Your Dreamcar

[Enmos]

Last yr I saw the funniest thing. I was crossing a street in our neighbourhood and this smart car was coming so I waited to cross. Then this car goes whizzing by with a little asian man in it wearing a bicycle helmet, beeping the horn which sounded like a bike horn. OMG me and my 6 yr old at the time were almost in tears laughing.

He'll be the laughing one at the gas station, believe me

 

[shorty_37]

It wouldn't have been so damn funny if he wasn't wearing a kids bicycle helmet...HAHA I can still see the whole thing in my mind.

 

[Enmos]

It wouldn't have been so damn funny if he wasn't wearing a kids bicycle helmet...HAHA I can still see the whole thing in my mind.

Heh Asians are just nuts.. they can't help it.

 

[Diode-Man]

Anything with a jet engine is just not legitimate!

On the other hand, drive your 50,000 horse power land speed record breaker to the next party, and lets see how many women want to go for a ride? Good idea.

Bad idea: Next they'll be wondering whats in your wallet. Answer: A 1000 horse power king sized bed. (yes, in your wallet)

 

[cosmictraveler]

Anything with a jet engine is just not legitimate!

But it is classified as a car when it was breaking the land speed record for cars.

 

[Echo3Romeo]

Chevrolet Corvette ZO6: The best dollar value supercar killer in the world. $70,000 gets you:

• LS7 small block V8: 7.0L displacement, 505bhp, 475lb-ft. of torque.
• Hydroformed aluminum body, aluminum chassis, magnesium engine cradle, carbon fiber body panels.
• Curb weight: 3132lb, perfect 50/50 weight distribution
• 0-60: 3.7 sec
• 0-100: 7.7 sec
• Top speed: 198 mph
• 1/4 mile: 11.5 sec @ 133 mph
• Nurburgring time: 7:40.99

It will roast a $200,000 Lamborghini Gallardo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWBAYYVVobU&feature=related
It will walk a $190,000 Ferrari F430: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAyx3gwqXn0
It will humble a $150,000 Porsche 911 Turbo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLyNVAvXw88&NR=1
Even Jeremy Clarkson likes it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiA7vVydWaQ

The thing I love most about the ZO6 is that its designers remained true to the Corvette's legacy as an icon of American automotive heritage. Take a light, balanced chassis, stuff a big, powerful V8 under its hood, add only enough amenities to complement the driving experience, and let the customer enjoy the result. Yeah, it has leaf springs. Carbon fiber leaf springs, which double as sway bars. Sure, its engine is still a single cam, 16 valve, pushrod V8, a design that has remained basically unchanged since the early 1950s. Except that this one is hand built by GM engineers out of titanium and forged chromoly steel, has a dry sump oiling system, is smaller than the Ferrari's 4.3L DOHC V8 (and weighs less), and makes the ZO6 is the only car you can buy in the US that is over 500 horsepower yet is so fuel efficient that it avoids the gas guzzler tax.

Here's mine (a friend at the helm):

If you're like me, and the stock drivetrain isn't powerful enough to make you shit yourself, you can do what I did and twin turbo the engine for another few hundred horsepower. This car is a weekend/track car, so I don't drive it daily. I bought it used with a couple thousand miles on it to replace my previous track car, a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, which was retired due to a tendency to blow headgaskets under high boost and a desire to try something new.

 

[kenworth]

Chevrolet Corvette ZO6: The best dollar value supercar killer in the world. $70,000 gets you:

• LS7 small block V8: 7.0L displacement, 505bhp, 475lb-ft. of torque.
• Hydroformed aluminum body, aluminum chassis, magnesium engine cradle, carbon fiber body panels.
• Curb weight: 3132lb, perfect 50/50 weight distribution
• 0-60: 3.7 sec
• 0-100: 7.7 sec
• Top speed: 198 mph
• 1/4 mile: 11.5 sec @ 133 mph
• Nurburgring time: 7:40.99

It will roast a $200,000 Lamborghini Gallardo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWBAYYVVobU&feature=related
It will walk a $190,000 Ferrari F430: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAyx3gwqXn0
It will humble a $150,000 Porsche 911 Turbo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLyNVAvXw88&NR=1
Even Jeremy Clarkson likes it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiA7vVydWaQ

The thing I love most about the ZO6 is that its designers remained true to the Corvette's legacy as an icon of American automotive heritage. Take a light, balanced chassis, stuff a big, powerful V8 under its hood, add only enough amenities to complement the driving experience, and let the customer enjoy the result. Yeah, it has leaf springs. Carbon fiber leaf springs, which double as sway bars. Sure, its engine is still a single cam, 16 valve, pushrod V8, a design that has remained basically unchanged since the early 1950s. Except that this one is hand built by GM engineers out of titanium and forged chromoly steel, has a dry sump oiling system, is smaller than the Ferrari's 4.3L DOHC V8 (and weighs less), and makes the ZO6 is the only car you can buy in the US that is over 500 horsepower yet is so fuel efficient that it avoids the gas guzzler tax.

