Latest And Greatest
by David Ross (17 Feb 06)

Think bling's a new thing? Take the original 1955 Chevrolet Corvette. It only looks right today with a statue of Elvis Presley standing beside it. Such is its extrovert design with masses of chrome and white-wall tyres. When first designed by the exotically named Zora Arkus-Duntov in the early fifties, it was a time when form was everything. Function? With a blanket 55mph speed limit and buyers more likely to be rock and roll singers than racing drivers, who cared if the desperately uncomfortable two seater with big wide grin chromium grille handled like a wet sponge?

But those days are gone and so has the early 'Vette, to be replaced by the C6 and Z06 more likely to be piloted by the likes of Dario Franchitti - Scottish maybe but currently a member of the American racing elite. It would be wrong to claim that, with the latest in a long and distinguished line of 'Vettes, function has totally replaced form as, to my eyes at least, the latest looks sensational. Especially the awesome Z06.

It’s not just low, wide and handsome, it's also mean and menacing. Somehow you know there are stallions under the big 'hood', lots of them and every one with Trigger's pedigree. You need pedigree, and a whole lot of skill and experience to throw a 508bhp Corvette around the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France. With its desperately technical twists and sharp turns following hard on one another's heels, one hard lap had me gasping for breath.

That didn’t bother the amazingly calm and reassuring Stephen Van Campenhoudt, one of the young drivers who makes his living racing and, in between events, instructing the less-skilled like me. "You're from Aberdeen? I raced with Nathan Kinch from Aberdeen in a Ferrari 360," said the Belgian. How could he remain so relaxed as I and the 'Vette tried to fling us off the circuit?

Naturally, with the latest version of Chevrolet's small-block V8  ("small-block" for heaven's sake - this thing measures seven litres and pumps out close to 500lbs/ft of torque) the Z06, for which read "ZEE 06" as the guys from Chevrolet call it, takes off like an Exocet rocket, the aural accompaniment best described as blood-curdling. That, I could listen to all day, and it's down to two drainpipe-sized exhausts with bypass valves that open wide when you have your foot planted on the carbon fibre/wood sandwich floor.

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