Another Brit test drives a C8

teamzr1

Supporting vendor
Guess you would know who this driver is

Tiff Needell flies out to Frankfurt, Germany, to test a little red Corvette! A car that is now on sale in Europe for the first time!

The Corvette has been produced for over 60 years and now in it's 8th series, it has a mid-engine layout and no manual gearbox option for the first time ever with the new Corvette Stingray. It's even being offered with right-hand drive!
The car has been developed using technology and experience from their success in racing in Le Mans, where Corvette's have won 8 times with their race cars. The gentle V8 positioned behind the driver and passenger and calm and quiet in tour mode, but comes alive with a press of the 'Z' button.
The Stingray has six different driving modes.
My Mode, Weather, Tour, Track and Z mode, which can be configured to the driver's requirements. Finally, there is race mode, which turns off the traction control and enables the Corvette to come alive.

With 483HP from the 6.2L, small block V8, this is the most power a standard Corvette has ever had, with only the Z versions of the cars having more than this.
This is matched with clever suspension, with Corvettes MagneRide, that absorbs the bumps even in the most extreme driving modes. 0-62MPH takes 3.5 seconds.

Here in the UK, the Corvette Stingray starts at Β£74,200, but that comes packed with standard options such as the Z51 package, which offers more power, along with a performance exhaust and Brembo brakes. There's also a convertible version for Β£79,000, although the Coupe does have a roof panel that can be removed and stored in the boot if you like the wind in your hair!
There's also 16 different colours to choose from, and some carbon fibre options to add, too!

 

kentvette

CCCUK Member
I've followed Tiff Needell's career since he was throwing Formula Fords into the scenery at Brands Hatch in the early 70s!
I generally like his reviews and we know that, unlike his punch-throwing fellow Brit and his childish companions, Tiff is a fan of Corvette and knows a bit more about them than a lot of UK journos. He did of course, pick up on the stupid steering wheel - no doubt the "real world drivers" of C8s will soon wish it was round - try twirling that around a few Alpine passes, or even a multi-story car park and the novelty will quickly wear off! But in general, a fairly balanced review, although my wife was not amused by his comments about excluding the passenger from the experience!

I wonder what he think when he hears the awful sound of the FPC engine......
 

richie500

CCCUK Member
Have you American's cloned our Tiff.
Because you failed.....
That was not Tiff, that was some middle aged man out for a Sunday drive "driving ms daisy if you ask me"
When he test drove the Z06 he gave it a propped Tiff going over.
By the look of things the GM boys have told him you break it you buy it.
TIFF does not drive like that...
 

Roscobbc

Moderator
Have you American's cloned our Tiff.
Because you failed.....
That was not Tiff, that was some middle aged man out for a Sunday drive "driving ms daisy if you ask me"
When he test drove the Z06 he gave it a propped Tiff going over.
By the look of things the GM boys have told him you break it you buy it.
TIFF does not drive like that...
But was he driving on a public road - it was single track road.....perhaps so?............if it was public perhaps he was 'mindful' of local police?
 

richie500

CCCUK Member
But was he driving on a public road - it was single track road.....perhaps so?............if it was public perhaps he was 'mindful' of local police?
Stop making excuses !πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ˜Ά
In the Z06 test drive he wheel spins off, uses both lanes (oncoming lane) and even passes a jogger while accelerating at 60+ mph. Tail out etc he was going some
Just face it he's got old like the rest of us, we all think we can drive like good old Nigel M but in reality we drive our corvette's like hearses.
πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚
 

teamzr1

Supporting vendor
The real bummer is he gets a C8 to pound on, is in Germany near the "ring" and the autobahn
and what does he do, cruises like a waxer ! :)

Me I'd have been bouncing the rev limiter, often and see what the maximum top-end speed is
 

richie500

CCCUK Member
The real bummer is he gets a C8 to pound on, is in Germany near the "ring" and the autobahn
and what does he do, cruises like a waxer ! :)

Me I'd have been bouncing the rev limiter, often and see what the maximum top-end speed is
Thank you, my new best friend, you don't give someone a weapon like a C8 (Smith & Wesson Model 500) and then load it with plastic bullets (Tiff) :)
 

teamzr1

Supporting vendor
Thank you, my new best friend, you don't give someone a weapon like a C8 (Smith & Wesson Model 500) and then load it with plastic bullets (Tiff) :)

At least he could have done is used launch control several times and if he did not break it then not testing good enough :)
I do not think he even put it into track mode :(

When time to test the C8 ZO6 GM should let you and I do the long-term testing to see if that FPC engine runs smoothly !
 

