The Nürburgring, the ‘Ring, the “Green Hell,” is one of the most grueling, dangerous and demanding racetracks in the world. And with constant elevation changes and over 154 turns, it’s the perfect environment for the 2014 Corvette Stingray.
A team of GM technical experts is currently testing two Corvette Stingrays in Europe on a wide variety of roads and on the racetrack. Chevrolet vehicle dynamics engineer, Jim Mero, says that the crew is fine-tuning the Stingray for European roads, with the testing procedures being part of GM’s standard quality control program for all of its vehicles bound for sale in Europe.
“Nürburgring is renowned for its demanding race track and it is perfectly suited for our purpose, which is to fine-tune the ride and handling characteristics of the European Corvette Stingray,” Mero said.
“We are paying particular attention to the suspension set-up and the steering at Nürburgring. European roads are quite distinct and different from those in the U.S., and so are driving habits.”
The announcement of testing at the Nürburgring comes only a few months prior to the release of the Corvette Stingray in Europe. We’re confident that the C7 was fast around the 12.9 mi circuit, but for now GM has remained tight lipped about the car’s official lap time. For now. At this point, it’s not really a question of if will beat the Porsche 911, but by how much.
Comments
I’m sure it will beat the 911! Maybe 2 or 3 sec?
The only two possibilities as to why they won’t reveal the lap time are: 1- they haven’t beaten the 911 yet (although I would fault the driver/external factors and not the car) ; 2- they have beaten the 911 but they haven’t exceeded/met the targeted lap time yet.
I wouldn’t be surprised though if the coming ZR1 would obliterate the ACR Viper’s current record, or perhaps come close to 7:00. There’s still a pretty wide gap between the Gumpert and the 918.
Or they just don’t want to tip threw hand just yet
Awesome pic!
The time for these cars will be coming. The base car I expect will come close to the Z06 times.
The new Z07 and ZR1 replacement will come and it will depend on what tires they use. Most of these top cars now are not using what I would call standard tires. They all are making options on soft semi race/track time rubber and it makes a difference. The cars for sure will be faster but the how much is how the tires will be selected.
No I would not be looking for 918 times that is another class altogether.
Yes the new corvette is a dream . But my old 2008 Z06 is a great car but on trade in I would only get 33,000 . Someday I will have a new one