BlueOx

Just glue some blades to them...Mad Max style!

VADanno

I like that idea! When you hit a deer while driving on "fun roads", the fangs will butcher it for you. Just throw the meat in the back and keep going! "Nice buck! What did you use? 7mm Mag?" "No, C7"

JoesC5

Started in Europe with the ECE regs. The real reason the C6 was designed without pop up headlights. Headlight change wasn't a change for the sake of change because of a change in styling taste, as BlueOx believes. There was a driving change in the C6's headlights and it wasn't because everyone hated pop up headlights.

Most of the front end styling of today's cars are to meet the new pedestrian safety regs, not because of a random "fad" in styling.

JoesC5

One thing that is confusing(to me) is the engine compartment photo showing the hood extractor duct. I was under the impression that the air entered the grille, passed through the condenser and radiator and then was ducted to the outside through the duct and the vent in the hood.

It sure looks like I can see the back side of the aluminum radiator and also the fan shroud, below the duct. To me the system does not look like a sealed system but air flows through the condenser and radiator and then into the engine compartment.

From that photo I can't see what the duct actually does.

granracing

Could be wrong but we were told that it was a request of the AMLS race team. One of the designers went into this a bit and made sense to me.

BlueOx

Totally correct.

prinzSD455

Great read and helps explain some of the things I observed on the car and wondered what purpose they served. It sounds like every surface on the exterior was carefully thought out and serves a purpose as well. I do agree there may be a little too many surface lines on the hood. In the reveal I counted 11 and thought that it was excessive. The most interesting part for me is the ability for line workers to adjust the door panel so they fit better with the dashboard. I am lusting after the C7 even more now. Great job GM and thanks to the OP for your insights.

JoesC5

C5R did not have pop up headlights. In most classes, race cars are able to make mods, like the headlights on the C5R and even back before your time, the original mid sixties Grand Sports did not have pop up headlights, as the buckets were stationary and covered by a Plexiglas cover.

While a race team may have asked GM for non pop headlights, the ECE regs is the reason they are history.

lateapex911

Hey- I wrote the piece Dave linked. 'Yea, it's a bit confusing and very difficult to capture with a camera...but the hood extractor does indeed link to the radiator. But it only covers a third (the upper third) of the rads surface. the other 2/3s is what you saw, with a conventional fan etc.

This is entirely due to the dual purpose nature of the car. Unlike the racer, this one will likely be sitting in bumper to bumper beach traffic and the like, so thats a major concern. Ducting the entire rad up would still require fans, but now theres a reliability problem with possible snow and ice and leaves and twigs and whatever getting down there and snarling the fan.

While 98% of owners garage the car and never drive it in such conditions, GM has to be prepared for the one guy that does, then ignores the warnings and tries damaging the engine.

On the pop ups, it was definitely a "request" from the Pratt and Miller guys to clean up the aero, and GM decided that with that much money going to the program it would be dumb to keep the pop ups. made for another "race tie in" story. it might also be related to ped regs, but that wasn't mentioned in my talk with Tadge.

JoesC5

Women spend tens of millions to get rid of the creases so they will look "good' and then GM feels adding a bunch of creases looks "good".

JoesC5

That's what I thought...more form then function. Odd that a C6 Z06 and ZR1 can stay planted at 200 MPH without the duct/extractor and now the C7 needs it to stay planted at 190 MPH.

I also see that the vents in the rear fenders require supplement electric fans to provide cooling when the car is not in motion(which occurs a lot on a street driven car). C6 Z06 and ZR1 had transmission and differential cooling without additional fans being needed. Just more stuff to go wrong.

Kappa

Planted is a relative term. If I had to guess, the C7 in Z51 form will produce downforce or will be lift neutral unlike the Z06 and ZR1.


That they did. But you can see why GM decided to move the coolers to the rear like people have been doing to C5/C6 raecars for years. Better weight distribution and it eliminates all the cooling lines that have to run from the front to the back of the car. That was big reason why the center console in the C6Z's cars throw off so much heat.

Quick Silver Z

Back away from the car old man, it's NOT for you!

RC000E

Every bit of new information that comes out simply reveals the thought and preparation that went into this car. I thank ALMS so much for what it has done for us as Corvette owners, and for the platform itself.

It's great to see GM making big strides with a car that was already so good to begin with.

jvp

Not at speed it won't be. At speed on a track it'll be perfectly functional as a heat evac system. Even if only 1/3 of the radiator is exposed to the airflow: it's the TOP 1/3 (hey.. heat rises, doesn't it?) of it.

Might be time for you to head back to the C6 and C5 sections Joe. Just a thought...

jas

Kappa

Yeah, they don't highlight this stuff for no reason. I think GM is pretty proud of the aero work they've done lately.

Gmumd48

Thanks nice write up

I see so much thread jacking! I personally listed a 73 911S that is quite valuable and part of my collection to buy two of these ( Probably wait for the second one to be a Vert )

I really hope the seats are as good as they say before it was the seats and the squirrely ride over rough tarmac that made me get rid of the 08 C-6

I am hyped

granracing

The seats are nice. I've been in several new cars with supposidly nice sporty seats, and hate them. The Caddy CTS-V Recaro seats come to mine. I wouldn't have a problem going on a long ride in the Vette sport seats, no less the touring version.

And feel free to thread jack away!

JoesC5

Are you aware that the C7 has the exhaust pipes running in the center console, unlike below the cover plate like the C6. They decided to do that to clean up the bottom on the car to reduce drag and to control the heat they are using some of the "magic" NASA heat shielding.

On the C7, are they ducting the air from the top of the fender and then down to the transmission and differential and then back up to the top of the rear fascia so it can exit next to the taillights, or are they mounting heat exchangers in the ducting and running coolant lines between the transmission/differential and the heat exchangers?

Seems to me if they routed the air through a long duct, up and down and around some corners, it would create more air drag, not less.

Sounds like a lot of work to eliminate few feet of tubing running down inside the center console.

As I keep saying, why is GM trying to re-invent the wheel? The Z06/ZR1 is not suffering from excessive lift at 200 MPH , much less the speeds we run our cars at. Where can I run my stock Z06 at to be able to hit 200 MPH? I've run at Talladega and only managed 162 MPH. BEZ06 ran his ZR1 at Talladega and hit 168 MPH. Neither of us lost control of our cars because of front/rear lift making the car's unstable at those speeds. I saw base C6's running at 150 MPH and they have less down force then the Z06/ZR1 and not a single one went airborne.

jvp

Pssst. Joe. It's also for....

COOLING!!!!

For crying out loud, man.

jas