Posted Jul 2, 2008, 11:24 am
Filed under: Chevrolet

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Corvette C6 gallery: 36 photos >>

Story by: Max Toome
Photos: GM; Max Toome

Test Drive: Corvette C6 2008

The complex S-shaped turn is left behind, side wheels are knocking a step dance on a red-and-white separating border, accelerator is pressed into the floor, setting free the whole herd of 437 "horses" of a new Corvette C6. And ahead we have the most exciting part of Paul Ricard test track – straight and shady avenue, almost a kilometer long. Here we can speed up till about 230 km per hour and then feel all the power of lateral overloads while passing a smooth arch. On a racing track Corvette is inimitable! But what the most surprising is that it is also very comfortable on the city streets.

Paul Ricard racing track is a magical place. Nowadays it is officially referred as Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track. It is situated somewhere halfway from Marseilles to Toulon in France, among huge grape fields, low mountains and small villages with its quiet way of living. Observing this land of Nod it is very hard to imagine that some 20 years ago this place was crowded with thousands of Formula-1 fans to support their favorite racers.

Since 1971 for 1990 stages of a legendary championship were held here. Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna (for him this track remained unconquered, as he never won here). All of them were walking along these corridors in the racing suits, stepping down to boxes on these ladders. And team technicians were fussing around them, and surrounding air was shaken by a hysterical howl of the engines. Here everything is soaked by the spirit of that classic Formula-1 when the destiny of the cup was determined in the last race of the season by the last finishing meters, and the racers were sportsmen and not just participants of the most expensive show in the World.

Like in a racing computer game a huge billboard thrown over the track is floating above my head.

But in 90th “Formula” didn’t leave this place forever. In 1999 it has returned on behalf of Bernie Eccleston, the owner of “Formula-1”. He redeemed the track and transformed it into a modern testing ground with the very wide safety zones and well-organized infrastructure. How could such sincere turns and in a place where rains are meant to be something unnatural just disappear?

In a word, Paul Ricard track is an ideal place for the test of a real supercar, such as Corvette C6. But here is the car’s perfect environment. Here everything is for adults. Very long instruction before we may begin: no overtaking, helmet is a must, no faster than 40 km/h on a pit-lane, shift to a reverse gear after you stop the engine. You also need to watch the signal flags, road signs, cones, and implicitly follow the orders of instructors. The boring part is over. Grab the helmet and jump into the nearest vehicle. Here on a ring racetrack all cars are the same: six speed manual gear-box, targa body (semi-convertible - a part of a roof can be retracted into the boot). There are also models with automatic gearbox and full-convertible. We’ll give it a try a bit later. Such cars are made for the city-rides using usual roads. But here on a track there’s no time to idle.

”The scarlet speedometer pointer has already passed over the 100 km/h mark. Insanely fast! You don’t have enough time to come around when you already need to step might and main on a brake pedal.

Leaving the boxes – and ahead we have quite long section of a track where a pretty high speed can be achieved. Like in a racing computer game a huge billboard thrown over the track is floating above my head. The scarlet speedometer pointer has already passed over the 100 km/h mark. Insanely fast. You don’t have enough time to come around when you already need to step might and main on a brake pedal. I was worrying it would take a long time to get used to those very sensitive and precisely adjusted gas and brake pedals. But the Corvette’s steering is as easy as handling the midget car. The only difference is that the landscapes out of the window are changing three times faster. Yes, something like that.. 0 to 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds. Just about 3 times less than average parameters.

You don’t need to be very smart to press gas and brake pedals with all the weight of your right leg, but the clutch pedal requires very delicate handling. No, to get a dead engine by inexperience with a 6.2 liter motor needs a really big effort. The clutch is excellent from this side. The problems appear when you are trying to switch gears on a high speed. Mainly when you shifting gear down. If you drop the clutch pedal too quick, the enormous torque the wheels will instantly receive will make them slip. And while turning on a rear-wheel drive car it is fraught with a drift.

It is a bit unusual to see the upcoming road thorough the side window instead of through the windshield. According to the company’s test-pilot, such way of passing the turns is not effective, but it has really effective look!

Tried that once – don’t want to try that again. In a blink of an eye the car is bearing sideways. I was lucky that this vehicle has an excellent stabilization system. It saved me from a shameful sharp turn in a very critical moment, when I precipitately dropped the clutch pedal in front of the turn. After a couple of fluctuations on a dying sinusoid, the car returned to its correct path. Only after that my instructor has exhaled with a relief “okay”. It will be a hard day for them. Despite of all the safety measures some of my colleagues-journalists have sent a couple of cars into a chipper.

The smell of the burning rubber and brakes has eclipsed my mind completely and I haven’t been thinking how convenient this car will be in a daily life. Fortunately, the general-use road ride was waiting for us in the evening.

Southern France is one of the best places in the World to drive the convertible. But afternoon breeze that seemed to be warm at the beginning turned into a hurricane on a high speed. Side window glasses couldn’t help the situation and the special wind shield is not designed for the Corvette. Finally we decided to put up the roof. Low black-cloth rooftop pressures though the room in the car is more than enough. It’s the feeling you’ll get in any two-seat convertible. Well, such pathos needs to be paid for somehow.

Southern France is one of the best places in the World to drive the convertible.

But the rest of the car has no complaints. The steering wheel axial adjustment, which is not very usual for American cars, helps driver to find comfortable position in the seat. Left arm rests on a door ledge, right arm lies on high central tunnel. On a car with a manual gear-box the short lever from such position is not very convenient to operate, but the convertible has an automatic gearbox so we don’t care.

The interior is quite simple. No refined forms and lines. I have a feeling that while working on the interior, they just expelled the designer. On the other hand, nothing was sacrificed in the name of the beauty. Each button and handle are always at your hand in the right moment. And the leather decoration is responsible for the beauty here. Almost every detail in this car, starting from seats and finishing with the dashboard and doors is covered with leather. This is something Americans never saved on.

As to the money saving, the fuel consumption rate seems to be kept in strict secret. None of the representatives could sound this treasured number. And where could they know that from! The technical spec has a “t.b.c.” filled in the appropriate cell. The supercharged version of Corvette – Z06 with the 7-liter engine has this number known. 15 liters per 100 kilometers in a mixed cycle is not that frightening number for such power. And what normal human being that is dreaming to buy a Corvette will change his mind only because of high fuel consumption.

Corvette C6 doesn’t have electronic limiter on a 250 km/h mark as the European cars have, we made sure. Can it really speed up till 306 km/h – nobody really wanted to verify.

A to the boot volume – it can really be that decision making factor. In the Corvette it is bigger than in a family hatchback – 634 liters. In the line with the other sports coupes, where the owner have to live with the small compartment in front, where you hardly put a small suitcase into, Corvette looks like a minivan. When it comes to a long road-trip, where will you put the cases with all your stuff?

This is the main advantage that Corvette consists of. Having the exciting characteristics of a racing supercar, it can be easily used as an every-day car. But you shouldn’t take away the racing track from this car forever. It is like a hunting dog that you can’t keep inside your house. The dog wants to chase ducks and play outside. And for the Corvette C6 that playground can quite be the Nordshleife at Nuerburgring, where it fits into 8-minute timeframe by the way.

Corvette – it is a legend born back in 1953 year. Since that time over a million cars with crossed flags on a hood is sold over the world.

Corvette C6 2008 technical specifications