Q:You did the Viper during your stint at Chrysler, and now Neil Hannemann, who led the Viper team, is doing the GT at Ford. Does GM need a Viper/GT class vehicle, or is the Corvette strong enough to handle that role?
A:Let me tell you that the Corvette C6 will have versions where we confidently predict it will suck the doors off of both the cars that you just named. The current Z06, with 400 horsepower, on the Gingerman Raceway, laps faster with its 400 horsepower than the new Viper does with 500. So other than just brutal straightline acceleration, the Z06 is faster today. Clearly the C6 Corvette, without giving anything away, is going to be a major step forward in vehicle mass, dimensions, handling, braking and, most important of all, power-to-weight ratio. So I think whatever gap exists now is going to be eliminated — in total performance. I think we'll match the competition in acceleration, and we will beat them in on-road handling. And if the Z06 version of the C6 is not enough to do it, we've got a few tricks up our sleeve, which we're already investigating. But it will always be Corvette-based.
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12-11-2003, 07:54 PM
