oldshurst442

Private Jets...since they have been the center of attention in some circles today.

I never had an issue with the Zeta Camaro. I loved all three (almost) equally. I started thinking the Camaro was too big and heavy towards the end of the Zeta generation. And by that time, I wanted the Camaro to start a new design language. When the Alpha Camaro came out, I was disappointed with its looks as Chevy didnt make it look significantly different from the Zeta. There are several things that bother(ed) me about the Camaro. 1. For far too long, it has looked the same. It doesnt have that Challenger mystique about it (Hellcat/Demon) to get away from the stale, long in the tooth styling. 2. The Zeta Camaro was big and heavy. 1st gen Camaros (1969) were small and nimble. The year the Zeta and Alpha Camaros are supposedly inspired from. The Alpha Camaro makes a perfect retro for the 1969. The Zeta, not so much. So that bothered me towards the end of the Zeta run. The Challenger historically was always a tad bigger than the Camaro and Mustang. Just a tad smaller than mid-size. This is why I like the Challenger over the Zeta Camaro. Chrysler nailed it. As has Ford... 3. I should have loved the Alpha Camaro sooner as that is the perfect size for a 1969 retro Camaro. But repeating myself, Chevy needed to change up the styling. Ford did. The 2005 doesnt look at all like this gen, and both generations have the 1st generation as inspiration and look like the 1st gen Mustang yet both latest generations of Mustangs look nothing alike. 4. The Challenger punched through with a 707 HP beast of an engine and a very cool name. Hellcat. They doubledowned with an 800 plus HP version with an even cooler name. Demon to start a war not only in the pony car market, but with the entire automotive world touching not only expensive exotics, but with the elctric car revolution... 5. Chevy was but a follower... 6. But, like you said @Robert Hall The Alpha Camaro is a stunningly good looking vehicle. A GREAT performance sports car. Rivaling and BEATING German sports cars no matter what the price range is of those German sports cars. I took my hater glasses off as I too, realized that the Camaro's days are numbered. If the nameplate will live on, it will be an electric vehicle, and a CUV at that kinda like the Mache E. At least Ford will continue on with the Mustang as an EV coupe... I dont think Chevy will do the same.... And yes, me too, would want one sooner than later. As of now, sure I prefer the Challenger, but Id take any of of them. With a V8 of course.

And then Jay Leno's Garage has invited the new Mach 1 on his youtube channel and my Camaro love dissipates again (slightly, because I did do a 180 degree turn on the Camaro and I have started to adore it) to love the Mustang more than the Camaro. Its just a fresher design even though this generation Mustang is also getting old. The error that Chevy done was to keep the same design language of the Zeta Camaro for the Alpha Camaro. With that being said, Im kinda hypocritical as I prefer the Challenger over both and the Challenger has an even OLDER design language than either... It is what it is!!!

I always pronounced it "played" for whatever reason and nobody has ever corrected me. Yes, American English has that one correct. My random thought of the day.

A string of GM and GM related one way or other, mid-engine production cars

Speaking of Tesla...and lumberjacks... Is it "plaaahd" or is it "played"?

Im into Lexus LFAs too ever since the C8 Z06 was revealed. I revisited the sound of that V10, revisited the engineering aspects of it and decided that I miss this car. This one is a case of dont know what you got 'til its gone. I always liked it, but never loved it. Now I love it. It does lack some sensual lines. It kinda looks generic to be honest. But at least the Toyoter designers didnt put unnecessary curves on it just to have curves. It is styled with a purpose and it looks the part of meaning business without any unnecessary boyracer cues on it. It might not have been the fastest when it came out, and I think this is the reason why it failed in the market place, but many people, including myself, missed the point entirely about this car. Being the fastest was not the reason for this car. The engineering behind it was. The C8 Z06 made me cement that thought about this car. Anyway....less blah blah and more pics please!

I just viewed a video where a Chevy engineer confirmed that the DRY weight of the Z06/Z07 package C8 is the lightest at 3450 LBS. Add all the liquids and the weight goes up by another couple of hundred pounds. That tells me 2 things about the Corvette C8 and what Chevy wanted to do with it. (This is my personal opinion) Chevy wanted to keep the daily driven qualities intact with the C8 all the way through. Chevy wanted to go slightly upscale in feel with the interior with the C8. Chevy didnt want to lend itself to ANY possible feedback stating that the C8 feels cheap in ANY way even if a said model was going to be a stripped model on purpose for racing and track purposes. Weight reduction regarding thinner materials in glass using plexiglass or lexan glass or seats being bare bones or radio and A/C delete and stuff like that to make a pure bred race car was never an option they wanted to explore. Introducing an all carbon fiber and exotic material chassis was never on option (for a Z06) as that would just explode the MSRP price point. That leaves a very very interesting option going forward though. Either for the Zora or for a special special model down the road either as a very very limited C8 or a last model goodbye send off model before the C9 is introduced. To have a massive weight reduction model offered. But alas, some people WILL harp on the fact that the Z07 will be 3600/3700 lbs. But sadly, many naysayers will gloss over the superb engineering that went into the LT6 engine and the superb chassis that is the C8 and the Z06 version of it. Winning Hearts, Not Just Minds Throughout the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06's design and development process, the team responsible for it was keenly aware of the respect the C8 Stingray has received in the wider sports-car community. To build on this respect, the Z06 needs to accelerate quicker and handle better, but it also needs to feel even more special. The Z06 must be a car that inspires buyers to eagerly swap their Lamborghini Huracán or Ferrari F8 for—and not because performance tests like MotorTrend's generate better numbers in it, or because of its value proposition. No, Chevy wants to conquest other brands' loyalists via the fact those customers' hearts and heads simply must have this Corvette with the banshee howl, the Can-Am sucker-car grip, and the cockpit-style cabin lined with soft leather and carbon-fiber trim. And because the Z06 promises to be the more satisfying driver's car.

