Up next in 10
CORVETTE TODAY #213 - Corvette News & Headlines, Mid May 2024
0 views
Jul 11, 2025
CORVETTE TODAY #213 - CORVETTE NEWS & HEADLINES, MID MAY 2024 Well, it's difficult to follow up a huge show like this week's CORVETTE TODAY with Tadge, Harlan and Josh. But it's time for our CORVETTE TODAY News & Headlines show with Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger next week. Here are a few of the stories that your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett and Keith Cornett cover: 1. Chevrolet raises the price of Carbon Fiber accessories and restricts certain Carbon Fiber options 2. We hear a video of the upcoming ZR1 engine at idle 3. A C8 Z06 runs 2 hot laps at the Nurburgring
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music] Welcome to Corvette Today, the show that
0:06
talks about everything Corvette with your host Steve Garrett, lifetime member of the National Corvette Museum,
0:13
president of the Corvette Club of Kansas City, Missouri, and radio disc jockey at the number one radio station in Kansas
0:20
City for over 45 years. Here's Steve Garrett.
0:28
Thanks for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette and the only
0:33
current podcast dedicated to Corvette. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. I appreciate you tuning in. Corvette Today
0:39
is brought to you by Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your Corvette with bright chrome or black chrome wheels? Visit
0:44
wheelcraft.com and learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels or offer a wheel
0:50
exchange for most models, and it comes with a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com today or call them at
0:57
833-84-5334. You can listen to Corvette Today on all
1:02
podcast platforms. You can also listen on your smart device. Just say, "Hey Google," or "Alexa, play the podcast
1:09
called Corvette and you're connected." And be sure to visit the Corvette Today website. It's corvettetoday.com.
1:15
You can access everything there, including the Corvette Today merchandise store. You can also join our Corvette
1:21
Today Facebook group there as well. Also, make sure you sign up for the Corvette Today emails, notifications,
1:26
and updates at corvette. CK.page. And if you like YouTube, be sure to
1:32
subscribe to our Corvette Today YouTube channel. See all Corvette Today episodes on YouTube as well. And be sure to
1:38
patronize our flagship sponsors of Corvette Today, mid-engine Corvette forum.com, the forum that focuses on the
1:45
new mid-engine C8 Corvette. Meet a lot of fellow Corvette enthusiasts like yourself at mid-enginecv forum.com. Soul
1:52
Performance Products developed and manufactured in the United States. The Soul Performance Products exhaust
1:58
portfolio has been tailored to elevate the experience of the world's most exciting sports cars, including the
2:04
latest generation of the Corvette. Soul Performance Products at sulp.com.
2:09
The official performance exhaust of Corvette today. Aerolari wheels, a true forged wheel with over 20 unique styles
2:16
to choose from for your C8 and widebody versions of the C7, C6, and C5 Corvette.
2:22
It's an amazing value starting at only 23.88 for a set of four fully forged
2:27
wheels. And use the promo code CT111 and get $100 off your purchase. Visit
2:33
aerolari.com. That's a r o l r i.com. and use the promo code CT111 for your
2:41
$100 discount. Sioka Corvettes. If you're a Corvette enthusiast, and I know you are since you're listening and
2:47
watching Corvette today, then you need to know about Sioka Corvette. They're based in Atlantic City, where you can
2:52
find over 100 new and pre-owned vets on the lot and inbound. Seioca also ships Corvettes all over the country,
2:58
customordered to your specifications. They're staffed with experienced pros who can answer all your questions. So
3:04
don't compromise. Visit seiocorvette.com. That's CIO CCA Corvette.com and find out
3:11
more. Chevrolet together. Let's drive. And a shout out to Canadian Corvette Forum and Corvette Forum. Welcoming
3:18
Corvette enthusiasts from around the world. All right, my friends. It's time to bring you the latest Corvette news
3:23
and headlines. Keith Cornet from Corvette Blogger is back. He's here every other week with me. Together, we
3:28
bring you all the latest updates on what's happening with America's sports car. Keith, welcome back to the show. We
3:34
got lot to cover today. You know, there's been so much news and again we talked about how, you know, as we
3:39
started our blog, as you started the podcast, you know, thinking, is there enough news out there to talk about? And again, we're just validated once again
3:46
to get all this stuff coming out all at once. So, yeah, it's going to be a fun podcast. Absolutely, buddy. Well, let's start off
3:52
like we usually do with a production update from the Bowling Green assembly plant. Sure thing, Steve. So, a total of 28,468
4:00
units have been completed so far for the 2024 model year. Our recent bin counts show that that breaks down to 21,868
4:07
stingrays, 6,274 Z06s, and a whopping 326 E-rays. One of
4:13
