that their parent company, Oshkosh,
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is now listed as the primary sponsor, replacing Sirius XM. We still have Mobile One as a sponsor and some of the
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other people as sponsors there. That's big with Oshkosh. Now, I think they're going to have their name on the rear wing and then also right where the frunk
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opening is. It's going to be right there as well. We're going to see these cars first time in action coming up in
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January. Of course, there's the roar before the 24, which is the official practice session there. And then the week later is the green flag for the
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24-hour Daytona. I can't wait, buddy. This is going to be fun. We're so close. I know. I want to say 60 days, maybe 45 days.
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Month and a half, two months away. It's coming up fast. And another team, AWA, took delivery of two GT3RS.
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Like I said, there was a lot of Corvette racing news there, Steve. So, yeah, Canadian racing team, AWA, they are
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going to be campaigning two Corvette Z06 GT3RS in the GTD amateur class. So,
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they've got their two race cars. They just picked them up. We'll see them in action again at Daytona in 2024 as well.
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These cars were delivered in that raw black carbon look. What just really stuck out at me is for once you've got
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that rear Corvette lettering on the back deck and it was like in the chrome letters. Talk about right from the factory, of course, same chassis, you
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have similar engines, just a little bit difference of the engines versus the 5.5 L from the Z06 street car and the racing
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car. Really cool just to see that Corvette lettering there. It just kind of made it all real, so to speak. Yeah, absolutely right. And also, we had
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an opportunity to get up close and personal with Pratt Miller's Motorsports Collective, which was really, really
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cool. Yeah. You know, if you're a Corvette racing super fan, this is probably the fan club that you'd want to sign up for.
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There's actually three levels of the collective that are available. The silver package starts at $550. There's a
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gold package at $1,200 and a platinum package will set you back $3,100. Pratt
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Miller says that these proceeds are used for supplemental funding for Corvette Racing. Allows them to do some different things. So, if you're wondering what
20:11
these packages get you, I've got it broken down here. Steve, if you're thinking Black Friday, this might be the time to jump in there. The silver
20:17
package is limited to 3,000 members and you get a limited edition merchandise like a t-shirt, hat, and some other
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things, I guess, a decal. You also get a handed certificate signed by team executives. Gold members, which is
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limited to 2,000, will also enjoy access to private two-way messaging directly from Pitro. And then they can also
20:36
listen in on team meetings through a secure web conference link where fans can listen to real-time discussions between the drivers, engineers, and
20:43
other team members. So, I think that would kind of be pretty cool. Yeah. And then the platinum package also gives you a jacket to wear and an
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admission to one of four IMSA races either Sebring Laguna Seciko Watkins Glenn or Petite Lemons. You also get
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access to the Prattton Miller suite which is usually reserved for corporate team sponsors. And of course you'll be
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able to hobnob with team executives and drivers and there's only going to be 300 of those packages available. Again, if
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you're a Corvette racing super fan, you might want to look into that collective, the new fan club coming up from Prattton
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Miller. Get the checkbook out for the holidays, that's for sure. Also, Keith, we did have one rumor, and this isn't a
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good one either. GM has more 2024 Corvettes up in Michigan than we originally believed, which is not a good
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thing. Yeah, it's been about 4 weeks since we first learned that these Corvettes were being sent from Bowling Green up to
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Michigan. We've always known it was for these unknown quote updates and repairs. We don't really know what that means,
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but that's the official word that we've gotten and one of the only official words we've gotten. We finally got hold of some photos of some parked cars up
21:42
there in that Pontiac Michigan holding lot. While we were initially looking at numbers somewhere between 23 and 25 has
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grown, there's so many cars in that lot we can't count, but we estimate somewhere over 100 or so.
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The guy who took the photos is actually a member of the mid-a Corvette forum and his car, his 2024 Corvette was built on
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September 19th. It sat at Bowling Green for 6 weeks and then he found out like a
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week and a half ago that it did get shipped up to Michigan. They are doing some stuff up there. You know, one of the things that we did note was in that
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parking lot that looked like they had live security sitting in a truck there and then again, it was all fenced in
22:15
around it. So, we do look like it is a secure lot. But one of the second updates we got was actually from a
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reader whose car was one of those hundred that went up there. He got a little bit more information from his dealer. I'm free to share just a little
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bit of that. It just basically says that the cars went to Michigan were showing what was called a soft knocking noise
22:33
coming from the rear of the car. The dealer contact specifically stated it was nothing structural. His thinking was
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it was related to the new transmissions. We go from structural to transmissions. We went back to structural and now this
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guy's selling us transmissions again. You can just see that there's no real pinpointing what is this problem that is
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causing these cars to be sent up there to be worked on. Maybe some good news that dealer confirmed to our reader that
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two cars from Michigan arrived at his dealership. Oh. And one of the things that he found interesting was that
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everything that showed that the car was in Michigan was wiped from the history. So it looks like nothing's actually
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happened to these cars. They were built. They've been now delivered to their dealership and I guess they're for sale or they're being picked up by their
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customer. The guy that we talked to didn't tell me what his plans were for his car. We assume he is picking it up.