Roscobbc

Moderator
Stop making excuses !πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ˜Ά
In the Z06 test drive he wheel spins off, uses both lanes (oncoming lane) and even passes a jogger while accelerating at 60+ mph. Tail out etc he was going some
Just face it he's got old like the rest of us, we all think we can drive like good old Nigel M but in reality we drive our corvette's like hearses.
πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚πŸ™‚
"we drive our corvette's like hearses" - I do hope you are speaking for yourself :rolleyes:
 

Chuffer

CCCUK regional rep
The beauty of living in Cornwall is you can have a spirited drive πŸ˜‰πŸ˜‰, technology hasn't reached us yet thank the lord
It bloody well has ! I got nicked by a speed camera whilst barrelling along an almost deserted A30 in the Hemi Grand Cherokee .:mad: Maybe I was just unlucky to fall foul of the only tech savvy Cornishman . :unsure:
 

richie500

CCCUK Member
It bloody well has ! I got nicked by a speed camera whilst barrelling along an almost deserted A30 in the Hemi Grand Cherokee .:mad: Maybe I was just unlucky to fall foul of the only tech savvy Cornishman . :unsure:
Everybody in Cornwall knows to avoid the A30, they sometimes have 4 mobile camera's on a 2 mile stretch the same direction. Fact - I counted them one year, felt really sorry for the tourists. Unfortunately tourists are an easy target. To my knowledge we don't have any of those fancy speed camera's that get you forward on etc if they do then i haven't seen them.
 

Chuffer

CCCUK regional rep
Everybody in Cornwall knows to avoid the A30, they sometimes have 4 mobile camera's on a 2 mile stretch the same direction. Fact - I counted them one year, felt really sorry for the tourists. Unfortunately tourists are an easy target. To my knowledge we don't have any of those fancy speed camera's that get you forward on etc if they do then i haven't seen them.
Come up to Northamptonshire for some fun then ! All the fixed camera`s have been de-commissioned since government subsidy was withdrawn and the local plod cannot afford to operate the systems and we have just two mobile camera vans to cover the county . Funny how speed cameras were claimed to be for "road safety " until it they stopped being a ` Cash Cow` ! And how do I know all this ? My wife works for the electrical contractors that has the police service maintenance contract and it was her firm that de-commission the system !
 

PhilV8

CCCUK Member
The real bummer is he gets a C8 to pound on, is in Germany near the "ring" and the autobahn
and what does he do, cruises like a waxer ! :)

Me I'd have been bouncing the rev limiter, often and see what the maximum top-end speed is
And maybe how good the crash protection is πŸ˜‚
 

Forrest Gump

CCCUK regional rep
But was he driving on a public road - it was single track road.....perhaps so?............if it was public perhaps he was 'mindful' of local police?

It looks like a private test track to me.

The external shots show the car only pootling along (although the sound track wasn’t matching) but the in-car footage I would say he was pressing on quite hard at times given there was no barriers or run off before the trees.

All that sideways tyre smoking stuff you see on TG and the likes might look impressive but hasn’t got any relevance to driving on the road or a race track. Lewis Hamilton looks like he’s on a Sunday drive if you watch in car footage, his control is so smooth…but most people would probably throw-up before getting half way around the lap if they were a passenger.
 

Roscobbc

Moderator
Slightly off thread but......On the subject of speed camera's - some 20 plus years ago (before I bought the Vette I think) I went up to a Northants car dealer to look at a LHD Brabus Mercedes SL600. The seller was one of the organisers of the Euro Cannonball run. The seller took me out for a run in the Brabus but wouldn't let me drive it as he had a puncture the previous day and had a spacesaver fitted in place of one of the rear wheels. It was this that worried me the most as we were hitting speeds on some of the duel carriageways in excess of 140 mph - he apologised about this - he would have driven faster if not for speed rating of the spacesaver. The most amusing part of the drive was setting-off every speed camera we went past (with the driver waving his arm out of the car). The car was still on its German registration plates. An interesting day. And no, I didn't buy the car - didn't like it - it was too quiet, too smooth and far too easy to loose your license.
 
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