the stories we had last week was that the assembly plant had completed 99 Z06s in a day. And that was according to the
4:19
unofficial production tracker that we followed by Roger Keel. But actually in the comments he was saying that that
4:24
could actually be due to some under reporting the day before. There might have been some storms in Bowling Green on that Tuesday before. But even if
4:31
that's the case, that means the plant workers still assembled 119 Z06 is over two days. Wow. Which is a great stat. I
4:37
mean, we talked about how the -ray how slow it's being ramping up. And we had the same exact thing with Z06. It's
4:43
funny just people forget about it. Not only because the ramp up was slow, but there was also a lot of constraints at the time. So people, I think, were kind
4:49
of thinking, oh well, the Z06 wasn't making it fast enough because the constraints. And I say no, it was because they had this deliberate ramp up
4:56
program just as we're seeing with the -ay. They keep telling us that the -ays are coming. It's going to happen. We
5:01
really just have to kind of believe that because our constraint reports, we don't see anything that's really outstanding there. They are building and delivering
5:08
cars. We've got some new information allocations as well. We just say for people that have the -ay, you know, hang
5:13
in there. It is coming. It's going to ramp up. Definitely. Going back to Z06, Chevrolet built 6,413
5:20
Z06s during that record setting production year last year in 2023. and the 2024 Z06s will probably surpass that
5:26
number this week. When you add those two model year production numbers together, we're at 12,687
5:33
Corvette Z06 has produced so far for the C8 generation. I wrote that that's quite a few for those that have one, but still
5:39
not enough for those still waiting for this car. A fantastic number. It just shows when they can really produce and
5:45
work and get stuff done, there's going to be a number of cars out on the streets and people can buy them. So again, if you're on the list for a Z06,
5:52
they're building almost 300 per week. Your time is coming, buddy. All these people that are on the Z06 list that are waiting for a car,
5:59
they're all doctors. Did you know that? They have a lot of patience. A lot of patience. That's right. That's
6:04
a good one. Good dad joke there, Steve. Al, so let's talk about that allocation that came out Thursday of last week.
6:11
More Corvette allocations were sent out on Thursday. This Thursday is when dealers can tag and release those for
6:16
production. Again, what's really interesting is that we had a couple dealers did tell us that they received allocations in addition to Stingrays and
6:22
Z06s. For the past, I want to say going back to September, we've had no serious
6:28
numbers put out there and I don't even know how serious these were. Sounds like ones and twos to me. You spread that over dealerships across the country.
6:34
That could add up to something. We never had these reports of E-rays included as part of the regular allocation except
6:40
for when they were originally allocated back last year. It's just a couple more cycles that we have, I think, before we
6:46
do start to see those production numbers for the -ay go up. Yeah, definitely. And also kudos to Mr. Rick Ki. It looks like Rick found out
6:53
when the 2024s are going to end and when the 2025s begin for us, didn't he? Exactly. Yeah. So, dealers get these
7:00
information packs. We call them dealer decks from Chevrolet. And they cover all the models. They'll tell you about when the Silverado, what they're doing, or
7:06
what they're doing on any of the Blazer EV, any Chevrolet product that they want to communicate to, they'll include in this dealer deck. We've been really
7:12
without any information on the Corvette again going back six or seven months or so. So, it's kind of been annoying that
7:18
there hasn't been any information, but they finally sent down this big update to dealers on Thursday, last week, which
7:24
has all the big changes coming for 2024 and 2025. The first things we learned were the dates. The last ordering date
7:30
for a 2024 Corvette is going to be May 28th. And then the last day of 2024 production is scheduled for Friday, July
7:37
12th. So, it looks like they're going to end it on the Friday and then start up the 2025s on that Monday, July 15th.
7:44
Got it. Finally, we have some dates there. We were wondering when all this was going to happen. There is some conflicting
7:50
info about when the first orders will go in. They put out that there's going to be two order cycles in June. The first
7:55
one will be the last one for 2024s and then the second order cycle will be the first one for 2025s. Expect sometime in
8:03
mid to late June is when those orders will go in. the dealer deck. They also had some of those numbers would go in on
8:08
July 9th, but that seems really late for starting up on the 15th. And again, KI said that it looks like there's some
8:14
conflicting information there. Orders will go in in late June and that's when the first 25 allocations will all be set
8:21
up for production. Sounds good. Pretty interesting there. Yeah. But wait, Steve, we're not done yet. But wait, there's more.
