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This CORVETTE TODAY Extra introduces you to the brand new C8 ZR1.
Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett and Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger give you the full run-down of this awesome machine!
Check it out...it's the brand new C8 Corvette ZR1.
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[Music]
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Welcome to Corvette Today, the show that
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talks about everything Corvette with
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your host Steve Garrett, lifetime member
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of the National Corvette Museum,
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president of the Corvette Club of Kansas
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City, Missouri, and radio disc jockey at
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the number one radio station in Kansas
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City for over 45 years.
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Here's Steve Garrett.
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Thanks for listening and watching
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Corvette Today, the show that talks
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about everything Corvette and the only
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current podcast dedicated to Corvette.
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. I
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appreciate you tuning in. This is a
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special edition of Corvette Today. This
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is a Corvette Today Extra. My buddy
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Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com
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is here. We are going to talk about the
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new ZR1 that was just released. Keith,
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welcome back to the show. The numbers
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are mind-boggling for the ZR1.
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Well, now we know what unthinkable
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means, right? because I certainly wasn't
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thinking 1,064 horsepower.
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Neither was I, buddy. That's amazing.
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And 828 pound- feet of torque.
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Yeah, that thing's going to be a torque
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monster. It's just mindboggling to see
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what they put together here.
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Yeah, it's amazing. Why don't you go
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through some of the numbers that we got
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from Chevrolet and we'll start off with
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that and kind of go from there.
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All right. Well, obviously we're talking
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about the fastest, most powerful
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Corvette ever. The Corvette ZR1 features
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a 5.5 L twinturbo DOC flat plane crank
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V8. They call it the LT7. It produces
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1,64 horsepower at 7,000 RPM and 828
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footp pounds of torque at 6,000 RPM.
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Like I said, it's the most powerful
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engine ever produced by Chevrolet and
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it's the most powerful V8 ever produced
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in America by any auto manufacturer.
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That's right. And as a matter of fact, I
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saw somewhere where the LT7 engine was
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developed right next to the LT6 from the
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Z06 engine, but it's not a Z06 engine
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base.
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Yeah. That's like they started it up and
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they said, "Okay, this one's going to be
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naturally aspirated, so we'll put the
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LT6 over here." And we've got the twin
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turbo here and because it's going to
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make so much horsepower, we've got to
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really build it up. So, there was
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definitely twin tracks there. And if you
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look closely at any of the photos of the
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engine, you'll see the little LT6
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rockets on them. So, definitely part of
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that same Gemini engine, small block
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family.
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That's true. And it's nice because what
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they've done is with turbos, there's
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always a lag. And I think they've taken
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care of that lag so there won't be any.
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Yeah. and they're probably using some
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software on it that really is toned to
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the driver and so it actually showed
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that there's like some sensing
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technology so it reacts to how you're
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driving at the time. I mean if you're
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probably on a track it's going to do
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things that eliminate any kind of turbo
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lag and again with the amount of power
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that this thing's got. You know even a
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little bit of lag you're still going to
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get up and go.
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And with the ZTK package it creates
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1,200 pounds of downforce.
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It's just unbelievable. Yeah, the two
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arrow packages are great. And the nice
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thing is that you can even get that
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arrow. Even though you don't have the
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ZTK package itself, you can get that
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carbon arrow kit on the base ZR1 as
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well.
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Nice. Also in the front, we have lost
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the frunk because we have an air scoop
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in the front kind of like an S scoop
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that we've seen and a gurnie lip as
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well.
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Yeah. You know, we also wondered about
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how that was going to handle. I know a
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lot of people be disappointed that the
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front is gone. Again, you got increased
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downforce in the front, increased
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cooling because you got radiators where
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that air flow goes through. Some people
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say, "Okay, I have no problem losing the
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frunk if I'm getting this kind of
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downforce and this kind of performance."
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Yeah. And we've got a coupe and a
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convertible. The interior is really
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nice. It looks about the same as we have
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from everybody else.
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You know, that's the one thing about a
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Corvette that's both great and a little
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bit disappointing because if I'm sitting
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in a ZR1, it basically looks like a
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Stingray. It might be an upper level
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Stingray depending on the trim level
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that you get, but you do have ZR1
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badging on the steering wheel. You got
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ZR1 badging on the plaque behind you.
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And then of course the door sills will
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also have ZR1. There is some little
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things. And then they're also talking
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about we're going to get the blue
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calipers for the brakes, right? And it
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sounds like we're going to get a
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matching blue seat belt. So it might be
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like a dark blue seat belt as opposed to
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the light blue that we currently have.
