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In all fairness, each year brings different testing conditions. With that said, the Ford GT was a performance flop.
Imagine a C7 ZR1 with 150lbs less weight, 50 more horsepower, with the engine in the rear, with more traction, and with far less drag. That is possibly what the C8 ZR1 will bring to the table, and that absurd. Of course, that's not to mention the idea that the driving experience of the mid-engine car will far surpass that of a front-engine car by the same manufacturer. I think that the job of Corvette engineers is to keep improving their products, and the C7 ZR1 is the best front-engine car that their constraints would allow. Shifting the product line to a mid-engine configuration gives the Corvette team much more room for improvement within their ever-expanding budget, and improve they will.
In all fairness, each year brings different testing conditions. With that said, the Ford GT was a performance flop.
Imagine a C7 ZR1 with 150lbs less weight, 50 more horsepower, with the engine in the rear, with more traction, and with far less drag. That is possibly what the C8 ZR1 will bring to the table, and that absurd. Of course, that's not to mention the idea that the driving experience of the mid-engine car will far surpass that of a front-engine car by the same manufacturer. I think that the job of Corvette engineers is to keep improving their products, and the C7 ZR1 is the best front-engine car that their constraints would allow. Shifting the product line to a mid-engine configuration gives the Corvette team much more room for improvement within their ever-expanding budget, and improve they will.
Lap times really show how much the driver makes a difference in lap times. The GT already got 2:38 (while troubleshooting an issue) at this track by another driver, while the zr1 got. 2:37 too.
I see the table, and wonder what could have happened if the ZR1 had the chassis dynamics of the C8 instead of the chassis dynamics of the C7?
more traction in acceleration,
more traction in braking
more traction in cornering.
This is why one goes mid-engine.
Apparently, Chevrolet believes that THEY do. And while I certainly don't "need" one - My current C7 is fine for me - I fully intend to give it a long, hard look when it is actually available. No first-year car for me, though. I'll let the real-world Corvette enthusiasts on this forum and elsewhere do the real-world Beta testing. Year three should be about right.
For the record I know why we need/want a mid-engine design. Tadge has said that they've reached the end of the capabilities of front engine chassis. I was just really impressed how well the ZR-1 did. I mean that GT2RS is in another stratosphere when it comes to actual purchase price. The C8 ZR1 is going to be one for the record books.
I'm retired now, but I still use a cad program for my projects around the hose and for my hobbies. As a mechanical engineer, I could not imagine a better job than to help design a ME Corvette. What an exciting opportunity for those young engineers at GM. They hit the jackpot on being at the right place at the right time. Good luck to them, and it will be good luck for all of us Corvette enthusiasts.
Why an ME? As Tadge has said, the old front engine design was limiting their possibilities. The ME IS the future.
Should be mentioned that the 911 is now closer to a ME than the old rear engine it was. The length of the car now puts the motor mostly forward of the rear axle. Probably not a true ME, but very close.
Ford GT is just a disappointment. Once the ZR1 stole the track times from it at several tracks, it became real obvious Ford really didn't go for it with that car.
Should be mentioned that the 911 is now closer to a ME than the old rear engine it was. The length of the car now puts the motor mostly forward of the rear axle. Probably not a true ME, but very close.
Ford GT is just a disappointment. Once the ZR1 stole the track times from it at several tracks, it became real obvious Ford really didn't go for it with that car.
But, but, it has an EcoBoost engine. That has to make it cool, right?
In all fairness, each year brings different testing conditions. With that said, the Ford GT was a performance flop.
Also done by a different drivers, of which some are just magazine editors.
Lightning lap is not reliable. Motor Trend does a far superior job in US comparing cars, only using Randy Pobst for their best drivers car competition.
Lightning lap is not reliable. Motor Trend does a far superior job in US comparing cars, only using Randy Pobst for their best drivers car competition.
Yeah I love Randy's hot laps.
That said, I like Motor Trend's data better when cars are being reviewed individually or on head-2-head. Best driver's car is too many cars at once and they can't keep the conditions constant. For example, when Randy drove the C7 Grand Sport on a head-2-head episode, he couldn't praise the handling of the car more. He absolutely loved it. Later the same grand sport was one of the 10 best driver's car candidates. Because of the number of cars track testing took place over two days. The morning the grand sport got its turn it was cold (50 degrees) and had rained overnight. Definitely not weather that are good for sport cup 2 tires. When Randy did his laps he complained about the shaky grip of the grand sport. Other cars were tested the day before when it was much warmer and dry. I didn't think that was a fair evaluation or comparison.
But yes, in general, I trust Randy to drive a car over a random editor. It was still fun to see the ZR-1 do so well.
You've heard of race on Sunday sell on Monday. Street Cred
Of course even before that, the car mags like to time everything out to the tenth of a second and inch to rank cars.
Not that it matters to me and most but it adds the the cars cachet to challenge the best supercars at a fraction of the price.
To those who own the supercars it just means they spent more money than you!
09-19-2018, 04:58 PM
Who needs ME really?