8:27
This is a crazy update. I said still don't understand why didn't we get this information at the bash because we know
8:32
that they had it. that there's going to be a major change to the exterior colors for 2025. What's happening is that
8:38
Chevrolet plans to cancel a bunch of these colors and reduce the choices from 14 colors this year to 10 colors in
8:45
2025. We already knew three new colors were coming in 2025 at the bash. We had hysteria purple, the competition yellow,
8:52
and the sebring orange. Those are all new, but here's what's going away. We're going to lose amplify orange, accelerate
8:58
yellow. Of course, we're getting new orange and yellow, so that makes sense. But here's where it really gets crazy. silver flare, hypersonic gray, carbon
9:06
flash metallic, ceramic matrix gray, and of course, cacti are all going to go away after this model year.
9:13
Wow. So, big changes there. The last time we had 10 colors to choose from was 2019. One of the reasons why they spent $500
9:19
million on the paint shop was so that they can expand the colors up to 12. And that's how many we had when the C8
9:25
started was 12 colors. My working theory on the color reduction could be that maybe Chevy's going to offer a couple
9:30
exclusive colors for the ZR1 when it comes out or maybe they'll just wait for 2026 and do two new colors. Again, it
9:37
seems really strange that they're reducing it. Of course, the dealers like it because they're all ordering dealer stock right now, so it's less choices
9:43
and makes it easier for them to focus on the three or four colors that really sell to retail customers as they come in
9:48
the door. But for people that really like some of these colors, again, the cacti, you read about it, some people
9:54
don't like it at all, but others were really glaming onto that color and really enjoying it. The hypersonic gray
9:59
was one of the surprising colors for me. Yeah, we have similar colors in the palette as well, so it makes sense to kind of pair
10:04
these down. They were just getting a fresh restart. We'll see what comes in the future, but that's a big change. You know, people don't like to lose stuff,
10:11
they like to get stuff. Yeah, that's for sure. Well, we'll see how it goes and how it all pans out. There's obviously a method to the
10:17
madness, for sure. Right. Also, Corvette has raised prices. If you're like me, you love carbon fiber.
10:22
They've raised the price on carbon fiber accessories, but they've restricted some of the carbon fiber options to 3LT and
10:29
3LZ, haven't they? Yeah. So, we pretty much gotten through the issue of constraints on the really popular carbon fiber pieces, but these
10:35
kinds of changes show that we're not out of the woods yet. So, about a week and a half ago, Chevy made changes to the order guide, and now that the invisible
10:42
carbon fiber mirror caps can only be ordered on the 3LT and 3LZ trim groups. They also did the same for the Z06's
10:49
visible carbon fiber LT6 engine cover as well as the visible carbon fiber engine cross brace. I know you've got one of
10:55
those. Oh yeah. So now those three things, if you're going to order them on your car, your car has to be a 3LT or a
11:00
3LZ trim. The other thing they did was they raised prices on several carbon fiber accessories. These are really
11:06
popular accessories. They include the visible carbon fiber ground effects for Stingray. Those are now $7,895,
11:13
which they increased by,00. Also, the painted carbon fiber ground effects are $73.95.
11:19
And then the carbon fiber grill inserts for the Stingray are $26.95. We don't see a lot of those. And then, of course,
11:26
the big one on the ticket here, the visible carbon fiber highwing is now priced at $8,395.
11:32
Wow. These are quite a premium over the prices that you can get on the aftermarket. So, call my buddy Steve
11:38
here. He'll set you straight on where to go. But yeah, these are some pricey increases for visible carbon fiber
11:44
accessories that we really don't see on a lot of cars anyway. So, it really does look like the aftermarket is the way to go if you want some of that stuff. And a
11:50
lot of the aftermarket companies, they pride themselves on being able to match that same weave and style of GM's carbon
11:56
fiber, right? So, in many cases, you don't even know that it's not OEM. Yeah, definitely. Also, Keith, this is
12:03
kind of interesting. GM issued a service bulletin for 2024 Z06s because some of
12:08
them had the wrong front splitter. What's going on with that? Yeah, you know, our friend Justin at the Horsepower Obsessed YouTube channel
12:14
broke this story about this new service bulletin for Z06 buyers. The bulletin is titled incorrect front splitter from
12:20
factory on Z06 and it was dated April 16th. And apparently what happens is so they assemble these kits. So, if I know
12:27
that you're doing a delivery of a Corvette Z06 that has these carbon fiber pieces on them, there's going to be a
12:33
warehouse that assembles these kits. They send it to your dealer so it's there for PDI. They put on the car, right? But what's happening is they've
12:39
mismatched some of these pieces. These carbon fiber pieces are coming with the carbon flash painted front splitter.
