Has your Corvette Z06 just become too ordinary? Well for about half the price of a new one, Ugur Sahin Design and Mallett Cars can give it almost as much horsepower as a Bugatti Veyron.
The upgrades come in stages. For $32,700 (not including donor car), the Z06’s 505 hp engine is supercharged to 700 hp; $35,795 buys a twin-turbo package that yields 999 hp; and $69,000 will transform the Corvette’s appearance into a “Z03” with the full body kit.
While there are plenty of tuners out there that will be happy to provide enough forced air to blow anything off the track, most will also blow the engine. Mallett Cars guarantees the 999 hp twin-turbo for two years or 24,000 miles.
Full breakdown in the press release after the jump.
The Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport started in 1962 as designer Zora Arkus-Duntov’s race rival for the Shelby Cobras. Only five were produced before General Motors found out about it, and shut down the program due to the factory’s ban on racing. The name has only been used one other time in the Corvettes history, and that was in 1996 for a special edition of final-run C4 Vetts. Now rumors are going around that Chevy will use then name again for use on a line of 2010 C6 coupes and convertibles.
While we doubt General Motors will want to invest too much of its precious capital into development for the Corvette, any bow-tie enthusiast knows it better be something special to resurrect the GS name. The original Grand Sport was a track-only special with a 550 hp V8, and the 1996 version was the only Corvette to use the LT4 engine.
As General Motors fights for its life, we are unlikely to a new Chevrolet Corvette anytime soon. So the Stingray Concept revealed in Chicago will likely only hit the streets as Sideswipe in the latest Transformers flick.
But that won’t stop custom car companies from going retro with the Corvette. n2a just got finished getting the Corvette-based Anteros ready for production, now its turing its attention to the past with a modern interpretation of the Sting Ray.
So far n2a has committed to taking three Corvette ZR1 chassis and reskining them. This these cars should be instantly recognizable as the C2, including the split rear window from the 1963 models. Because the drivetrain won’t be touched, the 638 hp LS9 V8 engine should still make the 0 to 60 mph sprint in 3.4 secs, and top speed (depending on aerodynamics of the kit) should be around 205 mph.
Chevrolet used the 12 Hours of Sebring race to show off the new Corvette GT1 Championship Edition. This makes sense considering this limited edition is commemorating the Corvette C6.R’s victories in the GT1 class of Le Mans series racing.
The point of the GT1 package is to make the streetable Vetts look like the race-only cars. Some details of the package include C6.R-inspired graphics featuring Corvette Racing "Jake" mascot and driver flags, ZR1-style body, full width spoiler, chrome wheels, and special engine cover with carbon pattern and yellow Corvette lettering. The colors available will be yellow with black trim or black with yellow trim.
The pricing for the package will is $65,310 for the 4LT coupe, $71,815 for the 4LT convertible, and $86,385 for the 2LZ Z06. Although this seems a little steep for an appearance package (about $7,500 premium for the coupe or convertible, and about $5,000 for the Z06), it also does buy exclusivity. Chevrolet only plans to sell 100 of each color in each body style (600 cars total).
The last time we heard anything about production plans for a new Corvette was back in October, and that was before the a lot of the big problems in the car industry materialized. Even then a C7 Vette wasn’t expected until 2014.
So when Chevrolet premiered its Corvette Stingray concept at the Chicago Auto Show, we knew it was little more than a styling exercise. General Motors hasn’t included a new Corvette in it’s viability plan, and in fact, we should be hopeful that the C6 Corvette will stay in production. But we’re dreamers here at TopSpeed, and if we come across a rendering of a C7, then we like to pass it on.
As if the Corvette ZR1-based 705 hp Hennessey ZR700 wasn’t enough to make us drool already, now it’s getting the blessing from the godfather of C6 Corvette, John Heinricy. After Heinricy retired from the head of GM’s performance division (he piloted the CTS-V to victory against the BMW M5,) he went to work for Hennessey as a consultant. Watch as Heinricy gives the Hennessey a work out.
Chevrolet revealed new images of the special edition Corvette GT1 Championship Edition. These Corvettes can be based on the Coupe 4LT, Convertible 4LT or Z06 3LZ, but they carry GM’s team livery to celebrate the car’s domination of the GT1 class in American Le Mans Series racing.
Available in one of two combinations of black and yellow, the Corvette GT1 Championship Edition upgrades the base car to have a bodykit similar to the Corvette ZR1. It also comes with custom leather wrapped ebony interior with exclusive yellow accent stitching, GT1 embroidery on the leather seats, instrument panel, and center console armrest, special Engine Cover with carbon pattern and yellow Corvette lettering and is painted in 45U Velocity Yellow (with black headlamps) or 41U Black.
The pricing could be as much as a $15,000 premium over the standard Corvettes, but Jalopnik is reporting that it will only be $2,350. In this economy, let’s hope pricing sticks more to the latter.
The concept will be a character called “Sideswipe” in the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie. General Motors says the design is not only influenced by the original Stingray race car, introduced in 1959, but also draws on Corvette heritage cues from other generations. “Sideswipe represents an exercise in exploration for the Corvette,” said Ed Welburn, vice president of GM Global Design. “By giving my creative team the freedom to design no-holds-barred vision concepts, it helps them push boundaries and look at projects from different perspectives.”
There is no information on the engine because there isn’t one. Right now this retro Stingray is little more than a styling model. But this is obviously cool enough that with a little hope, and a lot of money, my show some of GM’s future.
n2a Motors came to the L.A. Auto Show this year with ambitions of production for it’s Corvette-based cars, and now it seems the company is following through. The Anteros Coupe and Roadster are now on sale. n2a is sticking to the prices quoted late last year, so the coupe starts at $149,500 and convertible goes for $154,500. The Anteros based on the Z06 platform is priced at $176,500.
Anteros roadster and standard coupe is based on the 2009 Corvette and is powered by a LS3 V8 engine that delivers 430 hp and 424 lb.-ft. of torque (same as the standard Corvette). Z06-based coupe uses the car’s 7.0-liter V8 engine to deliver 525 to 1000+hp depending on options (including a Lingenfelter performance upgrade).
If you already like the Corvette’s interior, then the the Anteros won’t disappoint. Although n2a says that there are new leather seats, leather dash, Italian carpeting, and leather-wrapped interior panels, the lineage of the donor Corvette is unmistakable.
The special edition Corvettes keep falling from the sky. Last week we got word of the Corvette Competition Sport package, and now there are reports of a car celebrating the car’s domination of the GT1 class in American Le Mans Series racing.
Where the Corvette CS was about making the sports car more track-ready, this package will just be about making the Corvette look more track-ready. The GT1 edition will come with a choice of Yellow or Black paint with C6.R look-alike graphics. Wannabe racers can also opt for the driver’s name to be added on the roof (although this will just probably make it easier for the cop to identify just exactly who was speeding in a yellow Corvette.)
Other features may include a full-length body kit, forged chrome wheels, yellow banner for the windshield, yellow interior stitching and commemorative plaque for the console. GT1 Championship Edition should be available for the Corvette Coupe, Convertible and Z06 models. Although it offers many features above the standard car, the forum posting leaking this info pegged the pricing somewhat high at over a $15K premium over the Corvette model’s sticker price. So we’ll wait for official pricing from General Motors before we make a value comment.
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