Lightning McQueen Tribute Part 1: 2016 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R

This month we have a very special birthday that we are celebrating and in honour of this person, we will be writing about his favourite movie character right now. If you couldn’t guess it from the title, we won’t blame you, that model year is not actually the true inspiration of this character – it’s the year that our nephew was born. Although you are too young to be reading this right now, I hope you enjoy this post nonetheless when you’re older. We decided to do something a little different for this week’s post, and will be splitting the entirety of the post into 2 releases – one this month, and one next month, just because our nephew is that special to us. For this 1st post, we will be writing about the 1st car behind the inspiration of the character from Pixar’s Cars Lightning McQueen, the Chevrolet Corvette C6.R. 

In a sense, and it’s really crazy to be admitting this, but 2016 was actually a decade ago, and if you are just as shocked as us at how fast the time is flying, we won’t hold it against you. So without further adieu, enjoy the read! 

Overview

Chevrolet is one of those companies that is known for their sports cars, inside and outside the race track. They are easy to spot on the road although sometimes might be considered a rare commodity to see. But you can thank the price tag the company decided to accompany these cars with for that reason. Before we reveal the price, we wanted to make sure it was noted that this car was never created with the intention of being a street legal car, or one that was available to the public to buy. It was an official factory build considered to be a dedicated racing machine that has history dating back all the way to 2005 when its main purpose was to be able to qualify Chevrolet to compete in the American Le Mans Series, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. When used by professional racers and teams, specifically Corvette Racing, these cars cost anywhere between $650,000-$750,000 to build and maintain. Knowing the fact that this car was only made for racing purposes, that will eliminate a lot of the headings we usually write about, although this car should not be judged based on this alone, if you ever get the opportunity to drive or even own one, let us know your thoughts on it in the comments. 

Now 2016 was considered to be a really iconic year for Chevrolet; the classic Camaro was reborn and won MotorTrend’s Car of the Year award, the Malibu entered into a new era with its exterior being completely redesigned as well as other minor upgrades made, the Silverado 1500 saw a major facelift, and the Cruze entered into its second generation ready for more success down the road. So it only made sense that in the year they saw their most success that they released a car that would go on to be just as iconic as the rest of their lineup.

What’s New for 2016?

For the 2016 model year, Chevrolet decided to add one more edition to the Corvette lineup – a limited production Z06 C7.R in honour of Corvette Racing’s championship victories. Now, they didn’t forget about their existing lineup and made enhancements to those as well which included new design packages and exterior paints (Twilight Blue and Spice Red), optional Apple CarPlay, a front view parking camera, and a new power-closing trunk feature. In addition to this, they also made small tweaks here and there with two tone seat options (now coming available in Adrenaline Red or Gray with the option to wrap in either leather or sueded microfiber), new stitching options (Jet Black interior variants could be optioned with red or yellow stitching), and an upgrade to the suspension (Magnetic Ride Control came available as a standalone option on the Stingray without having to be paired alongside the Z51 package).   

Engine, Transmission, and Performance

Under the hood of this beast you will find a naturally aspirated small block V8 engine that was initially developed by Katech Engine Developments and later by GM Racing. There are different variations of the same engine depending on the racing class (GT1 or GT2) and specified model year which include the following: 7.0L LS7.R, 6.0L V8, and 5.5L V8. Its horsepower ranges between a minimum of 470 (GT2) to a maximum of 590 (GT1) paired alongside its six speed sequential gearbox. Now for those that don’t know what this terminology means it is a very common transmission type found in race cars, motorcycles, and rally cars where the driver selects gears in “successive” order (1-2-3-4 or 4-3-2-1). Unlike the manual cars that allow the driver to create an H pattern when shifting this version involves pushing the shift lever forward to upshift and back to downshift. It is also commonly known as a type of non-synchronous manual transmission. 

Since it is a race car, its overall weight is quite important to racers almost as a pre-requisite of classifying this as a good race car vs a bad one. For this version, its overall weight came in at around roughly 2400-2740 lbs stripped down entirely. Top speeds for this model met approximately 174-190 MPH which is ideal for endurance and cornering.

Infotainment and Connectivity

We mentioned before that this car was meant to be one for the track exclusively so it makes sense that there are no infotainment and connectivity features. Instead, we will focus on the driver enhancements made to this car for this section that help make the racing experience that much better. Let’s start with the racing telemetry and data logging first. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the word telemetry, it simply is the automated process of collecting data (measurements, metrics, or other data) at remote or distributed points and transmitting them to a central data system for further review. This specific model is equipped with specialized Bosch or Motec data loggers and an engine control unit (ECU). These systems help to monitor the vehicles “vitals” if you will, which include engine RPM, temperatures, throttle position, gear selection, and brake pressure. 

Next is the driver display and steering wheel controls. A digitized racing dash is embedded in the steering wheel or column making it easier for the driver to see stats such as real time shift lights, lap times, and critical warning alarms. Finally we have the radio communication – to us one of the coolest elements to this car. The only way the driver is connected is through a two way pit-to-car radio system that the driver uses to communicate with the race engineers and pit crew. Are you just as tempted to buy one now like we are?

Final Thoughts

We made it to the end of part 1 which only makes room for more excitement for part 2. Stay tuned for next month’s release, and no hints, you’ll just have to come back and see what the other half is…unless you get curious and use Google of course. We wouldn’t be mad, don’t worry, so until then, stay safe and check out our previous posts in the meantime like this one linked here.