Wack a Lot of Fun
 

Well I was not able to watch the CBS News show yesterday morning, but I just watched it and note a few comments made during the show.

Although most of the segment was covering the history there was time devoted to the C7. Here are a few issues I found funny or overly stated.

First off was the interview with the editor of Automobile Magazine. Her opening statement was "It is a fire breathing monster", at which point she then says "it looks like it". Her next statement that caught my interest was "it is a two seat sports car, that cost a lot of money and delivers a WACK of fun". What the hell is a WACK of fun and how would she know. She has not even sat in the car.

Here is the statement that really caught my attention and it was with Tadge Juechter. Tadge told the journalist that was doing the story for CBS "we will be pretty much competitive with any other car". The reporter then says "Porsche, Ferrari", and Tadge says"you name it". OK, make be a low end Porsche 911, but if it is the turbo, that may be a different story and as far as Ferrari, the new C7 will not be able to run with them. After all the 458 is 4.5 liter V8 producing well over 500 hp and the F12 is rated over 700 hp.

The infamous tail lights came up as well as a reference of looking like a Viper, but that was it on those two issues. There was no pros or cons on it, just mentioned in passing.

I also thought it was a little funny when Tadge and the report were going for a drive in the C7, Tadge mentioned he (the reporter) was the first outsider to sit in the new C7, but it appeared that they may have been doing all of about 20-30 MPH, but then they cut in a video of the two flying around a track, the track was Monza so it was a digital feed of a computer/Xbox game.

Now I know I am being a little over critical, but if you are trying to put you best foot forward on the C7, that was not it.

C7 is going to be a generation of cars that WILL run with those cars. They run with them in ALMS competition. "Competitive" is a broad term to me that encompasses everything from the value proposition to pure speed on a track.

Meh......it was a general marketing/media fluff piece directed at impressing the general public.......it wasn't intended to inform enthusiasts/current Corvette owners.

There were some nice shots of the C7 so I haven't deleted it yet, something to look at besides still pics. :)

:iagree:What would you expect for a Sunday morning show to do but a gloss-over look at it?

I thought it interesting that the Automobile Magazine editor they talked to was a woman and that she actually made a 'motor between your legs' kind of sexual reference. Great stuff for the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' female audience. They DO buy Corvettes!

For those that missed. I think this is it


http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50139337n

I realize that it will be a generation of cars, but we are not sure when they will produce the first performance model be it a Z06 ZR1 or what ever they call it. So to a lot of people making a statement that this new C7 will be competitive with Porsche and Ferrari may not have been the best marketing ploy. After all did they not say that they are wanting to increase their consumer base.

As for ALMS, you cannot even try and compare the ALMS Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari, BMW or Viper to their street counterparts. Those cars are built under a set of rules and the the BOP is applied.

Listen I am not bad mouthing the C7, I am sure it will be a great performance car, I was only trying to point our some statements made on the broadcast that were a little off in my opinion. Look at them from the perspective new buyer that has never owned a Corvette but has always wanted one and is in the market for a new performance car. You turn on the Sunday morning show and hear how the new Corvette is capable of being competitive with the exotic Europeans makes, then they show Tadge and the reporter getting in the car and they start to drive off and next thing you see is the red and gray Corvette's flying around a race course. Now you have this person's interest. Once the car is available for the different auto mags to start test then they true facts come out on the 0-60 acceleration, 60-0 stopping 1/4 mile times, flying mile times the new prospective buyer will stop and say, hay this is not even close to the 911 turbo or the 458 Ferrari. Now what happens to these new buyers GM is trying to lure in. Sure all the true Corvette enthusiast understand what we will be getting in 2014 and waiting to see when and if the performance model will appear.

Well you are picking and choosing your cars pretty specifically. There are a lot of Porsches that the Corvette is MORE than competitive with. There will be some Ferraris it will certainly be 'competitive' with from a cost/performance standpoint.

Thanks for the link. I enjoyed that. They did a pretty good job for a run of the mill news presentation.

I am not picking an choosing the cars, Tadge did, when he made that statement. I am sure that the 2013 C7 will be able to hold its own against any of the performance Ferrari's sure the base entry level Porsche that is only putting out 350 hp, but again it was Tadge words and he did not specify a particular model or of either brand or did he say that once they release the C7 high performance model will they be able to accomplish it.

Well there was a porsche in a few of the spy shots taken when they were testing the camo'd C7...But I think the base C7 will tackle the base 991(911) and the performance models will be competitive with the Porsche performance models.

Sure you are...

Tadge said the C7 would be competitive with these brands. And it will be.

He meant on a track it will be competitive. I believe him. Look at the C6 ZR1.

So you truly believe that the 2014 Corvette is going to be competitive with the 911 Turbo and the 458 Ferrari?

It has in the past. Videos are out there.
And with slight mods that would still bring it in well below what you would pay for the foreign stuff, the Vette would stomp them.

Thanks for the link. BTW, at the end of video, the C7 looks pretty decent, even though I have not been fond of the photos I've seen so far.

:iagree:

No the Base C7 will NOT be competitive against those models. The new performance C7 should be competitive against those models. Will the performance model come out in 2014???? Time will tell. I cant wait to get my hands on a new C7 Z06 or what ever they call it..

I agree 100%, but what I am trying to say here and it seems like everyone wants to bring up the ZR1 or the Z06. What Tadge said is that this new Corvette will be competitive with the Porsche and Ferrari. He did not say once we introduce the performance model (Z06, ZR1 or what ever) it will be competitive. We all know that the ZR1 was design for that purpose, but we don't have a ZR1 C7 or even the Z06 and there is no mention as to when we may expect either.

When you say on the track, I assume you are referring to the Corvette ZR1 and not the ALMS C6R ZR1, because that is not a ZR1 and trying to compare the C6R and the Porsche, Ferrari and any other of the GTE class ALMS cars is not a true comparison to the street cars.

I agree and that is what I was trying to point out, that Tadge stated that the new C7 will be competitive with these Europeans cars. As far as a new Z06 or what ever, I have not heard any time frame on a release date, but I know it will not be in the 2014 model year run. I don't believe that there is even a convertible being offer in 2014. That in my opinion is a big mistake.

I believe what he said, the C7 will be competitive with Porsche and Ferrari. You are just trying to put words in his mouth. He didn't say specific models of any brand. He didn't say on the track either. For all we know he was speaking about sales.

"We will be competitive with pretty much any other car" That's an open ended statement and I believe it to be true. He could be talking about the Hi-Po versions to take on the upper echelon P-cars and Prancing horses or he could be talking about the Corvette Stingray....who knows? lol

Oh yeah I am making myself stop calling it a C7 instead calling it "StingRay" lol