12:45
Oh, when you see the carbon fiber ground effects and the down planes are carbon fiber, but then next to them are carbon
12:51
flash, you realize, wow, something's really off here. What's crazy is that they're going to get you the right part.
12:56
The problem is that the Z06 front splitter is actually a three-piece design. Yeah. And the dealer told the
13:02
owner of this particular Z06 that yeah, he can get the two side pieces right away, but it's the center portion is
13:07
backordered. Oh, no. It's going to take a few weeks there. Again, it's a little mismatch. It doesn't affect the quality of the car
13:13
while you're driving it. Just, you know, it's not right yet. Yeah. So, if that happened to you, then you will get the correct piece. Just hang on
13:19
there. And I would have the dealer put on the incorrect piece so that you can at least drive it until you get it. Otherwise, you know, it could be a few
13:25
weeks and you'll want your car just sitting at the dealership waiting for a front splitter. Exactly. You don't want You don't want
13:30
to drive around with a gap to front splitter. Look, on your Z06. That's right. Exactly.
13:35
And our final story, Keith, on the news segment. This is really cool. The E-Ray was named the official pace car of the
13:42
Indianapolis 500. Yeah. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway made this announcement last week that the Corvette would be pacing the race
13:47
for the 21st time in its history. I think it's like the 35th time over all for all Chevrolets. And this is actually
13:54
the eighth consecutive year that a Corvette has paced the race. Of course, we have an Arctic white Corvette dressed
13:59
in its livery with an Indy500 door panels. It's got an E-Ray sticker on the front hood. This is the first hybrid to
14:06
serve as a pace car, and of course, the -ray has the 495 horsepower V8 engine in the rear, so have no problems serving
14:12
its pace car duties. We don't have the announcement of who the official driver will be yet, but we do know that the
14:17
Indy500 takes place on Sunday, May 26th, and I will be watching. I will be watching as well, buddy.
14:22
That's really great. All right, Keith. Time for our first break, buddy. When we come back, Corvette racing and Corvette
14:28
rumors are on deck next here on Corvette Today. We all know that wheels make the
14:33
car. Wheelcraft's PVD chrome finish in bright chrome or black chrome will take your Corvette to new levels, and it
14:39
comes with a 5-year warranty. Durability is defining feature of the Wheelcraft finish. Their PBD chrome is superior to
14:45
traditional chrome with a finish that is brake dust resistant and cleans effortlessly with soap and water. Wheelcraft offers factory wheel exchange
14:52
for select C4 through C8 models or they can apply the PBD finish to your current wheels. No matter what generation you
14:59
own, Wheelcraft will transform the look of your Corvette. With every Corvette comes a unique story, and Wheelcraft has
15:05
embraced this idea. When you purchase your new set of wheels, you receive a lifetime membership to the Wheelcraft
15:10
Pit Crew, granting you access to your own page on Wheelcraft's website, where you can post pictures and tell your
15:16
Corvette story. Visit our website at wheelcraft.com or call 833639-4231.
15:22
Arrive in style with Wheelcraft. The National Corvette Resto Society is
15:28
celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 50 years of affirming and promoting the preservation and
15:33
restoration of the Corvette. 50 years as the foremost Corvette collector car organization for building value with its
15:40
prestigious awards. Have you ever considered joining NCS? Over 70,000 people have. We're so much more than
15:46
just the nuts and bolts. The NCRS flight judging program can and often does increase the value of American sports
15:53
car by researching and publishing the leading tech manuals and judging guides for the 1953 through 2007 Corvettes by
16:00
training the best judges and by hosting local, regional, and national judging events. And when you join, you'll get
16:06
award-winning magazines like Corvette Restore and Driveline all throughout the year. Joining is simple and easy. Just
16:12
go to ncrs.org and sign up. There are NCS chapters all throughout the US and all around the
16:19
world. Chances are there's a local chapter near you. So join NCS today at ncs.org.
