New GS offers the most bang-for-the-buck in its class and a platform that cries out for sporty car or drag track days!
Racer Gary Savage: "The GS goes where you point it."
It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Actually it was two offers.
The first was an invite from NEMPA (New England Motor Press Association) for their Ninth Annual Ragtop Ramble & Crustacean Crawl. NEMPA’s Majordomo of Events, John Lawlor, organizes this event, a major excuse for local area journalists and PR reps from carmakers to get together, drive the latest wheels and eat very well. And, it’s all on NEMPA. The media group pays for two days of activities, including chartering the Samuel Clemmens, an ex-Mississippi riverboat, for a dinner cruise around Boston Harbor and lobsters in Kennebunkport.
The second offer was from my son, Stuart, VP, Communications & Public Affairs at Jaguar Land Rover.
“Hey Big Guy. Get yourself up to NYC and we’ll drive to Boston in a new Range Rover Sport. I’ll pack the M&Ms, trail mix, beverages. We can have some fun and drive cool cars to Maine, where all the lobsters we can eat await us.”
How could I possibly refuse? With every carmaker from A (Audi) to Z (Nissan Z), including Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes-Benz, expected plus endless Maine lobsters, refusal was not an option. We drove, we partied and we inhaled lobsters!
Six-speed GS coupe on Beach Road (NH) checkpoint.
What does all this have to do with the Corvette Grand Sport? If it was not for the Ramble I probably wouldn’t have had an opportunity to drive a six-speed 2011 Corvette Grand Sport on 30 miles of really interesting roads. My seat time in the GS was on Leg 2 of the drive, from Seabrook, New Hampshire across the Memorial Bridge on Route 1 into Cape Neddick, Maine. The route took us through funky beach towns where we received endless “thumbs-ups” and on hilly two-lane twisties. The Corvette’s smooth shifting six-speed was a pleasure and the dry-sump-lubed, hand-built 436-hp, 6.2-Liter LS3 engine generated a symphony of magical sounds. It delivered tons of torque, actually 428 foot pounds, at a very useable 4,600 rpm. It started to come alive a little over 3,000 rpm when the performance exhaust butterflies opened up and then revved freely to 6,000 rpm when max horsepower signed in.
The Coupe’s LS3, fitted with a special crank, dual oil pump and 10.5-quart oil sump, in the coupe was built along side Z06 LS7 7.0-Liter and Corvette ZR1 LS9 6.2-Liter Supercharged dry-sump engines in GM’s Performance Build Center (PBC) in Wixom, MI.
With dual-mode exhaust, LS3 puts out 436 horsepower.
We should note that the test coupe and convertible we later drove in Florida had the optional ($1,195) RPO NPP dual-mode performance exhaust system, as used since 2006 on the Z06. Someone had removed the fuse that monitors this system, accounting for the Coupe’s full-time “growl.” To better understand what’s involved and the pros and cons of converting to full time free flow exhaust, we checked with our friend Keith Cornett at CorvetteBlogger.com. Check out his excellent video, http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2010/05/25/video-pull-the-fuse-on-your-c6-corvette-dual-mode-exhaust/
While the Grand Sport, in coupe or convertible trim, represents an almost $6,000 bump over a base car, it’s money well spent. Actually it’s a bargain. Base coupes start at $48,950 and the GS has an MSRP of $54,790. If you owned a base six-speed coupe and wanted to add uplevel suspension components, huge brakes, big wheels and tires and GS body mods, you’d end up spending much more money. And, you wouldn’t get a hand built engine with dry sump, differential cooler and GM warranty coverage on the upgrades.
To all but Corvette aficionados, our GS coupe could’ve passed as a Z06. It had the wide-bodied Z’s flared fenders, front fascia, mini-scooped hood, rear brake cooling ducts, monster cross-drilled brakes plus fat wheels and tires. And, on startup it played Sounds of Thunder Road!
