Zitat:The new Z06 delivers a level of performance that situates it squarely among the half dozen or so fastest road going cars in the world. It’ll sprint from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds, turn the standing quarter mile in the low 11s, and top out at 195 mph. Even more impressive than the car’s savage speed however, is its genteel civility.
While the Z06 delivers racecar like performance there is not even slightest hint of racecar crudeness. This beast is feature packed, smooth, comfortable, and entirely suited for daily commute duty even if that means crawling along in bumper-to-bumper traffic along a pot-holed highway in the heat of summer. HID lighting, fog lamps, leather seating, dual-zone air conditioning, cabin air filtration and Head-Up Display (HUD) with track mode and g-meter are all standard. The car also has a revised gauge cluster that displays the Z06 logo on the tachometer and, like other 2006 Corvettes, it has a new, smaller-diameter three-spoke steering wheel. The seats feature two-tone leather surfaces, with Z06-logo embroidery and contrasting stitching.

The new Z06 engine, called LS7 in tribute to a super high performance big block that was supposed to go into production as a Corvette option in 1970 but never made it, sounds more like a race piece than a road engine. Its .591-inch lift cam pulls strong all the way to a 7,000 rpm redline, 11.0:1 compression puts the big squeeze on the air/fuel mixture, low-restriction intake and exhaust (featuring 3-inch diameter pipes) systems optimize air flow, dry sump oiling keeps it all slick, and heavy-duty forged internals help ensure that everything holds together even when it’s pushed to the limit. Despite all of this however, the engine purrs at idle like a content kitty cat. Even when you bury your right foot and unleash all 500 horses the 7-liter alloy mill is silky smooth. To be sure, there is a deep-throated roar in the exhaust note as the rush of power simultaneously throws you back and surges the car forward, but there is none of the snarling nastiness that has traditionally accompanied the astounding level of acceleration the Z06 yields. While the Z06’s blinding acceleration and hair raising top speed are obviously numbers to be reckoned with, they are only part of the new car’s allure. As with each of the vehicles created under chief engineer Dave Hill’s tutelage, the new Z06 is all about optimum balance. Complementing its fantastic propensity to go is an equally impressive ability to stop.

In place of the 12.8-inch front and 12.0-inch rear rotors found on the regular C6, the Z06 utilizes rotors that are 14-inches in diameter up front and 13.4-inches at the rear. The oversize rotors, which are cast with integral cooling holes, wear larger, stronger calipers. The fronts feature six pistons, the rears have four, and all use individual pads for each piston in order to achieve more uniform wear. To make sure that the brakes continue functioning in even the most severe circumstances, all four assemblies are fed a continuous stream of cooling air. The fronts get breathed on through openings adjacent to the grille and the rears get their outside air from scoops on the quarter panels.
The Corvette engineering team’s quest for totally balanced performance is also evident in the Z06’s handling upgrades. It retains the same short-long arm suspension layout and transverse leaf spring design as other C6 Corvettes, but benefits from unique rear spring and roll stabilizer calibrations. Larger wheels and tires also do a great deal to improve road holding in all circumstances. Up front the latest generation Goodyear Extended Mobility Tires, sized at a meaty 275/35ZR18, ride on Z06-only 18 x 9.5-inch cast-spun aluminum wheels. At the other end of the car Goodyears measuring a steamroller-like 325/30/ZR19 mount 19 x 12-inch versions of the special 10-spoke rims.

Helping advance all performance parameters, and adding to the car’s outstanding balance in a literal as well as figurative sense, is its extensive use of lightweight materials. The Z06 uses the same perimeter design chassis as ordinary C6 Corvettes, but instead of steel the hydroformed side rails and the cross members that join them are crafted from aluminum. In a similar vein, the Z06 front suspension/engine cradle is cast from magnesium rather than aluminum and the front fenders and wheel housings are manufactured using carbon fiber instead of SMC fiberglass. The sheet compound that sandwiches the balsa core floor panels is also carbon fiber in the Z06.

The magnesium cradle and carbon front body parts not only shed unwanted mass, they do so in the area where lower weight is most beneficial. Making weight that’s over the front wheels disappear, along with relocating the battery from under the hood to the rear, enables the newest Z06 to boast a perfect 50/50 front/rear weight distribution.
The insatiable desire to jettison weight extended beyond the Z06’s chassis and into its engine. Though they share the same exterior dimensions, the LS7 cylinder block is actually lighter than the regular Corvette’s LS2 block because of the LS7’s larger bore. The potent LS7 is further trimmed down by virtue of titanium connecting rods, hydroformed exhaust headers, and special lightweight pistons. The power plant’s unique aluminum cylinder heads, which are fully CNC-ported for enhanced air flow, are slimmed down courtesy of titanium valve springs, push rods, and intake valves.

While getting significant amounts of weight out of the Z06 was essential, Dave Hill and his team were adamant that durability and certain other very important considerations would not be sacrificed as a result. Excellent examples of this are the heavier internals that go into making the 6-speed transmission stronger, and a beefier differential that features larger ring and pinion gears to better withstand the LS7’s increased torque load.

The change from a hardtop body style to a fixed roof coupe also adds a little bit of weight but results in better aerodynamic efficiency and increased high speed stability, an important consideration in a car that will go nearly 200 mph.

The move to a conventional coupe body style for the C6 Z06 rather than the hardtop used for C5 is but one of several important features that distinguishes the new car’s appearance. Others include the wider fenders, which flare out to house the bigger wheels and tires, adding 3-inches to the base car’s 72.6-inch overall width. A splitter beneath the wider front fascia, a Ferrari Maranello-like cold air scoop in front of the hood, large air extractors behind each front wheel, quarter panel scoops to channel cooling air to the rear brakes, Gurney lips along the sides of the front fascia, and a pronounced spoiler integral to the rear fascia are additional distinguishing features.

If a wider coupe body, front air extractors, air scoops for the brakes, Gurney lips, integral spoilers, and a front splitter all sound familiar it’s because you’ve seen various versions of them on another Corvette in recent years. I’m referring to the fabulously successful C5-R racer, and it is not a coincidence that these previously race-only features have worked their way onto a road going Corvette.

GM engineers and aerodynamicists who worked with the race program and then transitioned back to the Corvette production team brought a knowledge base that was earned the old fashioned way, with many, many hours in GM’s full size wind tunnel and Swift Aero’s moving ground plane tunnel, and lap after searing lap on circuits ranging from Sebring to Le Mans.Corvette engineers and stylists did more than simply incorporate lessons learned on the race track into the Z06. The new car’s creators actually worked very closely with the folks at GM Racing and Pratt & Miller (the Wixom, Michigan engineering and fabrication outfit responsible for building and running the factory Corvette racecars) to develop the Z06 in conjunction with the creation of Chevrolet’s next generation racer, the C6.R.

So what will it take to put the fastest car that General Motors has ever offered, a Corvette whose progenitors brought honor and glory to America’s sports car with multiple manufacturer, team and driver championships, three GTS victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a perfect, undefeated 2004 season, into your garage? Chevrolet has not yet announced a price for the Z06, and probably won’t do so for several more months, but be prepared for an MSRP somewhere in the vicinity of $70,000. It this expensive? Certainly. Is it a bargain? Absolutely, especially when you consider the fact that the very small number of other cars delivering Z06 levels of performance start at about a quarter of a million and go up from there.