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But if they're that confident that they're wiping everything and saying it's all fixed, then we'll take GM's word that it's all fixed. But boy, it'd
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be nice to have GM's word directly as opposed to coming from two or three people down the line. That's what we
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know from Michigan. That's the latest. We just wish this would get resolved as quickly as possible. They'd be a great holiday gift to get
23:37
under your tree coming up if we get all those cars out from Michigan. That's for sure. Absolutely, buddy. Let's take our final break. When
23:43
we come back, it's the lighter side of Corvette on deck next here at Corvette today.
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And now back to the only current podcast on Corvettes. Corvette Today with your host, Steve Garrett.
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Thanks again for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette. Corvette
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Happy holidays, everybody. With me every other week is Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. If you want a deeper dive
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into any of the stories that Keith and I cover, you can always go to corvette blogger.com. In this final segment, we
27:22
always talk about the lighter side of Corvette. Keith, this was really cool to see. Motor Trend adds the Z06 to its
27:28
long-term test fleet. What does that actually mean and entail? Well, I think it's good news for Corvette enthusiasts
27:34
because we can expect to see them do all kinds of fun stuff with the car that they normally couldn't do if they got the car for like a week from General
27:40
Motors. They'll take it to the track. They do their test, their measuring and stuff like that. But it's really living with the car that you find out how good
27:46
it is. A car is added to their long-term test fleet. Their drivers will be able to check it out, go on trips or across
27:51
town or just treat it like a daily driver. It's just there to be checked in and out. And then generally what happens
27:56
is these long-term cars, they'll get updates sporadically throughout the year. We've seen some other magazines do
28:02
this with the Stingray, they'll do like a 20,000 milei update or a 30 or 40,000 milei update. They list all the
28:07
maintenance costs and things like that. The Z06 that was added to Motor Trend is a Z07 performance package on it.
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Oh, it's got the visible carbon fiber wheels as well. Good stuff to know. They're going to be testing this. They
28:18
actually made the announcement from a video shoot with the car racing around the Radford Racing School in Chandler,
28:24
Arizona. Johnny Lieberman, one of the editors there, made that announcement. It means more fun for us, I guess. You
28:29
know, of course, more fun for them. They get to drive the car. But I think it's always just important that we find out as much about the car as we can,
28:35
especially those that are really into it in these everyday kind of situations and not just these temporary tests where a
28:40
magazine or a website gets it for 3 days or a week and does whatever they can during that time and then has to let it
28:46
go. Pretty cool stuff there. Of course, the Z06 was Motor Trends 2023 performance car of the year. So,
28:51
whenever they get one of those big awards, they really want to get it in for the long-term test. It's all good
28:56
for Corvette enthusiasts. I'm looking forward to seeing what they find out as an everyday driver with a Z06 Z07.
29:01
Speaking of Z06 and Z07, we had one sell at the Mikum auction in Las Vegas for
29:07
$264,000. Wow. Yeah, this tied for fourth on the
29:12
all-time highest prices we've seen for a Z06 at a Mikum auction. This was a beautiful rapid blue Corvette Z06. It
29:18
had the atomic orange stripe down the middle of it. It had the Z07 package with the carbon fiber arrow, the carbon
29:24
fiber wheels. Yeah, it was just a big number that it got. The car actually was VIN number 554. So, it was built in
29:30
early 2023 and the as the owner held it for longer than 6 months. The full factory warranty was also transferable
29:36
to the new owner. Good. The video shows the bidding hot and heavy for this car. It hammered at 240.
29:43
So, the 264 is what the buyer's commission, but the new owner, Steve, was a lady who purchased the car and we
29:50
are certain that she will love it. Yeah, absolutely. She'll love it. Also, speaking of cars that sold at auction,
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Keith, we talked about this car two weeks ago in our last news and headline show, Slash from Guns and Roses had a
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66C2 and that sold for $227,000. Yeah. You know, he let this car go back,
30:08
I think, in 2011. Same place Julian's auction house in Beverly Hills. They do
30:14
a lot of memorabilia and especially from music and movies and stuff like that. This was the car that Slash bought once
30:21
the band became popular in the mid 80s or so, probably following Appetite to Destruction. He got a check and went out
30:26
and bought a 66 Corvette. I think it's got a 427 in it. What was interesting was the bid for this car was expected to
30:32
be between 100 $200,000 and it actually sold for $227 with the commission on it.
30:38
Flash says that one of the modifications he made specifically to the car was adding tinted windows because people would come up and see him and throw the
30:44
Longhorns, you know, the two fingers up and want to rock and roll with him. We also found the keychain actually has
30:50
Slash's name there. The little skull and bones on it. Pretty cool car. Be neat to drive a car that you could say was
30:55
unsewn by Slash at Guns and Roses. Boy, that's another great car that sold for a lot of money. So, that's really,
31:00
really cool. Steve, I would just be rocking around driving and listening to Paradise City all the time. Absolutely right. That's the way to do
31:07
it. That's the only way to do it in that car for sure. And Keith, this isn't necessarily a Corvette story, but it's a
31:12
GM story that I thought was really cool. GM is registered now to build and supply engines for Formula 1.