Chevrolet has juggled around the Corvette option lists so if you were inclined to order a base car with Z51 suspension, you couldn’t. You would have to order a Grand Sport. The Z51 option is history. A combination of Z06 and Z51 suspension specs, above, Z06-size brakes - vented 14-inch discs with six-piston calipers up front and 13.4-inch vented discs with four-pot calipers at the rear - and big wheels and tires allow the GS to deliver world-class numbers on a track or skid pad. It puts down a huge footprint thanks to Goodyear Supercar F1 275/35R/18 front and 325/30R/19s rear tires. A Grand Sport can go to 60 mph in around 4.0-4.3 seconds and from 60 mph to O in 105-115 feet. As far as lateral acceleration on a skid pad is concerned, you can expect a new GS to generate a solid 1g! A GS with its steel platform weighs approximately 50 pounds more than the alloy-framed Z06.
When we got back to Florida I had the opportunity to drive what appeared at first to be a showroom new Jetstream Blue Metallic Tintcoat GS convertible from GM. Once behind the wheel I realized that the GS had accumulated almost 2,500 miles. It wasn’t showroom new and I didn’t have to worry about hammering it!
2011 Grand Sport is best sports car value on the planet!
It was the same color, an $850 upgrade, as the coupe I had driven in New England, except it had the optional ($1,250) six-speed paddle shift automatic. It was equipped with the dual mode exhaust, but not the dry sump engine (no room for oil sump in automatic cars). Both LS3 engines have the same power ratings. The convertible has a base price of $58,600 and, as equipped, $77,800 including destination.
A lot of money; a lot of car!
Since I had already fallen in love with the GS and daily drive a C6 convertible, I wanted feedback from someone more objective with racing experience. That someone: Gary Savage. Racing since he was old enough to get a license, Gary, right, just made his professional racing debut this month in Rounds 8 & 9 at the Optima Batteries World Challenge Mid Ohio Grand Prix, presented by GameStreamer in Lexington, Ohio. He drove the #42 George Winkler Racing Ford Mustang FR500S, finishing 6th in Class and 27th Overall in Round 8 and 5th in Class and 21st Overall in Round 9 in a 40 car field.
Gary is in the process of sorting out a C6 Corvette racecar built by Blackdog Speed Shop, http://www.blackdogspeedshop.com, Lincolnshire, IL. that he’s planning to drive in the World Challenge GT Series.
Here’s what he had to say after spending a day driving the GS convertible:
Ride Quality: “It calls for track duty, but won’t beat you up on the street. It’s all about compromise and Chevy got it right with the GS.
Handling: “Perfect balance for traffic or track. Steering response is immediate and the GS goes exactly where you point it. When you start to push the GS through the corners, feedback inspires confidence and performance is limited only by tire adhesion (which there is plenty of).”
Braking: “Brake feel is very precise and consistent. If you mash on the brake pedal, the GS stops right now. You’ll feel glad to be belted in!”
Power: Output of GM’s new naturally aspirated and supercharged LS pushrod engines is nothing short of spectacular. The paddle shifters are fun, but I prefer to “row” through the gears. And the dry sump on stick cars is what’s needed for road racing.”
Competition: I didn’t get a chance to take the GS to the track, but CARandDRIVER published the results of its Fourth Annual Lightning Lap Comparo, held at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), in its February 2010 issue: A stock 2010 Corvette Grand Sport posted better times than an Audi R8 5.2 FSI, Lotus Exige, BMW M3, and Porsche Cayman S and 911 Carerra S. It posted best in class numbers on Sectors 1 (Horseshoe), 2 (Climbing Esses) and 5 (Hog Pen Corner) and Overall. Any questions?
Interior: “The optional interior is great and should be standard on all Corvettes. Seats are comfortable, but not really up to spending serious time on a road course.”
Overall: “With the extreme being Chevy’s street legal racecar, the Z06, the GS is more civilized and represents a perfect compromise of solid sports car performance, handling and styling for the street. It’s as easy to drive as most sport sedans, but when you nail the throttle and the exhaust opens up, you get thrust back in the seat and you know you’re driving an iconic American sports car that screams CORVETTE. I love it!
For more information about 2011 Corvettes, please visit http://www.chevrolet.com/corvette/
Check out Gary Savage’s Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079062&id=1344034747&l=ec41c92534