^^^ I wanted to do a laughy emogi, but that might have sent the wrong message. So I went with an approval emogi! I laughed but in a good way. Model making and modifying go hand in hand with the more experienced model makers. And definitely that 1/25th scale 632 BELONGS in a 1/25th scale plastic model Camaro/Chevelle/Impala SS. Even a Corvette or Nova. And the model could be made to be a restomod. Very interesting that somebody made a (I assume it to be) 3D printed version of it! On a side note. Im very excited about the future of home versions of 3D printers and cant wait when this technology becomes the norm in our society. People in the know say that a 3D printer will be as common as a toaster and microwave oven in a household in the next decade.

I had seen that Grand Am video 2 days before. Thanx for posting it Balthy!

Im into Camaros all of a sudden. I guess its a case of KNOWING what we've got before its gone

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022-chevrolet-corvette-c8-z06-zora-zr1-eray-rumors/ 2023 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Yes, there's going to be a Corvette ZR1. Chevy will mutate the Z06 into the ZR1 by plumbing two turbochargers into the aforementioned 5.5-liter flat-plane V-8. Horsepower will be in the 825 to 850 range. McLaren's already figured out how to squeeze 804 hp from its 4.0-liter twin-turbo, flat-plane V-8 in the Elva. The engine masters at Chevy should have no problem extracting a bit more power than the kids in Woking with an extra liter and a half of displacement to play with. Torque should be ungodly. Beyond that, we know nothing more about the future ZR1. Price should start in the $120K neighborhood, similar to the C7 ZR1. 2023 Chevrolet Corvette PHEV There will be a Corvette hybrid—well, two actually, but let's concentrate on this one. Probably called E-Ray, expect the hybrid C8 to be an AWD plug-in hybrid (PHEV) with two motors on the front axle and possibly a third motor pancaked between the dual-clutch transmission and engine. Kiss the frunk goodbye, as that space will be used for the front traction motors and batteries. What will the engine be? Our source didn't have any new info for us on this one, other than to confirm that it's coming. But our educated bet is that the PHEV will rock the Z06's 5.5-liter NA V-8. Why? The LT1 in the base C8 is a fine old pushrod workhorse, but by the time this PHEV hits dealers, it'll be old. Very old. An engine that's a decade newer will have better engine management software, and we're thinking that would better complement (and future-proof) a modern C8 hybrid. Like, quicker computers and stuff—I'm not a scientician. But maybe not. We've heard other rumors that the LT1 will stick around, in detuned form. Hey, it's a known quantity, right? It's less likely, but maybe Chevy will go all BMW i8 and stick a V-6 or even an inline-four behind the driver? We just don't know. Yet. But as you'll read in a bit, there's good reason to think the hybrid will use the Z06's V-8. As for power, I figure the hybrid will slot in between the Z06 and the ZR1. A total system output of 775 hp feels about right. $100,000 for such a machine makes sense. Would there be room for a less expensive Corvette hybrid with a non-V-8? Oh yes, especially where it snows. 2024 Chevrolet Corvette Electric Have you heard? General Motors would like to sell totally emissions-free cars by 2035 and be carbon neutral as a corporation by 2040. You can't achieve those goals with big, fat, gas-burnin' V-8s, can you? Hence, an all-electric Corvette. Could the electric C8 Corvette be called E-Ray? Yes, it could be—but the important part is, we're sure it's coming, and it's safe to assume that the technology in the C8 hybrid will be shared with EV. In other words, you use the same motors for the front wheels and simply power them with a larger battery pack. Price? Probably less than the ZR1, as the C8 EV will use powertrain pieces from other GM electric vehicles. When does it arrive? 2024 is a good guess. All we know for sure is an EV C8 Corvette is imminent. 2025 Chevrolet Corvette Zora Woo! Meet Chevy's 1,000-plus-horsepower hypercar. We've been writing about the 2025 Corvette Zora for years. No, really—since August 2014. The Zora will use the twin-turbo V-8 from the ZR1 and the hybrid system from the hybrid—E-Ray or whatever it ends up being called. If you figure on 850 hp from the gas engine and 150 hp from the EV components, that gets you right to 1,000 hp. What if each motor produced 150 hp? That would be 1,150 hp. Yes, we're speculating, as Chevy is super tight-lipped about this monster C8. You can start to see the logic behind what the Corvette team is up to. By having the various power units effectively plug and play/mix and match with one another, you get a cost-benefit that keeps prices down across the range. It makes for some very fun math: Z06 engine + front-wheel motors = Corvette hybrid. ZR1 engine + front-wheel motors = Zora. Hence the Zora might start at the relatively cheap price of $150,000. That's what Deep Burble's telling us, at any rate. https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2023-chevrolet-corvette-z06-c8-first-ride-review/ Winning Hearts, Not Just Minds Throughout the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06's design and development process, the team responsible for it was keenly aware of the respect the C8 Stingray has received in the wider sports-car community. To build on this respect, the Z06 needs to accelerate quicker and handle better, but it also needs to feel even more special. The Z06 must be a car that inspires buyers to eagerly swap their Lamborghini Huracán or Ferrari F8 for—and not because performance tests like MotorTrend's generate better numbers in it, or because of its value proposition. No, Chevy wants to conquest other brands' loyalists via the fact those customers' hearts and heads simply must have this Corvette with the banshee howl, the Can-Am sucker-car grip, and the cockpit-style cabin lined with soft leather and carbon-fiber trim. And because the Z06 promises to be the more satisfying driver's car. https://www.motortrend.com/news/2023-chevrolet-corvette-z06-lt6-v8-flat-plane-crankshaft-tech/ Bonus: Million-Dollar COVID Exhaust The Corvette team really hopes you like the exhaust sound because it was expensive. When the pandemic shut things down, spending also stopped. But the computers kept iterating exhaust system designs, resulting in this one with the center-exit. Everyone loved the sound but tearing up the rear fascia design to accommodate the centrally mounted reverse-megaphone exhaust tips cost "millions." Worth it!