Here's mine (a friend at the helm):

If you're like me, and the stock drivetrain isn't powerful enough to make you shit yourself, you can do what I did and twin turbo the engine for another few hundred horsepower. This car is a weekend/track car, so I don't drive it daily. I bought it used with a couple thousand miles on it to replace my previous track car, a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, which was retired due to a tendency to blow headgaskets under high boost and a desire to try something new.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=sb4xJRMrAwA

=

?

 

[synthesizer-patel]

I'm a classic car lover myself - I'd go for a 1969 Jensen FF MkII

The first production car in the world to have anti-lock brakes and traction control - and the first non off road car to utilise 4WD.
It also came with air-con, electric windows and all those other little refinements we take for granted today, but were pretty exceptional in the late 60's - particularly to find them all in one car as standard.
The engineering was British (back at a time when we were good at it), the styling was Italian, and the engine was a 6.8 Litre V8 Chrysler brute.

What a a car!

 

[madanthonywayne]

Check out the Tesla:

100% electric, 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds, 220 mile range, less than 2 cents a mile, and only $100,000.

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=229378

 

[Echo3Romeo]

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=sb4xJRMrAwA

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?

Hardly fair test conditions. They're launching on a cold tarmac with cold rubber, who knows what kind of tires they're even using, and the driver can't shift to save his life. The fact that he's all "LOL it has leaf springs!" makes me confident of driver error since he doesn't seem to know the car very well. Give me a stock ZO6 with set of drag radials, and a dragstrip with a tree. I'll post <3.7 second 0-60 times all day, and with better fuel economy.

That said, the GT2 is a faster car, generally speaking, but there's a funny story behind how it got there. ZO6 pissed off a goodly number of movers and shakers in the supercar market upon its release due to its unbeatable price/performance ratio. Rich execs who spend over $200,000 on an exotic supercar from lands afar don't like being lapped by knuckle-dragging ingrates like me, who spent far less than half that to walk the dog for them on weekend track days. Like the Shelby Cobra and Ford GT of old, the ZO6 did what only the best of Maranello and Zuffenhausen could do, but for less than half the money. After the ZO6 posted better Nurburgring times than any of its contemporary rivals (by design, not cost) it set the foreign automakers to work. Two years later, the folks at Porsche produced the GT2. While it does perform either equal to or slightly better than the ZO6 in most conditions, it still costs more than twice what a new 'vette would.

The 2009 Corvette ZR1 will destroy the ZO6 in many benchmarks, as well as cars that are even faster like the GT2, Ferrari 599, and Lamborghini Murcielago. While only slightly heavier than its predecessor, it comes with a 620bhp 6.2L V8 that breathes with the help of a roots-type supercharger. It has better brakes than a Ferrari Enzo (carbon fiber rotors from a F1 car, only trimmed to fit inside its wheels), a superior power/weight ratio than just about anything else on the road save the vaunted untouchables (e.g. Bugatti Veyron), and the MSRP is still only $100,000 (though dealer markups will take this higher due to a short supply of vehicles). Anyway, my point is that there are always going to be faster cars out there, and with price as no factor, all bets are off. I love the ZO6 for its value and its ability to piss off rich Ferrari owners. I'm still not sure which is better.

 

[Buffalo Roam]

Chevrolet Corvette ZO6: The best dollar value supercar killer in the world. $70,000 gets you:

• LS7 small block V8: 7.0L displacement, 505bhp, 475lb-ft. of torque.
• Hydroformed aluminum body, aluminum chassis, magnesium engine cradle, carbon fiber body panels.
• Curb weight: 3132lb, perfect 50/50 weight distribution
• 0-60: 3.7 sec
• 0-100: 7.7 sec
• Top speed: 198 mph
• 1/4 mile: 11.5 sec @ 133 mph
• Nurburgring time: 7:40.99

My Friend has Chevrolet Corvette ZO6m, Red, we went to a Renfest, and he let me drive, that was the most awesome experience I have ever had, including my chance to fly a F-4-J.