16:25
We come for the Corvettes. We stay for the friendships made along the way. When you want to buy a Corvette or any
16:31
Chevrolet for that matter, get yours from Hendrick Chevrolet Shauny Mission located in Kansas City. Hendrick
16:37
Chevrolet is the largest Corvette dealership and showroom in the Midwest. With a knowledgeable sales staff and
16:42
Corvette sales specialists on hand, they'll help you build the Corvette of your dreams. And they ship nationwide.
16:47
With Corvette certified master mechanics on site and a huge parts department, with over $24,000 parts and $2 million
16:54
in inventory, Hendrickk Chevrolet is well equipped to take care of your every need. From sales to service to collision
17:00
repair, Hendrickk Chevrolet has you covered. Visit cheviusa.com or call 913-384-1550.
17:09
The radiator grill store offers protection for your C8's front radiators and side intakes. They also carry front
17:15
strut tower covers to prevent rusting and pooling water, all with do-it-yourself installation. Get 10% off
17:21
your total purchase with promo code CT10. See the full line of products at radiator grillilstore.com.
17:27
[Music] You're listening and watching Corvette Today with Steve Garrett.
17:34
Thanks for checking out Corvette Today on podcast and YouTube. It's the only current podcast dedicated to Corvette.
17:41
Corvette today is brought to you by Wheelcraft. You want your Corvette looking its best, don't you? We'll dress it up with bright chrome or black chrome
17:47
wheels. Visit wheelcraft.com and learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels
17:54
or do a wheel exchange and you get a 5-year warranty. So, visit wheelcraft.com today or give them a call
18:01
833-639-4231. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me
18:06
every other week is Keith Cornet from Corvette Blogger. Together we keep you current and uptodate on what's happening
18:11
in the world of Corvette. In segment two, we always talk about Corvette racing and Corvette rumors. First Keith,
18:17
in the racing segment, DXDT Racing unveiled their new GT3R and Tommy Milner
18:23
is going to drive that with Alex Udell. Yeah, this is pretty interesting. So DXDT races in the SRO GT America series.
18:30
Many people don't actually know about it. you know, it's not IMSA, it's not the wet, but it takes place here in the United States. Okay.
18:36
Generally, I think it involves GT3 and GT4 cars. And of course, DXDT is racing
18:42
that GT3R Z06. Now, they've had one and then they just added a second one. And
18:47
of course, as you said, Tommy Milner and Alex UD Doll will be in the lineup. What we're seeing here is Tommy is obviously
18:53
still racing for Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller Motorsports. But this is part of that strategy that we heard Laura from GM Racing talking about when
18:59
they wanted to extend their professional drivers out to other programs. Of course, nobody knows more about the Z06
19:05
GTR driving-wise than Tommy Milner, who served as its performance and development driver for that car. So,
19:11
he'll still be doing duties over at IMSU, but now he's going to also be racing the second car for DXVT in the
19:16
Euro GT America series. Pretty interesting stuff there and it should be fun to watch. All these races are live
19:22
on YouTube. There was actually the first series stop was in Sebring. They had the one car there. So they run two races a
19:28
weekend. They'll run like a race on a Saturday and a race on a Sunday. Okay. The first race that car only got in 10
19:33
laps. They finished in 11th position. But for the second race, they finished in 10th place, but they were on the lead
19:39
lap with the other cars. Again, just more development taking place. We're going to have some the quality drivers
19:44
now hopefully coaching the other drivers about their strengths of the car. this pretty interesting series. The car looks
19:49
great. The livery looks great on it. It's going to be something to watch. We started picking up their press releases and we'll share when those races are.
19:55
And again, you just tune into YouTube and you can either watch the in-car camera or you can watch it overall
20:00
cameras that show, you know, the races that's going on. So, pretty cool stuff there. Nice. That's awesome. Anytime we can get more Corvettes
20:05
racing, I say that's a good thing. Absolutely right. And we've also got racing coming up at Spa and Laguna
20:11
Secika, don't we? Yeah. So, we recorded this prior to these races. TF Sport was racing their two Z06 GT3RS at the six-h hour race at
20:18
Spa at the World Endurance Championship over in Europe. Meanwhile, in the USA, we got Corvette Racing at Monterey
20:24
Laguna Secika on Sunday. So, we'll have a recap of both of these races in our next news and headlines podcast. Things
20:29
are getting a little spicy out there. We need some points. We need these cars to really start showing the reliability
20:35
that we know that they possess. Let's hope for some good standings there. Yeah, absolutely. Let's turn to rumors
20:40
now, Keith. We actually got to hear the new ZR run coming out. We heard their engine idle. And this is the LT7, isn't
20:47
it? This was pretty cool. So, an engineering group for the Corvette ZR1 prototypes were spotted in Knoxville, Tennessee,
20:53
and a guy on Facebook named Scott Fischer was able to get some pictures. But not only that, he was able to stand
20:58
right behind two ZR1s as they were sitting there idling before they were getting ready to head out for the day.