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2023-chevrolet-corvette-z06-lt6-v8-flat-plane-crankshaft-tech/ Not only is the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06's LT6 engine the largest flat-plane crankshaft V-8 in the world, it's also the world's most powerful naturally aspirated production V-8, leapfrogging the 622-hp 6.2-liter M159 engine that powered the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series from 2013-2014 and producing 670 hp at 8,400 rpm. How did Chevy more than manage to find "a replacement for [745 cubic centimeters' worth of] displacement" relative to that mighty Benz? With better breathing and by spinning the engine a lot faster—horsepower is, after all, just torque times rpm divided by 5,252. Also note that at 460 lb-ft this is not the world's torquiest V-8 (the Benz above made 468). Here are five ways Chevy accomplished this.

The next C8 to come out will be the E-Ray Hybrid. Speculation is sometime in 2023. The Z06 is gonna go on sale sometime in 2022. The Grand Sport was supposed to be the next one to be released, but that trim was replaced by a Hybrid Model. The E-Ray. The Grand Sport was supposed to use the 6.2 LT1 but with the Z06 body and aero. No word if it was going to be naturally aspirated or supercharged. Let me stress this part: The E-Ray replaces it What is the E-Ray? It will be AWD. Two electric motors will be powering the front wheels while the LT1 naturally aspirated 6.2 will be powering the rear wheels. It is believed that together as a unit, the electric motors assisting the internal combustion engine to have produce 600 HP and 500 and then some ft/lbs of torque. And of course a battery pack. No word on what KW/H battery it will be. That is still a top secret. No word on what the exterior body will look like. Will it have the Z51 body or will it have the Z06 body or will it even have the Z07 package?! THAT will be the other surprise. One COULD say that the E-Ray is slotted 1 small step above the Z06, but one has to remember that the Z06 is the one that is going to be the most track focused. That also does NOT mean that the E-Ray won't be the fastest around the Nürburgring. There is a lot of engineering in the LT6. If one took the time to read up on it, one wouldnt be casually dismissing it and what that engine means inside the Z06. *Cough* SMK *Cough* And bare in mind, that the Z06, even with the Z07 package, is NOT a comprised daily driver. It has leather, it has A/C. It has retained the trunk AND frunk where one COULD take the Z06/Z07 across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Mexico border to the Canadian border, from Washington State to the Florida Keys, from Maine to California zig zagging across the counbtry in comfort while drag racing it and tracking it, then shipping it to Europe, do THAT continent in comfort and stopping at the 'Ring and back home. BECAUSE it HAS a trunk and a frunk, and THE latest magnetic ride control. And the lap times AT the 'Ring are said to be BELOW 7 seconds... Again...the Corvette C8 Z06 is NOT a compromised DAILY DRIVER and it WILL have 'Ring times BELOW 7 seconds... Its a pig of a car said to be 3400lbs. The internet is discussing if that is dry weight or with all its liquids. IIt wont be that bad if it was 3400lbs net weight. But the thing is, the Z06/Z07 IS a no compromise daily driver MASS produced track beast. It WONT be a garage queen. And it AINT a boutique, limited produced, illegal for the street, race machine costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Z06 is said to be BELOW 100 000 dollars. THAT is incredible engineering!!!! And if THAT does not impress you, the miracle of flight wont either...so there is nothing to argue about with a naysayer...