This GS wears the familiar red-white-and-blue get-up.

And truth be told, these tires and those candies are not the most dissimilar things in the world. It looks as if the Grand Sport rides on enormous nonpareil candies.

They are part of the optional Z07 package that, as on the Z06, also comes with huge carbon-ceramic brake rotors (15.5 inches in diameter up front and 15.3 in the rear), plus the Stage 2 aero package that adds all varieties of aero doodads, fillips, and finger-noodlers.Īs we approach the parked car, we notice the nearly featureless treads of the tires textured with hundreds of little white pebbles adhering to the flat surface. The sticky-footed car we drove wore track-ready Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires (P285/30ZR-19 up front and P335/25ZR-20 out back). The Grand Sport is, naturally, exactly as wide as the Z06, with which it shares its body panels and suspension setup. Measuring 77.4 inches at its widest, the Grand Sport is only 3.5 inches wider than a standard Corvette, but it seems six inches. The Grand Sport has the stance of a thick-bodied lizard and the feet of a gecko. Opt for the automatic and Chevy specifies the Z51 automatic’s 2.73:1 final-drive ratio in place of the regular Vette’s 2.41:1 ratio. In the case of the manual, it carries the Z51’s shorter gearset for livelier acceleration. Have you ever tried to fully exploit 650 horsepower on the street for anything more than a fleeting moment? If so, are you currently reading this story from the comfort of the prison rec room?Īs a full member of the Corvette brood, the Grand Sport is available with either the seven-speed manual or the eight-speed automatic transaxles. It is only in a world where less than $100,000 can buy you a factory-warrantied 600- or 700-hp car that 460 sounds unimpressive. This level of output is what Rolls-Royce used to refer to, in typical winking understatement, as “adequate.” It produces the same 460 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 465 pound-feet of torque at 4600 rpm. This particular concoction starts with the Stingray’s drivetrain, the naturally aspirated LT1 6.2-liter V-8, but fitted as standard here with the dual-mode exhaust system that’s optional on the base Stingray, plus the dry-sump arrangement of the Z51 version. And like the C6 version of the GS-as with a number of Porsche 911 variations and almost all Taco Bell menu items-the new car is an assemblage of known parts. For whatever the Grand Sport once was, it is now a full-fledged model within the Corvette lineup. Still, adding a hot, updated version a couple of years into a product’s life is never a bad idea.

Best run flat tires for c6 corvette