21:03
Yeah. And I tell you what, when I heard both those, the way my speakers are set up, one on each side of the desk, the
21:09
sound just enveloped me and I got some chills when I first heard it. We expect the ZR1 to be powered by the twin turbo
21:14
V8 called the LT7. And it's also expected to be very similar to the Z06's LT6 5.5 L V8. What we don't know, and
21:23
the big debate right now among Corvette watchers, is whether these ZR1s will have the flat plane crankshaft like the
21:28
Z06 or will they use a regular crossplane crankshaft which hopefully reduces vibrations in the car.
21:34
Yeah, still a lot of stuff we don't know about it, but you know, obviously we're getting closer. They talked about the reveal coming up. Really cool that we
21:40
got to hear these cars just sitting there at idle. Just shows we're getting closer to the big reveal of the summer.
21:46
Yeah, definitely. Also, we saw a ZR1 in Detroit, didn't we? Yeah. So, this is interesting. So, now
21:51
you've got engineers testing the cars out on the streets. Got another one spotted in Detroit. It was probably leaving one of its facilities. And this
21:57
was a convertible driving by itself. We don't know if it was maybe going out to Milford or back or where it was going,
22:03
but again, it was a convertible model. And the spy photographer actually managed to get photos of the interior.
22:09
Guess what, Steve? It looks just like every other T8 Corvette that's out there on the interior. They had the tape
22:14
around the badge on the bottom of the steering wheel, but other than that, it was an Artemis interior. Looks just like you see on any of the 2024 models that
22:21
are out there now. Yeah. Again, Chevy has promised us the unthinkable is coming this summer. Our
22:26
biggest hope is that hopefully the cars will be revealed prior to the big shows at Corvettes at Carile as well as the NC
22:32
anniversary show in late August. Of course, with Taj retiring, hopefully he's there to lead us in these
22:37
proceedings as well. Big stuff happening this summer. I can't wait, buddy. I can't wait. All right, Keith. Let's take our final
22:43
break. When we come back, it's the lighter side of Corvette on deck here on Corvette today.
22:50
Are you ready for a better insurance policy without the Corvette tax with agreed value protection? The value of
22:55
your collector vehicle will never change. Plus, you'll save money. Get a quick quote at ncm insurance.com.
23:03
Hey, honey. Are you awake? M I am now. I can't sleep. Since turning 50, I keep
23:08
dreaming of a red door and a blue door. Somehow knowing there are only choices for retirement.
23:14
Okay. Through the red door, we outlive our money. We have to rely on our kids. We're stuck on a fixed income. It's
23:20
terrifying. Yeah, that would suck. But through the blue door, our money outlives us. We retire on our terms. Our
23:27
kids stay our kids, not our caretakers. We make work optional. Yes, that's much better. That's what I
23:33
want, too. But what do we do? We call True Wealth and Company at 913-6538783.
23:39
They specialize in helping successful people make work optional. They're our fiduciary blue door personal wealth
23:45
managers. Hey, where are you going? It's 3:00 a.m. I can't sleep. I'm going to check out
23:50
True Wealth & Company online at retirewithr.com. That blue door is going to be our retirement.
23:55
9136538783. Visit us online at retirewithtr.com. Investment advice offer through company
24:01
LLC, a registered investment adviser in the state of Kansas. Vetfinders.com is the internet's original Corvette
24:07
classified ads website with classified ads starting at just $25. And every ad
24:13
runs until your Corvette is sold. If you're in the market for a Corvette, vetfinders.com has over 500 Corvettes
24:19
for sale from all around the USA and Canada and covering all eight generations. Visit vetfinders.com, the
24:26
internet's destination for buying and selling Corvettes. That's vefinders.com.