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And we also have some unique ZR1
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stitching on the door panels as well,
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which will look really, really nice.
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Those door cards look fantastic. I'm
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like, wait a second. Let me go back and
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look at that. So that's been my whole
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day. Let me go back and look at that.
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There you go. Yeah, absolutely. Now,
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let's talk about the wheels because we
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have a brand new carbon fiber wheel and
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we have a brand new ceramic disc brake,
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too.
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Yeah. You know, and in fact, the wheels
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don't really show well in any of the
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pictures that they shared with the
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media. I'm anxious to see some of the
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photos that may be coming out of the
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live party down in Miami, I guess you
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could say. It looks like a really great
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carbon revolution wheel. It's got some
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additional spokes on it. It looks like
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the old kind of cup tires, but again, I
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haven't really been able to get a real
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clear look at those. And then on the the
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alloy wheels, there's four different
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finishes and one of them's I think edge
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blue is what they're calling it.
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Nice. Yeah, that's kickback to the old
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ZR1 days from the C6 ZR1, isn't it?
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Yeah. But to have Chevrolet do a blue
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wheel, who would have thought that, you
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know, just five or six years ago?
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Yeah, that it was pretty amazing.
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I mean, they're they're not making
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chrome, but they're making Edge blue
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wheels. Again, there's so much out there
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with this release that really boggles
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the mind, and I don't want to keep
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saying unthinkable, but I mean, you got
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to really just see it to believe it. And
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top speed, tell them about top speed,
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buddy.
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Okay, so top speed is estimated to be
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over 215 miles an hour. And I like that
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because I think it was the C6 ZR1 that
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was 205. And then who got up to 214 215?
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That was the C7 ZR1,
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I think. So
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And now you've got greater than 215. In
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fact, if you go to Car and Driver, their
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video out, they actually show on the
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Milford Proving Grounds, they're running
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upwards of 206 miles an hour. I believe
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they did that in a span of just 30
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seconds, 20 seconds or so. In fact, I I
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got a stat on that. The ZR1 can go from
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80 to 200 m an hour and then back to 80
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mph in just 24.5 seconds.
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Wow.
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And they say that's 22% faster than the
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C7 ZR1 and 53% faster than the C6 ZR1.
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So, it definitely has got the ability. I
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mean, when you're looking at the
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speedometer on the PDR on this Car and
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Driver video and how fast it's moving
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through the 160s, 170s, 180s, you know,
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before it always kind of like creep up.
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You're just blowing past those. Boom,
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boom, boom. It's just an incredible car.
6:16
Yeah. Have we left anything out?
6:17
Oh, I'm sure. They say that on the very
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first lap at the Milford Proving Ground,
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so you know, they bring up the car. So,
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okay, let's go see what they'll do. So,
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go take it out to the test track. It
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already clocked faster than the
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production C7 ZR1. So, right out of the
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box, they're faster than the previous
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generation CR1. And of course, we've
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heard that the 1/4 mile time is a sub 10
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seconds. So, very quick. And then all
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four test drivers that were driving over
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at the Nurburgg Ring clocked over 200
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mph peak speed on their very first lap.
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So, to see that kind of traction and
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that kind of speed on the track is just
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again mindboggling. And then they said
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that the LT7 produces more power than
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two LS7 engines. the legendary 7 liter
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V8 from the sixth generation Corvette
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Z06.
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Wow. You seen those custom cars where
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they'll put like two V8s together? This
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engine's more powerful than two of
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those. There's all these crazy stupid
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stats like that, Steve. And I guess
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that's what we've been waiting to hear.
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Absolutely right, buddy. And this is
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really cool, too. They paid homage to
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the 63 split window Corvette.
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Yeah. So, we got the very first split
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window, and that had to be a hard
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decision. You know, I know when C7 came
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along, they were talking about bringing
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back the Stingray name. And there's such
7:24
a discussion of not only is it time to
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bring it back, but is the car that we're
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building worthy of that name,
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right?
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In this case, is this car worthy of
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having the very first split window
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design since 1963? Of course, it was
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only a one-year design. You know, I got
7:37
in a conversation with a friend. He
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said, you know, I thought that was going
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to be on the Zora. I'm like, well,
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technically Zora hated the split window,
7:44
but with the rear view camera, you know,
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it doesn't really matter anyways. And
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not only that, but the way they built in
7:49
the split window, it's very functional.
