Superformance Corvette Grand Sports Are Awesome, Here’s Why
I say that the Superformance Corvette Grand Sport is awesome with much certainty, because I’ve actually driven one.
Opinions are like…well, you know how the saying goes. However, the Corvette Forums office is filled with enthusiasts with varying opinions. Take the Superformance Corvette Grand Sport, for example. Some of us dislike it because it’s not the real deal. Of course, those people are wrong. How do I know? Well, unlike my co-hort, I have actually driven a Superformance Corvette Grand Sport, and it was pure American excellence.
It’s loud, the engine is brutal, and everyone within a one-mile radius feels more patriotic when they hear it, and, yes, you will hear it will before you see it. The Grand Sport I drove had an old school Chevy 427 with a monster cam. It shook so hard at idle that I could barely see straight, which, as far as I’m concerned, is basically ideal.
The clutch is heavy, and the steering even heavier. The original Grand Sport was a racing car, and the Superformance recreation cars do a perfect job of, well, recreating that experience. Rumbling through traffic in the Grand Sport didn’t just put hair on the chest, it may as well have put hair on my eyeballs. Then, once traffic broke, I did burnouts. Rolling second gear burnouts, specifically, until I was almost deaf. The Grand Sport and I also managed to find some corners to carve. The heavy steering had my muscles flexing, from forearm up to my shoulders. Downshifts were mechanical, symphonic occurrences, requiring perfect orchestration between the clutch and throttle. Fortunately, the 427 Chevy V8 offers razor sharp throttle response.
When I returned the Grand Sport to the team at Superformance, with a little less rear tire than when we began, all I could think about was how to get one. I would likely have to rob a bank. Worth it? Yeah, seems like. If you drive this car, and come out of it afterwards, saying it “lack[s] the persona that our vehicles once held, feeling more like appliances than the emotional machines they once were.” You’re just wrong. But, hey, everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if it’s wrong.
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