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I got a new toy.
What do ya think?



A few more pics

It's a 2016 Corvette Z06, 7-speed manual, with the Z07 track package (carbon ceramic brakes, lots of aero bits for downforce, and Sport Cup 2 tires).
I factory ordered it and a couple months ago. Kate, my mom, and I picked it up from the National Corvette Museum (next door to the Corvette factory).
Since it's has the Z07 package, the engine was hand-built by one mechanic (the pic of her name is in the album).

I absolutely love this thing..it is a MONSTER on the street..and yet, I can tool around in it and it's as behaved and comfortable as a Honda Accord.

I freely admit, I'm hesitant to post a new toy like this..I want to show it off because I'm really freakin' proud of it, but..well..it was expensive.

very nice. I really like the color scheme.

You may as well sell your stealth and Spyder now haha.

Looks great!

Very nice. Love thar color scheme. Complete opposite of what I just bought on Thursday. Lol.

Nice vette. Love what they have done with the new stingrays.

[quote=""Zentelis""]I freely admit, I'm hesitant to post a new toy like this..I want to show it off because I'm really freakin' proud of it, but..well..it was expensive.[/quote]

How much?

Amazing! Power for price, I don't know if there is a better buy. I feel they will hold their value for a long time as well. When the prices drop though, I want one.


Coop

Badass! Congrats!

Congrats! That is awesome!!

-John

Wow. Purdy!

Dare i ask what a new one loaded like that sells for?

Yeah, nice!!! Great color combo, too.

Thanks, guys
I'm not selling the Spyder! It's hard enough to sell the Stealth!

Mike, I've used the PDR camera quite a bit..I actually use it as my traffic camera when I drive around. If anyone cuts me off and causes an accident, I want video proof =)
As for performance, I haven't taken it to the track yet. This car is in a completely different world than what I'm used to..so I'm giving myself at least a year to get used to it before I track it. (And I'm probably going to the Ron Fellows driving school sometime this year anyway).

I've taken a lot of friends for rides and they all say something similar to "This is faster than a roller-coaster!" (they usually say that after they're done screaming..literally).

As for the color combo, I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out. It's Long-Beach Red Metallic Tintcoat which is new for 2016. I played around with the online configurator at Corvette.com for _months_ before I settled on a style (though I had picked LBR and full-length stripes almost immediately ).
Originally, I was going to get the bright-red interior. I never want a black interior again in any car I buy, and I thought the red really stood out.
Well, a couple months later, Kate and I went to look at one in person and I showed her the red interior (in a white car). She looked at me funny and said "That's not going to look good. It's going to clash terribly. You need to pick something else".
I was, of course, flabbergasted.."won't look good?!"
She said "I like the brown interior".
I was even more flabbergasted..the brown is ugly as hell! But..she said "Trust me..go find some pictures online before you decide".
So..I did. I'll just say that the online configurator does _not_ do the Kalahari interior any justice. When paired with the LBR, it looks fantastic. As Kate puts it "It's an aggresive super-car with an elegant color scheme". So..yeah..I can thank my wife for the interior Not only that, I found out later Chevy agrees with her. There's an $800 additional charge if you want to pair LBR with a red interior..they're trying to dissuade customers from buying a terrible color combo

All the other accents are carbon-flash and I went with the Spectra grey wheels because black just didn't look right..it was too dark. Turns out the Spectra grey almost perfectly matches the carbon flash, so the whole color scheme came together really well.

As for performance..yeesh this thing still catches me off guard. Torque is instantaneous..it's over 400ft-lbs _anywhere_ in the RPM range. Even with 13 inch wide tires, I can still get them loose in 2nd gear even with all the nannies turned on.
And speaking of nannies..this car is way smarter than me. It's ability to prevent oversteer and understeer is nothing short of amazing. I've gone around corners faster than my VR4 without breaking a sweat..this car is BORED at anything less than 1g around corners The electronic limited slip differential is mind-boggling in the way it keeps the car under control. I'll go around a short corner at 80+ and you can feel the rear-end working to keep it in line, and the computer pulls throttle if the eLSD starts getting overwhelmed, because eventually..physics. (As the head of Corvette said, there's no compensation for physics). I keep pushing it around the same corners (getting a feel for it) and it keeps saying "yeah, ok..whatever..*yawn*".

I could seriously talk about this car for hours (and have). Chevy knocked it out of the park with the C7, then they hit a grand-slam with the Z06. The Z06 is on-par with cars costing 2 and 3 times as much and it even looks good doing it (My inner attention whore is on overload from all the attention this thing gets).

