2018 changes - your thoughts?
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2005
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From: Plymouth Massachusetts
2025 C7 of the Year Finalist- Unmodified
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Melting Slicks
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From: Los Angeles CA
Safety Car
Joined: Feb 2016
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From: Bainbridge Island WA
Tadge answered:
Many of the questions on this forum relate to trade-offs in the vehicle design process. Side Blind Zone is a perfect example.
Generally speaking, we tend to err on the side of not having a lot of alerts that would interfere with the joy of driving. The SBZ feature was just emerging as a feasible customer feature as we were designing the 7th generation Corvette. We thought very carefully about including it in the program since we knew other vehicles were going to offer it. SBZ uses sensors located on the rear outboard corner of the car, just behind the fascia. That is precisely the location we needed to package our race-derived transmission and differential coolers. Having heat exchangers in the back corners interfered with both the physical space need for the sensors and disrupted their performance. In the end, we prioritized vehicle performance over a new feature that we were not sure would be a strong customer desire. We have gotten similar feedback from several customers asking the same question. SBZ does seem to be gaining good acceptance from customers so, although not feasible in the short term, we will strongly consider that customer desire in our future plans.
Many of the questions on this forum relate to trade-offs in the vehicle design process. Side Blind Zone is a perfect example.
Generally speaking, we tend to err on the side of not having a lot of alerts that would interfere with the joy of driving. The SBZ feature was just emerging as a feasible customer feature as we were designing the 7th generation Corvette. We thought very carefully about including it in the program since we knew other vehicles were going to offer it. SBZ uses sensors located on the rear outboard corner of the car, just behind the fascia. That is precisely the location we needed to package our race-derived transmission and differential coolers. Having heat exchangers in the back corners interfered with both the physical space need for the sensors and disrupted their performance. In the end, we prioritized vehicle performance over a new feature that we were not sure would be a strong customer desire. We have gotten similar feedback from several customers asking the same question. SBZ does seem to be gaining good acceptance from customers so, although not feasible in the short term, we will strongly consider that customer desire in our future plans.
Race Director
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_car
Sports Cars:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_car
Corvette:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette
Thanks for that.
Sounds like Tadge has a little regret about that one.
BSM are safety equipment IMO and should be on almost every vehicle.
Hopefully, the C8 will have a pair.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 41,058
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From: Charlotte, NC (formerly Endicott, NY)
For example the latest iteration of the GTO was a heavy pig with a Corvette motor that couldn't turn when you headed into a turn at speed. The front wheels would slide sideways if competitive cornering speeds were attempted. You just had to brake hard on over loaded brakes (due to the weight) and get the speed down far enough so the car would turn Vs slide the wheels sideways across the track.
Bill
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2016
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From: Los Angeles CA
It isn't what disqualifies a Corvette from being a muscle car it is what disqualifies a muscle car from being a sports car. Muscle cars are limited to acceleration as their main performance feature while sports cars are well rounded and balanced with power, braking and handling complementing each other.
For example the latest iteration of the GTO was a heavy pig with a Corvette motor that couldn't turn when you headed into a turn at speed. The front wheels would slide sideways if competitive cornering speeds were attempted. You just had to brake hard on over loaded brakes (due to the weight) and get the speed down far enough so the car would turn Vs slide the wheels sideways across the track.
Bill
For example the latest iteration of the GTO was a heavy pig with a Corvette motor that couldn't turn when you headed into a turn at speed. The front wheels would slide sideways if competitive cornering speeds were attempted. You just had to brake hard on over loaded brakes (due to the weight) and get the speed down far enough so the car would turn Vs slide the wheels sideways across the track.
Bill
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Finalist 2020 C7 of the Year -- Modified
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Interesting that the just announced 2018 Mustang will have the joint GM/Ford A10 transmission. I wonder if the A10 will now work it's way from the Camaro ZL1 into other Camaro models and other GM cars although I know it's been posted that the A10 may or may not be able to fit into the Corvette.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2014
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Interesting that the just announced 2018 Mustang will have the joint GM/Ford A10 transmission. I wonder if the A10 will now work it's way from the Camaro ZL1 into other Camaro models and other GM cars although I know it's been posted that the A10 may or may not be able to fit into the Corvette.
Advanced
Joined: Jan 2017
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Likes: 28
Muscle Cars:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_car
Sports Cars:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_car
Corvette:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette
Thanks for that.
Sounds like Tadge has a little regret about that one.
BSM are safety equipment IMO and should be on almost every vehicle.
Hopefully, the C8 will have a pair.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_car
Sports Cars:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_car
Corvette:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corvette
Thanks for that.
Sounds like Tadge has a little regret about that one.
BSM are safety equipment IMO and should be on almost every vehicle.
Hopefully, the C8 will have a pair.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 11,905
Likes: 2,148
Although the C7 isn't as bad as my old CTS-V Coupe, it's still not very good IMO.
Once you have them and experience what they can do on a car it's hard to live without 'em.
Advanced
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 98
Likes: 28
Cool - I have them (on another car model) and don't really use them, but the wife loves the capability. We all have different preferences. It's why they offer options. Pat
Last edited by PKI; Jan 18, 2017 at 06:01 PM.
Race Director
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From: Manheim Pennsylvania
I'm happy with the trunk just the way it is currently offered. The soft top on the C7 really is nice. Retractable hard tops always look out of proportion, even the Ford/Edsel retractable hardtops from yesteryear have cosmetic issues.