7:51
It's got vents in it, so it's adding to
7:53
the cooling aspects of the car where it
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can let that heat out. It comes in two
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different finishes. You can get visible
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carbon fiber or you can get body color.
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We're going to see some really neat
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things that are people doing back there
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with it.
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The split window is very
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Lamborghiniesque. It looks really good
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and it does help with the cooling. It
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looks really nice. So, if you're a 63
8:11
split window fan like me, you'll see
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this homage paid to that car. And it's
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really pretty cool to have on there.
8:17
Yeah. And speaking of homages, you know,
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we had the Zora head that's featured on
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the windshield,
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right?
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The icon of the very first Corvette
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Chief Engineer. Well, Chevrolet to honor
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Taj Jooker and he's just retiring.
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Corvette Chief Engineer after 47 years,
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31 years at Corvette. They're going to
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put a Taj Head on the top of the left
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hand side of the split window in the
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back. So, you'll have Zora in the front
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and then Taj in the rear. And again,
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just a great way to celebrate Taj's
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amazing career and another one of these
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Easter eggs that we're gonna I'm sure
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find on this car. We've got, like I
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said, the LT6 rockets. Got the Taj Head.
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I'm sure there's going to be a lot more.
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Yeah, that's a great way to pay homage
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to Taj. That's really, really cool. We
8:55
still got a little bit extra cooling as
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well on the ZTK package. We've got
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cooling on the wishbone and then a vent
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on top that kind of reminds me of the C7
9:04
Stingrays. Yeah, it's very reminiscent
9:06
of that. And that's for cooling the
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turbos and stuff inside there. And then
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the side vent that goes straight to the
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brakes. And the brakes. Let's talk about
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the brakes for a second. These are the
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largest Brembo brakes ever to appear on
9:17
the Corvette. The front rotors are 15.7
9:20
in.
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Wow.
9:21
And the rears are 15.4. Amazing stopping
9:24
power out of this car. And I guess you
9:26
would need it if you've got that much
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power.
9:27
And also, Keith, this is cool because
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it's still going to be a 2025 car.
9:32
Yeah, they definitely said 2025. They
9:34
said it'll be available in 2025. It's
9:36
going to be interesting to see how they
9:38
do the model year switch over. Last
9:40
couple years we've seen September as our
9:42
break point now, which I kind of like
9:44
better than the July. It's a little bit
9:45
closer to the end of the year. Makes a
9:47
little bit more sense. When are we going
9:48
to see this thing? It's already we're
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placing orders right now for September.
9:51
First orders went in on Thursday for the
9:53
2025. Is this kind of going to be like
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we've seen how they started building in
9:58
January this year even though it was in
9:59
the middle of the model year? That's
10:01
probably what's going to happen.
10:02
January, February, March, we'll start to
10:03
see them start to trickle out. Yeah.
10:05
Again, very low production, I'm
10:07
guessing. Very hard to get the price. We
10:09
have no idea. What do you actually think
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this is going to be priced at, Steve?
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Well, now that we're at 1,64 horsepower,
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Keith, I would think maybe 185, 175, 185
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maybe.
10:19
So, I was thinking, you know, that the
10:21
base price for the Z06 is what, 113, 115
10:24
or so. I know it just changed. So, I'm
10:27
thinking the base price for this car is
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probably I'm going to be a little bit
10:30
more optimistic. I'm going to say in the
10:32
140s.
10:33
I hope I hope you're right.
10:34
You know, it could go to 150, but you
10:35
know what'll happen is like people did
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on the Z06, they'll just be able to load
10:39
it up with options. So, we will
10:41
definitely have some $200,000 ZR1's out
10:44
there. I'm certain of it.
10:45
Absolutely. Well, buddy, thanks for
10:47
being back on Corvette today for this
10:48
Corvette Today Extra. I can't wait to
10:50
see this ZR1 in person.
10:52
Well, that was a lot of fun, Steve.
10:53
We've got content up on Corvette
10:54
Blogger. Of course, there's content
10:56
everywhere. I think what we're going to
10:57
do, we're going to have a link festival
10:59
where we'll have one page that's got
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like all the different videos in there
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because they did invite all these
11:03
influencers obviously up to Detroit
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first to do some of their own previews.
11:06
So, there's going to be some good stuff
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there. So, we're going to pick through
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the better ones and have them posted.
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And I don't see myself sleeping for the
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next couple days.
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Me neither, buddy. Thanks for
11:15
everything.
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Thank you, Steve. We see you out there.
11:17
Keep waving.
11:18
Thanks again for listening and watching
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