Corvette Z06

{Updated with some new observations on 10.14.2012}

I’m wearing a Club Monaco shirt dress, Joe Fresh belt, and Steven by Steve Madden sandals from Gilt.

It was a fun and eye opening experience to get a tour of my friend’s Corvette Z06, and even though American cars aren’t my car of choice*, I was impressed by its sheer brute power and some of its unique design features. I now notice the Z06 on the road (I’ve only seen one so far) and have a lot more respect for American car design. My friend, a GM-loving and self-proclaimed redneck who I’ll refer to as Car Guy has loved this car for many years and bought it for himself as a reward for years of hard work. To say he loves this car is an understatement.

*except for the Escalade, because I am a ghetto rapper on the inside.

Some of my favorite features of this car:

–  The POWER: 505hp, 500lb-ft torque, 7.0L V8 engine. The amount of power in this car is scary. I love my car and enjoy driving it very much, but compared to this car mine is only slightly more powerful than a household garbage disposal. The Z06 is not for running errands. If you want a powerful car for getting groceries, get the Porsche Cayenne, which is the standard car for Chinese moms in Vancouver.

– Center of Gravity: the Z06 has one of the lowest (if not the lowest) COGs in sports cars at ~15.8 inches off the ground. Pardon my use of imperial units. This is my favorite characteristic of the car because I loved doing COG calculations in university.

– Color: a pretty orange called Daytona Sunset that is very unique.

– Wheels: MASSIVE Michelin cup wheels. LOVE.

– Safety features: I was very amused by the two mini fire extinguishers in the car. Car Guy hates it when the word cute it used to describe any part of his car, but the fire extinguishers were pretty cute.

{10.14.2012 edit} Some new things I noticed after riding in the Z06 a few more times:

– Push-button door handle: I love the sound the door button makes when it’s pushed. I didn’t notice this at first because Car Guy likes to be a gentleman and open the door for me. When I noticed it I opened and closed the door repeatedly for about a minute. It makes a very sophisticated high-tech sound, like something you would hear from one of Iron Man’s gadgets. What if the electrical system is down? Fear not, there is a mechanical latch on the floor.

– Suspension, or lack thereof: You can feel the bumps on the road very acutely while riding in the Z06, and that’s with the seat cushion. Apparently, if you’re racing, you have to remove the seat cushion, so you can really wish you didn’t have feeling in your butt. I also learned that racing seat belts are painful.

– Music, what music? I’m joking a little bit about this one, but with the sound of the engine it’s difficult to listen to music. When I asked Car Guy for an auxiliary cable to plug in my iPhone for music, he laughed at me. There are no such luxuries in the Corvette!

Here’s the Top Gear episode on the Corvette Z06. It’s worth watching.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko9kzyqW-l8]

See more photos and comments by clicking “more” below.

Car Guy’s engine was autographed by Ron Fellows, a GM Le Mans driver. He’s a “Big Deal” I think.

The “safety features” of the Z06: two fire extinguishers (the other one is next to the driver’s left foot) and racing seat belts

The fire extinguisher is always within reach. Still can’t get over the fire extinguishers

Love the big tail lights

This will give you an idea of how wide the tires were. I wear a size 5 shoe.

I’m totally a rims girl and loved the rims on this car.

Car Guy has a special racing timer installed in his car for the race track and for knowing exactly how long it takes him to get to work (7 minutes) so he can sleep in as late as possible. That’s the GPS sensor on the roof. This car also has other, ahem, “additions” that I cropped out of photos.

I love the stitching on the gear shift

Slow and steady

Sunset shot with a huge moon in the background