Yeah, it was expensive..Kate's still having heart palpitations Hit up the online configurator to get an idea what they cost.

Awesome! Funny how you still fit in with the crowd even though you've been out of touch for a while. The Corvette is the popular choice around here for retired 3/S owners.

[quote=""Monochrome""]The Corvette is the popular choice around here for retired 3/S owners.[/quote]
funny you mention that. I always said I wasn't going to follow that trend..I was going to upgrade to a Countach!
Well..Countach prices quintupled overnight a couple years ago, so my dream car couldn't even be a dream anymore.
And I started looking for a new dream. I was pretty much set on a Tesla P90D with the Ludicrous upgrade. At the same time, I was mesmerized by the C7. Buuuut..it wasn't practical..it'd be twice as much in gas as the VR4, etc etc. So the Corvette just hung around in my subconscious.
Every time I was ready to pull the trigger on the Tesla, I kinda held back. (The $30k price difference being a big part of the hesitation).
One day I came up with a plan to get the Corvette instead and the plan looked MUCH better. So much so that Kate only had an anxiety attack instead of a full-blown panic attack! Not only was the Tesla significantly more expensive, I'd have to shell out another $5k-$10k to get the necessary electricity run to my garage to charge it.

So, we spent some time interviewing Chevy dealers in the area to find the right one. We picked Heritage in Owings Mills. The sales department has been fantastic. The Z06 technician in the service department is also top-notch..the service department itself though is...well..it's a Chevy dealership) We ordered the car and, as luck would have it, Chevy accepted the order that week. It usually takes weeks or even months for them to accept custom orders..I like to think Tadge Jeuchter liked my combo and made it a priority hehe.

It was ready about a month after that..we flew down to Kentucky, took delivery at the museum and spent a couple hours on a private tour of the Corvette assembly plant. Let me tell you, even if you're not a Corvette fan, if you have the chance to take the tour, do it. It's amazing watching them put these things together.

So anyway..long story short, yeah, I ended up moving to Corvettes afterall..but I didn't retire. I still have my Spyder. You'll have to pry that thing from my cold and financially-broke fingers

Sure is (a popular choice)!

[quote=""Zentelis""]It was ready about a month after that..we flew down to Kentucky, took delivery at the museum and spent a couple hours on a private tour of the Corvette assembly plant. Let me tell you, even if you're not a Corvette fan, if you have the chance to take the tour, do it. It's amazing watching them put these things together.

So anyway..long story short, yeah, I ended up moving to Corvettes afterall..but I didn't retire. I still have my Spyder. You'll have to pry that thing from my cold and financially-broke fingers [/quote]

NG was there last year! Had a blast! We even got our cars on the track close by there.

Don't over estimate the power of someone with $$ to spend. I said the same thing about the black 99 in my sig. Then someone came along and offered stupid $$ for it.

[quote=""Mike""]Nice one. Just watch the temps, the 7z tends to get heat soaked quickly. The 7z is an absolutely phenomenal car. It's as near a pure race car as you can get for the money. I'm actually shocked that you went manual if you have intent to track her.[/quote]

Because manual is more fun than automatic, even if it is a couple tenths slower! I'll be driving it far more than tracking it anyway.
Plus, the A8 autos overheat like a bitch especially when left in "Drive". There's already enough heat-soaking issues with the oil-cooler and 1500-degree cat being an inch apart =)
I do plan on upgrading the radiator before I track it. There are some aftermarket options that have brought the temps down around 210-220 after a few laps. After 220, the computer starts dialing down the power significantly.
I'm also waiting for a proven cat insulator. Some guys have put a metal shield between the oil cooler and cat, but even that doesn't seem to help oil temps much.

Matt, great lookin' Z51 Are you planning on any mods?
Other than an oil catch can, radiator, and other preventative mods, I'm leaving mine stock. I even checked with my service center about radiators and catch cans. They said unless the radiator is the cause of any issues, they'll honor the warranty (which is actually the law behind warranty's, but most service centers try to "void" it after mods).

As for selling the Spyder..if someone offered me enough money, sure I'd sell it..then I'd just buy another one for less

I will say the roads around here aren't built for a car like this. By the time I start winding out any gears, I'm out of road..and hell, by the time I wind out 1st, I'm already going faster than 90% of the speed limits around here (65mph in 1st gear..talk about trippy)