All of the parts of this kinetically functioning LS3 model engine were 3D printed and the parts all go together just like the real thing. This is delightfully awesome!
DYNO BLAST HCI C6 Corvette Z06 Makes 600 Rear Wheel Horsepower VIDEO
What’s really interesting about the ‘12 Indy 500 ZR1 Pace Car is that it is the most powerful car to ever pace the 500. Time was that the actual Indy race cars didn’t have 638-horsepower and topping speeds of over 200-mph was mind boggling! Fast forward to today, and we have a mass-produced automobile with all the creature comforts imaginable, packing 638-horsepower that you can live with, that’ll do 205-mph, AND has a governor on the car so that its speed will not exceed the body’s aerodynamic stability. At least, that’s what Chevrolet says about the 205-mph limiter.
Wouldn’t it have been awesome if General Motors had told the AMA to “stuff it” back in 1957? Why should Ford and Chrysler get all the racing glory? Just before the GM enforced the 1957 AMA ban on racing, paperwork had been submitted to take Duntov’s Corvette SS race car to Le Mans. And what might have happened if Zora had been allowed to fully develop the ‘63 Grand Sport. Ah, the stuff of bench racing.
I thought it was very cool that in 2010 Chevrolet touted the racing-developed parts and concepts that are now part of the C6 ZR1 Corvette with a very cool-looking 2-page poster magazine advertisement depicting a ‘10 ZR1 in the foreground and the all-out, ZR1 dressed C6.R Corvette race cars. The photo of the production ZR1 Corvette has number callouts that point out the racing derived elements of the ZR1. I say, “BRAVO Chevrolet!” for finally tooting your own horn about the potent C6.R Corvette race cars.
Motor Trend magazine has a neat new TV program titled, “Head 2 Head.” To kick off the series MTs Editor at Large, Angus MacKenzie pits the 2012 Grand Sport Corvette against a 2012 911 Carrera S. The program is a lot of fun to watch. There are vintage clips of both cars from 1963 when the rivalry first started with the arrival of the 911 taking on the new Corvette Sting Ray. Footage of the Sting Ray is from a Chevrolet promotional film featuring race car drivers Dave MacDonald and Dr. Dick Thompson wringing out the new ‘63 Vette at the Chevrolet test track in the Summer of ‘62. FUN STUFF! Check it out!
Fast forward to the 2006 Z06 and its aluminum chassis. One of the biggest challenges with an aluminum chassis is the strength of materials issue. Lightweight aluminum is soft, so there were interesting shape and construction problems that had to be worked out to mass-produce such a chassis. While it is true that the Z06 wasn’t the first car to use an aluminum chassis (many hand-made exotic cars had aluminum chassis) the Z06 was the first “mass produced” car to have an all-aluminum chassis, engine, and suspension.
