Autoblog

Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

Last week, General Motors' Bowling Green, KY assembly plant began manufacturing the fastest, most powerful production Corvette in its 55-year history. We got our first official look at the 2009 Corvette ZR1 at the Detroit Auto Show in January and, at that time, Chevrolet officials hadn't finalized the numbers. Over the intervening months, GM continued to tease us with bits of information, including the ZR1's 205 mph top speed, 638 horsepower, 605 lb.-ft. of torque, and 7:26.4 lap time at the Nurburgring. Throughout all of this, we've been waiting patiently for one of the most anticipated invitations of 2008: the ZR1 First Drive.

That wait finally ended a few weeks ago when we got the call to arrive at GM's Milford Proving Grounds. All we needed was cooperative weather. As the sun crested the horizon on the appointed day, the darkened skies threatened to put the kibosh on our time with the King. But a few hours later, the clouds dissipated and the fun was officially underway.

UPDATE: Video of Corvette ZR1 on the Lutz Ring added after the jump.


Photos Copyright ©2008 Chris Shunk / Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for a high resolution image

An American supercar with lightweight components, sport suspension, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires, aerodynamic body kit, and menacing black wheels. No, we're not talking about the Dodge Viper ACR. It's Katech's new ClubSport package for the Corvette Z06. The Detroit-based company has the credentials to build a 'Vette for the track. After all, it's responsible for building the race engines that go into the Le Mans-winning Corvette C6R race cars and the SCCA SPEED World Challenge cars. For the ClubSport, Katech adds a 14-inch, six-piston Brembo brake system, Moton ClubSport suspension, 15-spoke wheels, sticky Michelin tires, Katech appearance package, carbon fiber air intake, lightweight exhaust system and more. Also on the options list are leather race seats, A/C and radio delete, roll bar, and six-point harnesses. Add one of Katech's fully built motors, and the ClubSport will surely put down some pretty impressive numbers at the track. Full details on the ClubSport can be found in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Katech via CorvetteForum.com]

Click the DR-1 above for a high-res gallery of the C4 ZR-1

At the coming out party for the new ZR1 Corvette last week at Milford Proving Grounds, General Motors decided to bring out a handful of ZR-1s (note the dash to distinguish it from the new model) from the first go around in the early '90s to remind us all of how far things have progressed in the past 18 years. The original ZR-1 was built from 1990-95 and, as with the new model, its engine was the heart of the car. In the late '80s when the ZR-1 was conceived, GM owned Lotus. The British sports car specialist designed the LT5 V8 specifically for the ZR-1. Aside from sharing bore spacing with the regular small-block, they had nothing else in common. The LT5 was an all-aluminum, dual overhead cam, 32 valve V8. At the time of its introduction, the motor had an output of 375 hp (eventually bumped to 405 hp in the last couple years of production), which was huge for the day, though tame by today's standards.

Unfortunately, the C4 Corvette wasn't a great car to start with. Even with the beefed up sills that were added to to the convertible, the C4 wasn't particularly rigid. The car rode hard and the huge clam-shell hood quivered constantly on anything but glass smooth pavement. While the expensive ZR-1 never sold in huge numbers, it did spawn some interesting derivatives that GM keeps in its Heritage Collection. Among the ones brought to Milford were one of the active suspension prototypes. These used a fully active hydraulic suspension system with no springs, but the hydraulics reportedly consumed upwards of 40 hp. One unique car from the collection is the DR-1 (above). This was the only ZR-1 convertible ever built and was produced for Don Runkle (hence the DR), who at the time was chief engineer at Chevrolet. The other three cars were stock ZR-1s of various vintages.

Check back here at 12:01 AM EST for our First Drive of the new Corvette ZR1.


Photos Copyright ©2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Click on the image to enlarge and view another angle of the Rossi 66

There is a trend in the works that takes a modern Corvette chassis, jettisons the stock fiberglass bodywork and adds a new shell that mimics the look of an older, classic 'Vette. We have seen Classic Reflection Coachworks' take on the '62 'vert with C5 underpinnings, and now a company by the name of Blue Fusion has tackled the iconic split window. One problem: their press release continually refers to the 1966 split window, which doesn't exist as the only year the two-piece rear glass was produced was '63. But, let's not let silly little things like facts get in the way. The resultant Rossi 66 cribs the workings of a modern C6 Corvette and adds a unique Sting Ray look.

Blue Fusion plans to debut its Rossi 66 at the upcoming SEMA event in November, assuming that the company is able to find the funding it needs to actually produce its first car. So far, all we have to look at are the renderings below, though we can clearly see that the '66 '63 body looks much better grafted onto a modern platform than the '62 does. We'll see if it makes an appearance in Sin City later this year.


[Source: Blue Fusion via Jalopnik]

It is no secret that the automotive industry is hurting for sales to close out 2008. Over the past few months incentives have been thrown out left and right to draw in more buyers. The deals have not done enough to bring folks into the showroom, though. With all the media talk of bleeding Detroit, consumers know that the domestic manufacturers have been holding out on their best offers. Perhaps the memory of 2005's employee pricing incentives has kept many waiting on the fence. With 2009 models heading to dealerships as we speak, General Motors is hoping to end the stalemate. It will be testing the waters of employee pricing yet again beginning Wednesday, August 20th and running through September 2nd.

