Tag Archives: Corvette

Driven to Engineer

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Credit to the folks who help make performance happen. . .

Car designers get a lot of attention, or at least more attention than anyone at OEMs who aren’t top execs.

Engineers—not much at all.

So it is impressive to see that General Motors had three engineers behind the wheels of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, ZR1 and ZR1X at the Nürburgring Nordschleife to put the cars through their paces on the 12.9-mile track.

Vehicle dynamics engineer Drew Cattell took the electrified, AWD 1,250-hp ZR1X out and did the circuit in 6:49.275, making him the fastest non-professional racecar driver to make an officially recorded lap at the track.

Vehicle dynamics engineer Brian Wallace was behind the wheel of the 1,064-hp ZR1 and turned in a time of 6:50.763.

And vehicle performance manager Aaron Link took the 670-hp Corvette Z06 out and did a lap in 7:11.826.

Corvette Z06, ZR1 and ZR1X (back to front) at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany piloted by engineers who helped develop the vehicles. (Image: Chevrolet)

GM President Mark Reuss noted of the accomplishment: “We have clearly shown there is no limit to what our GM engineers and vehicles can accomplish.”

Reuss added: “These are the best Corvettes in history, period.”

It is worth noting that with the exception of additional safety equipment required to run the Nordschleife these are all U.S. production-spec Corvettes, just like you can get through a Chevy dealer.

However, because the ZR1 and the ZR1X aren’t sold in Europe and the Z06 is a North American variant, the cars are categorized as “Prototypes/Pre-Production Vehicles” for the records.

Credit to all involved, but especially to these engineers that helped make these Corvettes the cars they are.

Quite a Quarter for the 911

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And where is that Corvette SUV. . .?

By Gary S. Vasilash

Porsche Cars North America reported its sales for the first half of 2024, including, of course, the second quarter.

And in Q2 the sales of the 911 being nothing short of impressive.

Porsche 911 Turbo S (Image: Porsche)

That is, for the year it has delivered 6,720 911s, of which 4,790, or about 71%, were delivered in Q2.

Which means that in Q1 dealers had a bit of time on their hands as there were 1,930 911s delivered.

OK. They had other vehicles to sell, but still that number of 911s is notable.

The best-selling Porsche in the U.S. during the first half of 2024?

The Macan, at 12,004 vehicles (though that is down from the 14,306 sold in H1 2023).

Second best-selling?

The Cayenne, at 10,168 vehicles (which is up from the 8,911 in H1 2023).

Together, those two SUV models, with a combined 22,172 vehicles, are some 64% of Porsche’s total 34,733 delivered in H1 2024.

Which sort of begs the question of when there is going to be a Corvette SUV. After all, the car can be an alternative to a 911, but it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to cross-shop a Chevy Equinox or Traverse with a Porsche SUV.

Isn’t this a case of the proverbial “money left on the table”?