Hair suits and horsepower: The overlooked Corvette Z06
By Straight-Six, published on 16 July 2010
It was a moment you don’t ever forget: during the Great American Run of 2007, your editors were in New Mexico in a trusty Audi A4 3.2 litre Quattro convertible, flat-out at a limited 125 mph in hot pursuit of a Saleen Mustang and a Corvette Z06; both of them black as the night and sporting 500 mean ponies under their hoods.
The convoy had been going for almost 30 minutes through what can only be described as as the most magnificent of desert landscapes. And we were not only keeping up, but genuinely hassling our ebony-clad friends. It was a pride-infused, glorious moment that was shattered all too soon when we crested a hill virtually nose-to-bumper only to watch a salivating State Trooper blast us with his laser and pull us over moments later. Tickets were issued, concerned looks were flashed and the Run continued. We’d earned our badge of honour, even at the cost of a couple hundred bucks.
But that Darth Vader-like Corvette Z06 never really left our minds: the sound, the look, the acceleration, the sheer power it conveyed. Maybe it was something about the New Mexico setting that finally made it all come together. And this from the quintessential American sports car Europeans have gleefully crucified for years.
Now before this erupts into a “yeah, but you would never buy one, would you?!”-type of discussion, let’s remind ourselves of what the Z06 is: it arrived on the scene in late 2005 sporting a glorious 7-litre engine with no less that 505hp. With an aluminium frame and balsa wood/carbon fibre floors, the Z06 tipped the scales at a mere 1,421kg. It also cost a risible $70,000, or so. Lightweight, immensely powerful and tuned at the Nordschleife (Germany’s infamous, and the world’s most challenging, race track), Corvette finally had what it took to walk up to its suited European counterparts and piss all over their shiny brogues. Followed by the shake, bien sur.
Clearly, we weren’t expecting this at all. Our favourite car mags (evo and CAR) also found themselves pleasantly surprised. Sure, the interior still looked like cack and it was never going to deliver Lotus-like levels of interaction and finesse. But by Jiminy did it go, cracking 0-100kph in less than 4 seconds and 160kph in an astounding 8.5 seconds! Oh, and it topped out at some 315kph, thank you very much.
There’s something so true about the Z06, with regards to both its strengths and ultimate weaknesses. An honesty that is totally in line with its American heritage and origins. An inability to bullshit you even as you try to dominate a muscle car with half a thousand horses under the hood, your upper lip covered in sweat. And what a contrast to the icy mechanical perfection of a car like the current 911 Turbo, which evo’s Monkey Harris can deliver astounding acceleration runs in while sipping a Coke and yapping away…
This brings us to perhaps the most unique characteristic of the Z06, one that is increasingly hard to find in higher-end sports cars today: it ain’t perfect. Now that’s a pretty ballsy thing for us to say here on the Guide, particularly when we berate other brands and products for not being perfect enough. But being able to drive a sports car should require skills and experience. Knowing that you can eke that little bit more out of your ride because of you, not thanks to twiddling a knob on the steering wheel. It’s a bit hairy, and that’s fine by us.
So, there’s imperfection and then there’s genuine character. And the Z06 appears to have the latter by the truck-load. We think that’s worthy of recognition, and your attention.
Hair suits and horsepower: The overlooked Corvette Z06
It was a moment you don’t ever forget: during the Great American Run of 2007, your editors were in New Mexico in a trusty Audi A4 3.2 litre Quattro convertible, flat-out at a limited 125 mph in hot pursuit of a Saleen Mustang and a Corvette Z06; both of them black as the night and [...]
2 Responses to “Hair suits and horsepower: The overlooked Corvette Z06”
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Straight-Six
16 July 2010
There’s a reason I check my guns, knives and rusty nails at the door when you and I meet, I tell you…
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The Prodigal Fool
16 July 2010
Yeah, but you would never buy one would you?