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2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06

GM took the wraps off of the highly-anticipated Corvette Z06 at this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The Corvette Z06 is powered by the largest displacement small-block V8 engine ever from GM, a 7.0-liter V8 that produces 500 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque, with a redline of 7000 rpm.

It’s no coincidence that the 7.0-liter designation translates to a 427 cubic inch displacement—the same engine size as one of the most famous engines from Corvette history. The new engine is sure to make its own history as the powerplant for the fastest, most powerful production Corvette ever produced which is also the fastest production car ever from GM.

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How Motorsports Affect Our Cars

You don't have to be a rabid race fan to appreciate the features, designs and components that are making their way from racetracks to today's new cars.

It doesn't matter if you love car racing or hate it. Chances are, many parts of your new car have been influenced or even engineered with the help of racing.

From the aerodynamic details in the 2006 Dodge Charger to an intake valve in the V8 of the 2005 Chevrolet Corvette and the Tiptronic transmission in the 2005 Audi TT Coupe, automotive design, development and components are pushed along, in part, by the competitive spirit of racing.

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- 2006 Dodge Charger
- 2005 Chevrolet Corvette
- 2005 Audi TT Coupe
- Chrysler
- Cadillac

Did You Know That....

The Chevrolet 490, launched in 1915, owes its name to its price?
It was pitched directly against the Ford T model and - like its
competitor - could be bought for just 490 US dollars. It was built
at various factories linked to the Chevrolet Motor Company through
a franchising system.

The first subcompact car manufactured in the U.S. was a
Chevrolet? It was the Vega, launched in 1971. It was followed by
the Chevette in 1976, the smallest Chevrolet ever at that time.
This model, a representative of General Motors' T-Car world car,
was initially sold with 1.4 and 1.6-litre engines.

The Powerglide transmission of 1950 was the first automatic
transmission to be offered in a vehicle below the full-size category?
Chevrolet built more than 300,000 of these transmission units in
the first year alone.

Louis Chevrolet left the company in 1914 because he had
an argument with his partner Billy Durant about the positioning
of the company? Chevrolet wanted to build exclusive vehicles, Durant
was in favour of popular cars. Who actually won the dispute is no
secret because the name Chevrolet has since become synonymous with
good-quality but inexpensive cars and trucks.

Chevrolet became part of the General Motors Group in 1918?

The value-brand strategy was featured as early as 1929 in
the advertising slogan "A Six for the Price of a Four"?
In the then new "Stovebolt Six", the customer really got
the smoothness and acceleration of a six-cylinder engine for the
price of a four-cylinder unit.

The first GM plant outside of North America was built in
Denmark in 1923? The then head of production of GM, William Knudsen,
(1879-1948), emigrated from Denmark to the US in 1899…

Chevrolet planned to change from water to copper cooled
engines (an air cooled engine using copper fins) in 1921? The revolution
failed due to durability problems, and only about 800 copper cooled
cars were built in total.

The failure of the copper cooled engine led to the first
dedicated proving ground for testing automobiles? To this day, GM’s
Milford Proving Ground opened in 1924 is the biggest of its kind
in the world.

The founder of both Chevrolet and General Motors, „Billy"
Durant (1861-1947) had to leave the company after financial quarries
three times in all. Durant, who at one time amassed a fortune of
$ 120 million died as a manager of a bowling alley.

And Today

• 1 car in 16 sold in the world is a Chevrolet
  
• A Chevrolet is built every 7 seconds
  
• Over 175 million Chevrolets have been sold to date
  
• Chevrolet will sell in 90 countries in 2005
  
• The Chevrolet Aveo (Kalos in the UK) is the best selling small
  car in North America

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It’s-All-About-Me Roadsters

The jury deliberates over four new convertibles on our most-selfish list.

We haven’t officially put Ayn Rand on our must-read list, but we have been lately mulling a few of her principles, particularly the one about the virtue of selfishness. Should you suddenly be handed a fistful of dollars, for example, would you buy a new bus for the church or head straight to the nearest Porsche dealer?

No hands, please, it’s a secret ballot. Those of you in the latter category—and you know who you are—may want to divert some of your overtaxed attention to the following pages. Upon them we have lashed down and dissected four of the newest, fleetest, it’s-all-about-me convertibles in the $45,000 to $60,000 range, a group we regularly check in on for reasons that are, of course, selfish.

Featured in This Comparo
Chevrolet Corvette
Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6
Mercedes-Benz SLK350
Porsche Boxster S

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C6 Corvette Z06, Ferrari F430 Spider spied

Well maybe not so much right there— they probably just know people who know people who have the right kind of cameras, designed specially for capturing preproduction cars invisible to your regular tourist-variety lenses. AW’s best snag here is the Z06, which seems to feature a removable hardtop, lightweight wheels, Brembo binders, and, since these spy photo cameras double as portable X-ray machines, a 500-hp 7.0 liter V8. Regarding the the Ferrari F430: zoinks Scooby, it looks exactly like the coupe, but it has a black canvas top and is hardly disguised otherwise— although those red mirrors really threw me for a loop. AutoWeek also stakes a late claim on the new Toyota sports car (codename TXS) we posted about last week, which they think could possibly be the next Supra even though it’s rumored to sticker for over $100K. If that’s true (which I’m pretty sure it isn’t), offering a $100K+ Supra could be the biggest worst-est most horrible-est mistake of Toyota’s life.

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Best sports car: Chevrolet Corvette

Already great, the latest Corvette is even better in every regard.
November 15, 2004: 1:38 PM EST By Lawrence Ulrich, Money Magazine

NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - An American sports car that goes fender-to-fender with Ferrari and Porsche for 45 grand? Have we been sniffing Armor All? Hardly.

For more than a half-century, the 'Vette has been a uniquely American object of desire. That patriotic lure gets cranked up a notch with this sixth-generation model, thanks to a neat trick: It performs better than the last version, yet raises its already lofty standards of everyday driveability.

Scaled-down proportions and a tailored body continue the car's welcome evolution from veiny bodybuilder to streamlined athlete. Even the pop-up headlamps, a fixture since the '63 Sting Ray, have been jettisoned to boost aerodynamics and top speed while reducing wind noise.

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