Corvette Chief Engineer Dave Hill answers questions submitted by (another forum) members. Read what Dave has to say about the all new C6. ......An excerpt.....

CF: Dave, can you tell us about the testing of the C6 at the Nurburgring? How did the C6 perform compared to the competition, and we you surprised at the performance level the C6 performed? What were the times turned by the C6 at the Nuerbergring and what did you learn from testing there?

DH: We have been travelling to Germany with C5 prototypes and C6 mules and prototypes every year, sometimes twice per year, since 2000. We run on the Nurburgring during Industry Days, which permit specially licensed development drivers from Industry to drive at speed on this fantastic facility. The attribute of the 'Ring is the great variety of very high speed corners and elevation changes with much greater surface variation than on typical race tracks. It makes great demands on suspension control, aerodynamic effects, brakes. Since the best European manufacturers all develop their cars on this surface, we needed to take this opportunity to learn what it would take to be better than them on the things they are so good at. We also develop on unlimited speed zones on the Autobahn, for high speed stability, maximum speed cooling, and brake performance and durability. We recently have added Jan Magnussen to our driver lineup as a development driver with great driving and development skills. The 2004 Z06, 2005 Z51 and F55, and of course the 2006 Z06 are better cars than they would otherwise be by the use of this facility. We even have built a facility of our own at Milford which includes replicas of some of the most challenging portions of Nurburgring and other racetracks on which we have developed over the years. It improves our effectiveness closer to home.
With so much traffic on the Nurburgring (you might encounter everything from a GTI to an SLR in a typical lap) you can imagine how unpredictable a "clean lap" would be. The last time we ran for time was on the 2004 Z06, which recorded one lap of 7'56". The 2005 would not be quite as good. We will be there in April with a production built Z06, and hope to get a good time for that one.


CF: Diamond White is a popular color on GM's high end cars, will we ever see this color on the Corvette?

DH: There was a sincere effort to develop white diamond or something similar for the XLR. The uniqueness of Bowling Green painting: individual panels which have conductive primer but are not as good at holding a static electric charge as a complete metal body with all panels adjoining made it impossible to achieve our standard for appearance quality with this type of finish. Our studio continues to create showy finishes like Anniversary Red and LeMans Blue, and you will see more in 2006. I think you'll like what we have coming.

CF: Would the Corvette team consider unbundling some option packages? For the not so near affluent buyer, one who has to consider each penny, let alone dollar, spent on what is a discretionary purchase, it would make it easier for some of us to buy a new Corvette. On a coupe that 1SB alone is a $2,955.00 jump over 1SA.

DH: A big factor is Corvette's success is high quality and high value, which is partly enabled by efficient manufacturing. And a big factor in that is control over the proliferation of options. By "packaging" options into groups, we are able to do our best of validating everything we will build and managing the complexity so it does not degrade quality or productivity. Having said that, in 2005 we have lowered the entry coupe by $1300, and added choices like NAV, On*, XM which were not availible in the past. And have 8 exteriors,4 interiors, two transmissions, three suspensions, two wheels, even before adding the Z06 next year. We are always interested in what people want and what we could do better, but that is the explanation for where we are today. To support customers' desire to personalize their Corvette, we have a very good quantity of merchandise coming from Genuine Corvette Accessories to extend the choices of authentic Corvette goodies you can specify at point of sale. Check this out on the web.

CF: Why not make the Corvette easier to lift in order to service or change tires and wheels, oil changes, etc...? Dealers often damage the rocker panels with their lifts or worse dropped the car off of their lifts.

DH: We have improved the robustness of the opening in the rocker into which the jack is to be inserted to properly lift the longitudinal rail. It is 1" wider and more than 2" longer, to reduce the chance of mistakes. I will send some images of the improvement we have put into C6. All Corvette dealers are expected to own the jacking pads, the use of which is called for in all lifting service procedures, to prevent rocker damage. They should always be used. Owners who do their own work can purchase these J-43625 tools in 2-part sets from GM's service tools provider by dialing 1-800-345-2233. I'm told Eckler's also sells their version, which I have not seen.

It's great to see that GM found a super engineer to even go beond where Zora left off. This should be an insperation to all Corvette owners to rise above and make your Vette all it can be!
Steve