The employee discount program will apply across all 8 GM brands. Buick, Pontiac and GMC dealers will mark down 91 percent of their inventory on all 2008 models, along with the 2009 Pontiac Vibe and G5, Chevy Cobalt and HHR and, surprisingly, the Cadillac CTS. Chevrolet dealers can unload 90 percent of their 2008 inventory with all 2008 models eligible for the employee price. Cadillac, Saturn, SAAB, Hummer will each have their own stipulations as well, but it is certain that the discount will be widespread. The price reduction varies from vehicle to vehicle, but is typically on order of a few thousand dollars. Additional incentives will also still be offered on some slower selling items, such as, you guessed it, trucks and SUVs. So the question is, will employee pricing get you off the fence and into a dealership?

[Source: GM]

Click above to watch a video with slides of the production Chevy Volt

We got our first sneak peek at the production Chevy Volt last week, but a recent presentation by Bob Boniface, director of design for the Volt, has revealed a bit more. We've pasted a video of the presentation and slide show after the break, and in it Boniface notes how the concept's straight lines and tight corners have been smoothed over and rounded out in an effort to reduce turbulence. This streamlining improves the Volt's fuel mileage, range on electricity and the amount of regenerative braking that can be captured. Also seen for the first time is a rear shot of the Volt, showing a pronounced "vertical fin," and a new rear spoiler design. Likewise, the side-view mirrors' mounting arrangement was revised for reduced aerodynamic drag. These changes, along with countless others which have not been fully revealed, have allowed the Volt's engineers and designers to increase EV-only range by six to seven miles.

While we're salivating over all the little tidbits of information on the Volt, we look forward to its official debut expected in Paris at the Motor Show this October. However, recent rumors indicate that the extended-range electric-vehicle could be seen at GM's Centennial celebration on September 16. Thanks for the tip, Emil!


[Sources: GM-Volt, Green Fuels Forecast, The Detroit Free Press]

Click above for high-res gallery of GM's display on Woodward Ave.

For the past several years General Motors has been using the Athens Coney Island Restaurant on Woodward Ave. as a base of operations for the Dream Cruise. The parking lot this year is again filled with classic, wannabe classic, and future classic GM machinery, much of it brought out from the GM Heritage Center in nearby Sterling Heights. For those who haven't yet seen the new Camaro in production form, the red RS we saw a few weeks ago is on display here in the parking lot along with a ZR1 in police markings and what must be one of the most yellow first generation Camaros anywhere. The powertrain tent at the back of the lot is filled with past present and future powertrains from the Z11 427 to the two-mode hybrid and even a fuel cell stack. The parking lot area is open to the public all day, so come on down. If you can't make it, check the gallery below.

Click above for high-res gallery of the production Chevy Volt

We're not sure why General Motors has released two new teaser shots of the production Volt as well as ten images of engineers and designers working hard on its development, but we'll gladly take and show them to you while we find out. Though GM certainly isn't going to let the whole cat out of the bag this early, we are given a much better view of what we were shown in that ABC News video. We can now see just how high-tech the lighting appears to be on the Volt, with the blue glow of its headlamps upstaged by what appear to be some sort of LED foglamps. We can't tell you what their function is, except to say they look cool and give the impression that the Volt is a car from the future on sale now, or rather sometime in 2010, which is technically the future, but you get our drift. The other pic is not as revealing as the first and shows only a small portion of the Volt's rear end including its bow-tie emblem and model badge. The rest of the images show designers and engineers working on a full-scale clay model of the Volt as well as the car's high-tech drivetrain. A few of the pics give up even more of the production Volt's design, so be sure to view each one in the gallery below.


[Source: GM]

I once bought an ice cream cone with two fistfuls of pennies. It did not make me popular on that busy summer's day many years ago, but I got my sugar cone with a scoop of Black Raspberry. A 70-year-old Ohio man recently bellied up to the bar at his local Chevrolet dealer and allowed them to count $8,000 worth of coins as a down payment for a new Silverado. James Jones was badly injured by his last truck, a 1981 Chevy that ran him over when the parking brake failed, so it was time to put the old girl out to pasture. After the dealership spent an hour and a half counting through the various coinage in the 16 coffee cans that Jones presented, he got his truck. The full price of the truck was closer to $16,000, so whichever company is financing the truck should go out and buy a coin counter right now. You see, Jones explains that he just doesn't like banks, and wisely realizes that paper money will burn, so he kept his savings in coins all this time. When he says he bought his truck for pennies, he really means it. Thanks for the tips, everyone!

[Source: Cincinnati.com, Photo by Darren Hester | Creative Commons]

Click above for high-res gallery of the ZR1 doing burnouts

The Corvette ZR1 has some sick, nasty, evil power. Hitting the pedal will propel you to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds, and in the hands of a skilled professional, this blue-collar supercar can lap the 'Ring in 7:26:4. There is no question that 638 horsepower and a 3,300-lb curb weight is good for getting you somewhere in a big fat hurry, but in the right hands it can also get you nowhere fast. One particular Development Engineer is the General's number one burnout artist, and we captured video of him creating two 300-foot works of art. We love the rubber-ripping smoke storm and sound of the LS9 at full tilt, but we're not so sure this unsuspecting set of Michelin Pilot Sport 2s shares our excitement.

Follow the jump to view video of both burnouts, and click on the gallery below to see the high resolution stills.


Photos Copyright ©2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.