Summer / Fall  2007

American Iron Baby, 8 Huge Cylinders of Raw Power…

This year is going to be kind of special for all of us Corvette enthusiasts because the 2008 Detroit Auto Show will include the introduction of the new “Bad Boy” $100,000+ Corvette Super Car! This limited production 220 mph+ Super Car is Chevrolet and GM’s foray into the world of exotic expensive sports cars. Although I think my C6 can hold it’s own with most Porches, Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s, it still lacks that exotic car appeal, mostly because of its large production numbers. This new Super Car will be a limited production masterpiece that definitely will compete on the world’s stage head to head with the best from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and a host of other limited production automobiles.

Chevrolet consistently puts out a better Corvette each and every year at a third the price of most European sports cars. Corvette buries them in acceleration, precision handling and all the things that you buy a sports car for, but they just abhor admitting that the Corvette is superior! They have to work hard to find some mythical reason why a slower, higher priced sports car that happens to be made in Germany is better than our Corvette.

I for one feel it’s time to stand up and say “This is American iron baby, 8 huge cylinders of raw power, that’s how we like it, take it or leave it, we really don’t care because we can beat you any way you want to be beat - acceleration, horse power, lap time around the NurburgRing, quarter mile, stopping distance, you name it and we can take the category!” As you would expect, the only categories the European press ever talks about are the categories that can’t be quantified. I for one am doggone tired of being told that I should feel inferior because my Corvette interior accoutrements aren’t up to European standards. Well, let me make this loud and clear… I don’t care, because the horsepower is up to U.S. standards and I’ll kick your butt with it, plain and simple!

So no matter how good the Corvette Super Car will be, you can bet it will be bashed in the European auto world, even though it’s numbers will be better than anyone else’s. I think it’s time to say, “This is raw American horse power, in your face, slap you down and blow your doors off time! We really don’t care what you all think in Europe!”

Okay, the staff at the Registry office has thrown a glass of water on me and calmed me down with a couple of Tums. I’m ready to move on now, but I just had to get that off my chest. Be sure to join us at Cobo Hall in beautiful downtown Detroit, MI for the Super Car’s introduction. Chevrolet has teamed up with the National Corvette Museum to coordinate the registration of the first 200 lucky Corvette enthusiasts who sign up to enter the show on Saturday, January 19, 2008 prior to the public opening.
You will need to register through the NCM website when this event becomes live in early November.
I hope you enjoy this issue as much as I am as it is chock full of year-end C6.R Racing articles. Our enthusiastic reporters have been all over the country attending the C6.R racing venues to bring you a first hand and up close report on our exciting and victorious C6.R Racing Teams.

Now here’s something that does not happen every day… How many of you remember the 1965 movie with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon called The Great Race? This movie was very loosely based on the real Great Race which began on February 12, 1908. The first around-the-world automobile race began with six entrants, starting on 43rd Street in New York City. Their destination was Paris. The first car crossed the finish line on July 18, but its team was penalized 15 days for using railroad transport to meet a critical North American deadline. They ended up losing to the American entry driven by George Schuster, which arrived on July 22. I know it’s hard to believe, but this organization is still around, and they will be celebrating the race’s 100th Anniversary in 2008.
The Great Race Sports, Inc. plans to celebrate with a 65-day driving adventure from New York to Paris from May 30th to August 2nd 2008. In a re-run of that milestone event, an international field of motor vehicles will head west from New York City on May 30, 2008, for a 12,231 mile trek by land en route to Paris. Some of the participants will be driving historic cars in celebration of the rugged spirit of freedom and adventure displayed in the milestone race a century ago. Others will be traveling in vehicles powered by renewable fuels to prove the viability of these alternative technologies. Those of you that have traveled to Europe with the Registry know what a great time it can be to drive your own Corvette through foreign lands. Can you say “Trip of a Lifetime!”? Stay tuned… we will have more information on this in our next issue.

Between my fall foliage Corvette tour and the Corvette Super Car introduction in Cobo Hall, is my favorite time of year (and practically everyone’s)… the Holidays. Even though we’re facing $3 a gallon gas, a slow down in the economy and a war on terrorism, we have an awful lot to be thankful for. We live in a great country that produces fantastic automobiles, and we all own one of them… our Corvettes! It doesn’t get any better than this!

So, drive your Corvette until the snow keeps you in, and then get ready for an exciting new 2008 and another amazing new Super Corvette!
Have a wonderful Holiday Season.

C6Ya! Dan