We took some of the back roads, and I was impressed by the handling and the smooth power across the range, there wasn't nothing on the road that it couldn't smoke, Mazda want to claim Zoom Zoom........Chevrolet Corvette ZO6m is,

Zooom Zooom!!!!!!!!!!

 

[John99]

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=sb4xJRMrAwA

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The guy driving the vette doesnt know how to run a quarter mile. I say that this because he gets the revs up too high before dropping the clutch. All that does is spin the wheels, which you can hear by sound the camera picks up. You get the revs up just a litle then graudally increase to maximum with out spinning wheels.

I raced quarter mile all the time when i was younger.

I paid 2k for a 1978 Trans Am 6.6L


6.6L V8 - balanced and blue printed (not6 sure what that meant exactly)

Added this stuff:
Holly 750CFM
Edelbrock manifold
Crane Cam
Straight pipes - from headers
Hearst shifter with line lock
Other stuff

I could get the front wheels off the ground too. Did 10s in quarter mile.

 

[synthesizer-patel]

your's may be faster - mine's prettier

 

[kenworth]

Hardly fair test conditions. They're launching on a cold tarmac with cold rubber, who knows what kind of tires they're even using, and the driver can't shift to save his life. The fact that he's all "LOL it has leaf springs!" makes me confident of driver error since he doesn't seem to know the car very well. Give me a stock ZO6 with set of drag radials, and a dragstrip with a tree. I'll post <3.7 second 0-60 times all day, and with better fuel economy.

That said, the GT2 is a faster car, generally speaking, but there's a funny story behind how it got there. ZO6 pissed off a goodly number of movers and shakers in the supercar market upon its release due to its unbeatable price/performance ratio. Rich execs who spend over $200,000 on an exotic supercar from lands afar don't like being lapped by knuckle-dragging ingrates like me, who spent far less than half that to walk the dog for them on weekend track days. Like the Shelby Cobra and Ford GT of old, the ZO6 did what only the best of Maranello and Zuffenhausen could do, but for less than half the money. After the ZO6 posted better Nurburgring times than any of its contemporary rivals (by design, not cost) it set the foreign automakers to work. Two years later, the folks at Porsche produced the GT2. While it does perform either equal to or slightly better than the ZO6 in most conditions, it still costs more than twice what a new 'vette would.

The 2009 Corvette ZR1 will destroy the ZO6 in many benchmarks, as well as cars that are even faster like the GT2, Ferrari 599, and Lamborghini Murcielago. While only slightly heavier than its predecessor, it comes with a 620bhp 6.2L V8 that breathes with the help of a roots-type supercharger. It has better brakes than a Ferrari Enzo (carbon fiber rotors from a F1 car, only trimmed to fit inside its wheels), a superior power/weight ratio than just about anything else on the road save the vaunted untouchables (e.g. Bugatti Veyron), and the MSRP is still only $100,000 (though dealer markups will take this higher due to a short supply of vehicles). Anyway, my point is that there are always going to be faster cars out there, and with price as no factor, all bets are off. I love the ZO6 for its value and its ability to piss off rich Ferrari owners. I'm still not sure which is better.

fair enough.was just curious,i really dont know much about cars at all.

 

[Echo3Romeo]

My Friend has Chevrolet Corvette ZO6m, Red, we went to a Renfest, and he let me drive, that was the most awesome experience I have ever had, including my chance to fly a F-4-J.

Nice. I've driven a fair amount of high performance vehicles, and this car fits my driving style better than anything else I've driven.

6.6L V8 - balanced and blue printed (not6 sure what that meant exactly)

The way an engine design looks on paper is never what ends up coming out the end of the assembly line. In mass production, there is always a certain amount of variance from the original design that is an artifact of the assembly process, and not easily preventable. There will be a specified tolerance, and parts that fall outside of it will be culled from the line, but invariably, engines end up being individually different.