31:19
Yeah. So, if you follow Formula 1 racing, of course, we just had the big F1 race at Las Vegas a week and a half ago. You know that Michael Andredy has
31:26
been trying to break into the sport, and he got a boost from General Motors, who was registered with the F1 governing body to become an engine supplier, but
31:33
that won't begin until 2028. Andy and GM announced their F1 partnership earlier this year. They're going to be racing
31:39
under the Cadillac banner. So, that's pretty cool. Yeah, there's so many politics. You know, you think NASCAR's got politics,
31:45
you should see F1. They make NASCAR look like a bunch of elementary school kids, right? There's a ton of politics and jockeying.
31:52
The team owners themselves get to vote on whether or not to expand the teams. If you vote to expand the team, you're basically voting to take less money
31:58
because that's what happens is the pots get divided up even more. We would definitely love to see a Cadillac and F1. They said that if Andre's bed is
32:05
successful, if everything goes correctly, it could happen as soon as 2025, but it doesn't sound like it's going to be a smooth ride for him at
32:11
all. GM's engines themselves wouldn't start until 2028. So, they'd have to find another engine from a different
32:17
supplier leading up to that date. Like I said, a lot of stuff behind the scenes, but it's going to be interesting to see how that all shakes out.
32:23
Yeah. The governing body for Formula 1 has voted to put them in. That's the FIA. But all the teams don't want to
32:29
share money with anybody else. They don't want that extra team. Then make 11 teams instead of 10 teams. So, they
32:36
don't want Andreddy in there because they'd have to split the money even smaller. Exactly. Yeah. You're cutting your own paycheck. Why would you do that?
32:41
Right. Right. Well, Keith, our final story. This is pretty cool. Car and Driver Magazine used to do a 0 to 100
32:47
mph and then a zero contest. Well, they recreated it, but they went 0 to 150 to
32:53
zero, but the Z06 really did well, didn't it? Yeah. Actually came in second in this
32:58
test. The car has ceramic brakes on them, so obviously we're expecting a big stopping distance. The car was only
33:04
second to the Porsche 911 Turbo S. That car went from zero to 150, back to zero
33:09
again in 19.3 seconds. And then the Corvette Z06 did it in 22.5 seconds,
33:15
just within four feet, 5 ft of that top spot there. Third on the list was another Porsche, the GT3 RS did it in
33:22
24.4 seconds. Cadillac CT5V Blackwing did that in 24.7 seconds. So, right
33:28
behind the Porsche there. And then I thought this was kind of cool, the Bentley Continental GT Speed. Those cars
33:34
just look huge to me. They do. They had a stopping distance of 24.8. Wow. They were right there. They beat the
33:39
Ford Mustang Darkhorse. They did a Volkswagen Golf R, which was 40.2
33:44
seconds. And then last on the list was a Honda Civic Type R. Their stopping distance was forever. I guess it took
33:50
them longer to get to 150 though. It took them 45 seconds to get to 150. Maybe if I'm reading this chart right.
33:56
Yeah. But their zero to 150 back to zero was 52.7 seconds. Oh boy. If you go to car and driver,
34:02
they didn't have any of this that you could embed the individual ones, but you can see the Corvette Z06's test and how they do that. Again, just really
34:09
interesting to, you know, you're driving fast and then you stomp on the brake and you measure and that's your time. Yeah, it's a cool test. I know that the
34:15
Koigex did really, really well, but you're talking about hyperars here that are millions of dollars and they do that
34:21
with those and it's really, really cool. Well, one of the things people are saying was they were supposed to be a Tesla Plaid and the Lucid Air Sapphire.
34:28
Those were supposed to be part of the test. I don't know what happened to Lucid. They said that the Tesla got a nail in the tire on the way to the test
34:34
and they didn't have a replacement tire for it. Oh, that's the things that we say when you want to be in the race, but you don't
34:39
want to race itself, you know. Oh, yeah. I got a tire. Got a tire that we need to have plugged. Yeah, it was a good event.
34:45
And Corvette did really well, Steve. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, Keith, happy holidays, buddy. It's great to have you back on the show and we'll talk again in
34:52
two weeks. Yeah, you know, we're going to kick off here. We're heading into December. So much news happening. All kinds of stuff.
34:58
everything from production to racing, of course, all the lifestyle stuff. So stay tuned and if we see you out there on the streets, keep waving.
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Thanks for listening to Corvette Today and please be sure to tell your family, friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today podcast. And
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thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Wheelcraft has the ultimate holiday gift offer for you. Buy a $100 Wheelcraft
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Thanks for checking out Corvette Today on podcast and YouTube. If you'd like to contact Steve with ideas for Corvette
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