24:35
And now back to the only current podcast on Corvettes, Corvette Today with your host, Steve Garrett. Hey, thanks once
24:42
again for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette. Corvette
24:48
Today is brought to you by Wheelcraft. You want your Corvette looking its best. We'll dress it up with bright chrome or
24:53
black chrome wheels. Visit wheelcraft.com and learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can
24:59
refinish your wheels or do a wheel exchange. and you get a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com today or give them
25:06
a call at 833-639-4231. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is
25:12
Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. If you want a deeper dive into any of the stories Keith and I cover, you can
25:18
always go to corvette blogger.com. In this final segment, we always talk about the lighter side of Corvette, and this
25:24
is always fun. Keith, we saw an e-ra set a new record for driving in stealth mode. Give me all the details on that.
25:31
All right, Steve. I love this story in so many ways. Corvette owners, especially owners of brand new Corvettes, they're going to explore the
25:37
car. They're going to test its limits. They're going to see what it can do. A lot of times we'll see cars go out and do a quarter mile at the drag strip or
25:43
they'll get on the track. But the E-Ray's got this little party trick called stealth mode that allows it to
25:48
drive in the battery only electric mode. It's not very long range. Obviously, the -ray is not designed for that, but
25:54
there's going to be owners out there to see how far they can go in stealth mode. Sure. So, a couple weeks back, we had a video by a friend named Barry, who owns
26:01
one of the first E-Rays, who wanted to see how far he could drive it in electric only mode, and he got 3.6 miles
26:06
before the V8 engine kicked on in the back. Okay. And so, I joked at the time that, wow, Barry just set a world record. We
26:13
actually needed a leaderboard to be able to keep track of all this, you know, just kind of just throwing it out there, joking, because that's what people do.
26:18
They set the world record in the quarter mile for the first supercharged, you know. Well, you're the only supercharged, so of course it's a world
26:25
record. Exactly. Apparently, some other E-Ray owner beat Barry's distance. He did a 3.8 mile run. So, Barry went back out
26:32
and was driving around rural New Hampshire, topped up his battery to 100%, set his odometer to reset, and
26:38
then he would manage to go 4.1 miles before the engine kicked on. Wow. Again, new world record, right, Steve?
26:45
Exactly. Here's what really amazes me, though, is that we have all these supposed Corvette lovers out there who still don't know
26:50
the first thing about this car. Oh, I know. They hear the word, they close their ears and go la. They don't want to know
26:56
anything about it. It takes just 10 minutes to know all you need to know about this car. The joke is tell me something you don't know by telling me
27:02
something you don't know. I mean, it's just really prevalent with this car. Another ERA owner tells us that she basically has to justify her ownership
27:09
every time she's at some Cars and Coffee gathering. Whereas her Z06 just sort of speaks for itself. Wow.
27:14
Still a lot of misinformation about this car out there, but again, it looks like it's a lot of fun. It's fast. We've seen
27:20
it at the track. We've seen it go silent now for 4.1 miles. It's going to be the pace car of the Indianapolis 500 this
27:27
year. Once we get around snowtime and you're driving your E-Ray in the snow and people have their car covered up for
27:32
the six months we cause a bad weather. That's what it's for. Exactly. Some fun stuff with the -ay. We're
27:38
having fun with it. I hope you guys are having fun. Yeah, definitely. And speaking of track, we saw a Z06 running two hot laps at the
27:45
Nurburg Ring. How did that turn out? Wow, this is fantastic. So, a European racer named Misha Sherudin, I hope I
27:51
said his last name right. huge following on YouTube. He's got like 1.3 million subscribers and he got to drive the Z06
27:58
hard at the Nurburg Ring. This was a track session that was open to the public. It was also his first time behind the wheel of the car. He comes
28:04
out of this thing saying, "GM, you've done a fantastic job. My god, what a car." Just really amazing. Two laps,
28:11
too, not just one lap. And not only do we get the lap, but we see what's ahead of him with the PDR, but then we also
28:16
get a graph on the gauges there as well. He gives us a lot of reasons why he wasn't really running a timed lap, but
28:22
he goes back and looks at the tape and says, "Yeah, ran about 7 minutes and 20 seconds despite heavy traffic." I mean,
28:27
there were times he had to slow down. He had multiple cars in front of him. He had to work around him and still finished in 7 minutes and 20 seconds.