Blueprinting means someone has taken the engine apart and measured all of its internals against what the blueprint says they should be, and re-machined them as necessary to hit the measurements the engineers who designed the engine intended spot-on. Balancing means that, in addition to measuring everything and altering it to spec, rotating assemblies (namely the crank and balance shafts) have been spun on a lathe with a can measure how well balanced they are. To balance a part, you use a special tool in the tailstock to hold one end. That tool registers how much the part tries to wobble rather than spin, and then tells you where extra mass can be removed to get all the moments equal and let it spin without any eccentricity. The net result of proper blueprinting is cooler running, increased torque, reduced blowby and oil fouling, reduced oil consumption, etc. The net result of proper balancing is smoother running and the ability to rev to a higher RPM without damaging parts from inertial loading.

Before I put the twin turbo kit in my car, I pulled the original engine and sold it. I replaced it with a crate motor from Katech. Everything in the Katech block was balanced and blueprinted when they put it together - just like the original engine was (remember the LS7 is hand built). The new block was also built for forced induction, so it used a forged crank, forged connecting rods, and forged pistons. Coupled with new heads with a slightly larger combustion chamber size, that dropped the static compression ratio to 9.4:1 so I can run a fair amount of boost out of the turbos without worrying about it grenading. Generally, I'll run 16lbs of boost on 100 octane racing fuel, which makes just over 670 horsepower at the rear wheels (not brake horsepower). For comparison, the stock ZO6 makes about 450whp.

 

[Buffalo Roam]

Nice. I've driven a fair amount of high performance vehicles, and this car fits my driving style better than anything else I've driven.


The way an engine design looks on paper is never what ends up coming out the end of the assembly line. In mass production, there is always a certain amount of variance from the original design that is an artifact of the assembly process, and not easily preventable. There will be a specified tolerance, and parts that fall outside of it will be culled from the line, but invariably, engines end up being individually different.

Blueprinting means someone has taken the engine apart and measured all of its internals against what the blueprint says they should be, and re-machined them as necessary to hit the measurements the engineers who designed the engine intended spot-on. Balancing means that, in addition to measuring everything and altering it to spec, rotating assemblies (namely the crank and balance shafts) have been spun on a lathe with a can measure how well balanced they are. To balance a part, you use a special tool in the tailstock to hold one end. That tool registers how much the part tries to wobble rather than spin, and then tells you where extra mass can be removed to get all the moments equal and let it spin without any eccentricity. The net result of proper blueprinting is cooler running, increased torque, reduced blowby and oil fouling, reduced oil consumption, etc. The net result of proper balancing is smoother running and the ability to rev to a higher RPM without damaging parts from inertial loading.

Before I put the twin turbo kit in my car, I pulled the original engine and sold it. I replaced it with a crate motor from Katech. Everything in the Katech block was balanced and blueprinted when they put it together - just like the original engine was (remember the LS7 is hand built). The new block was also built for forced induction, so it used a forged crank, forged connecting rods, and forged pistons. Coupled with new heads with a slightly larger combustion chamber size, that dropped the static compression ratio to 9.4:1 so I can run a fair amount of boost out of the turbos without worrying about it grenading. Generally, I'll run 16lbs of boost on 100 octane racing fuel, which makes just over 670 horsepower at the rear wheels (not brake horsepower). For comparison, the stock ZO6 makes about 450whp.

Drooling over the spec's, awesome.

The hottest thing I ever owned was a 1967 Camaro, High Performance, it was the racing pre-production to the Z-28, Balanced and Blue Printed, they released it as the Z-28, to get it into the Stock Class.

 

[weed_eater_guy]

A Lotus (Elise?). I don't know my cars that well, but I saw one of these lil' guys up close once and immediately fell in love

 

[Steve100]

Ultima GTR for mad missions on the road.

They are built in the town where I grew up.

 

[John99]

Those are real nice ^ ^^.

Thanks for the detailed description on balancing and blue printing.

 

[Echo3Romeo]

A Lotus (Elise?). I don't know my cars that well, but I saw one of these lil' guys up close once and immediately fell in love

A car buddy of mine has an Exige S, which is the hardtop version of the Elise with a supercharged engine (a 1.8L Toyota four banger also used in the Celica and Scion Tc). Despite having barely 210 horsepower at the wheels, that thing freaking MOVES. With a curb weight just over 2,000lb it doesn't need a very powerful engine to have a good power/weight ratio. Furthermore the chassis is extremely stiff and the coilover suspension has adjustable dampers, so it handles like a go kart, being very responsive while also telegraphing road surface conditions and its own limits of adhesion to the driver very clearly. It is a very fun car.