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CORVETTE TODAY Extra - Introducing The New C8 ZR1
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Jul 12, 2025
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.
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Yeah. Have we left anything out?
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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
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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
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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,
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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
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the split window, it's very functional.
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It's got vents in it, so it's adding to
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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Stingrays. Yeah, it's very reminiscent
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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
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the Corvette. The front rotors are 15.7
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in.
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Wow.
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And the rears are 15.4. Amazing stopping
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power out of this car. And I guess you
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would need it if you've got that much
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power.
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And also, Keith, this is cool because
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it's still going to be a 2025 car.
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Yeah, they definitely said 2025. They
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said it'll be available in 2025. It's
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going to be interesting to see how they
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do the model year switch over. Last
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couple years we've seen September as our
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break point now, which I kind of like
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better than the July. It's a little bit
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closer to the end of the year. Makes a
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little bit more sense. When are we going
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to see this thing? It's already we're
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placing orders right now for September.
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First orders went in on Thursday for the
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2025. Is this kind of going to be like
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we've seen how they started building in
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January this year even though it was in
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the middle of the model year? That's
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probably what's going to happen.
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January, February, March, we'll start to
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see them start to trickle out. Yeah.
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Again, very low production, I'm
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guessing. Very hard to get the price. We
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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.
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So, I was thinking, you know, that the
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base price for the Z06 is what, 113, 115
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or so. I know it just changed. So, I'm
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thinking the base price for this car is
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probably I'm going to be a little bit
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more optimistic. I'm going to say in the
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140s.
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I hope I hope you're right.
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You know, it could go to 150, but you
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know what'll happen is like people did
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on the Z06, they'll just be able to load
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it up with options. So, we will
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definitely have some $200,000 ZR1's out
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there. I'm certain of it.
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Absolutely. Well, buddy, thanks for
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being back on Corvette today for this
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Corvette Today Extra. I can't wait to
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see this ZR1 in person.
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Well, that was a lot of fun, Steve.
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We've got content up on Corvette
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Blogger. Of course, there's content
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everywhere. I think what we're going to
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do, we're going to have a link festival
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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
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influencers obviously up to Detroit
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first to do some of their own previews.
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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
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everything.
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Thank you, Steve. We see you out there.
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Keep waving.
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Thanks again for listening and watching
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