28:34
So, pretty cool there. This is the one video that if you have not seen yet, you really want to go to
28:40
YouTube and look it up. Go to Corvette Blogger, look it up because it's fantastic. The other fun thing is he does two laps. So when he starts his
28:46
first lap, I look at his fuel gauge and it's right in the middle between a quarter and a half a tank. But when he
28:52
finishes his second hot lap, the red lights on and he needs gas. So it sounds
28:58
like a really fun way to burn off some fossil fuels. Definitely. Definitely. And Keith, you know, we've always called Corvette
29:03
America's sports car. Now we can call Corvette America's favorite convertible, too. So this kind of came together
29:10
interesting. So during the NCM bash, the Corvette team shared a graphic on the top 10 convertibles sold in America. And
29:15
the Corvette C8 leads the way, beating like Miata, Ford Mustang, Porsche 911, even the Mini Cooper, among others. What
29:22
was really interesting was another study was showing that America's love of convertibles is actually shrinking, mostly due to the fact that most
29:28
vehicles on the road these days are trucks and SUVs. There was a study put out by the Hustle which shows that
29:33
registrations of convertibles made up only 0.9% in 2014 and they have fallen
29:38
to 0.6% 6% in 2023. While of course all this is happening, the C8 Corvette comes
29:44
out now is just blown away convertible sales. Of course, for Corvette, nearly half of all Stingrays are convertibles.
29:50
And in 2023, there are more Z06 convertibles sold than Z06 coups. Again,
29:55
surprising because the Z06 is the big track weapon there. But people love the convertibles. As Corvette enthusiasts,
30:00
you know, obviously we have a lot to be thankful for. Pushing that button for open air driving experience is just one of the reasons to buy a new Corvette.
30:07
Now, if we can only find a way to bring back the manual transmission. Exactly. Save the manual. That's for
30:13
sure. And our final story, Keith, this is interesting. If you'd like C5s, the Corvette racing chassis number seven,
30:19
the C5R GT1 race car is up for sale. Now, Steve, wouldn't it be fantastic? You're
30:25
standing outside your home, you press your garage door opener, see that door go up very slowly, and parked inside was
30:31
an actual Corvette racing C5R race car. That would just blow away the neighbors, I think. And of course, imagine the
30:37
startups of that. You say your exhaust is loud. Yeah. But actually, the number seven chassis C5R made for Corvette
30:43
racing, but was never used by the team. It was a backup car that was eventually sold to a European team. Raced it
30:48
overseas a little bit. This car has been freshly restored back to its Corvette racing livery. It's got yellow exterior.
30:54
It's got the black rear end on it, big wing on the top. Really a neat car. There's no price on
30:59
it, but we can imagine that it's pretty expensive. Of course, you'd have to bring it over from Luxembourg again if
31:04
you bought it here in the United States. Hopefully, somebody will buy this car and show it off because obviously there's not many of these out there. And
31:10
the fact that it was an actual Corvette race car, a pretty cool addition to any collection. Bring it home to America.
31:16
Absolutely. Yeah. Well, buddy, thanks so much for being back on Corvette Today. Have a good two weeks. We'll see you back here
31:22
in a couple. Well, thanks, Steve. Lots of stuff going on. Stay tuned to Corvette Blogger for all the latest. Of course, Corvette
31:27
Today podcast is where you're going to hear some great stuff. If you've not listened to the holy trinity of Harland, Taj and Josh from the NCM Bash, that was
31:34
a great podcast and you really owe it yourself to listen to that. But Steve, if we see you out there, we'll keep waving. Thanks again for listening and watching
31:41
Corvette Today. And be sure to tell your family, friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today
31:46
Show. And thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your Corvette with bright chrome or black
31:51
chrome wheels? Visit wheelcraft.com to learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels
31:57
or offer a wheel exchange for most models and it comes with a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com today or
32:03
call 833639-4231. Soul performance products at sulp.com.
32:11
The official performance exhaust of Corvette today. Seioa Corvette at ciocorvette.com.
32:18
True company at retirewithtr.com. Also, Aerilari wheels. Get $100 off your
32:24
purchase with the new promo code CT111 at aolari.com and Hendrickk Chevrolet in
32:30
Kansas City at chevyusa.com. Thanks for checking out Corvette Today
32:35
on podcast and YouTube. If you'd like to contact Steve with ideas for Corvette today, you can email him at stevegared
32:42
djgmail.com. Garrett has two Rs and two T's. That's Steve Garrett DJ@gmail.com.
32:50
Also, sign up for email notifications at corvettetoday.page.
32:56
Follow Steve and the show on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and threads at Steve Garrett
33:03
DJ. Thanks again for listening and watching Corvette today. [Music]