Corvette Z06 now in Australia
February 19, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
At the Brisbane International Motorshow we had the chance to sit inside the right hand 7.0 litre Corvette Z06 coupe, boasting a top speed of 319 km/h, the car which costs nearly half the price of its European supercar rivals, is not only faster but also felt more comfortable.
To our surprise of course a company in QLD, Performax International, formerly Corvette Queensland have taken it upon themselves to bring this icon to our shores.
Performax International imports the vehicles and converts them to right-hand drive and Australian Design Rule requirements in-house at its Gympie factory. As Corvette Queensland, it has had an 18-year history in importing and converting American cars and trucks. It is the biggest and most experienced such company in Australia and is certified for ISO Quality Assurance.
The Corvette Z06 comes in only one highly-defined version – a coupe with manual transmission- and is priced at $240,000, plus on-road costs. It is retailed directly by Performax International. Other cars in the Performax international stable include
- Corvette C6 Coupe automatic ($180,000), Convertible automatic ($190,000)
- Hummer H2 ($149,000)
- Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks, fitted with 6.6 litre Duramax 890 Nm turbodiesel V8 ($115,000)
- Cruiser 5th-wheel caravans ($115,000)
- Chevrolet Camaro (by request),
- Corvette C5, (by request)
- Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe, (by request)
- GMC Yukon and Plymouth Prowler (by request)
Anyway, enough about Performax International, and back to the Corvette Z06. Housing a LS7 7.0 litre alloy V8 engine, hydroformed lightweight body structure, carbonfibre panels and race-bred suspension, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is the fastest production car General Motors has ever made.
The Z06’s LS7 engine delivers 505 horsepower (377 kW) in a 1421 kg package. According to GM official figures, this produces 0-60 miles an hour (97 km/h) performance of 3.7 seconds in first gear, A quarter-mile time of 11.7 seconds at 125 mph (102 km/h) and a top speed of 198 mph (319 km/h) – the last recorded on the German Autobahn.
LS7 V8
At the heart of the Z06, the highly-developed LS7 returns the legendary moniker”427 cubic inch” engine to the Corvette vocabulary. Unlike the earlier “big-block” 427 engine, the 7.0-litre LS7 is a small-block unit – and the largest-displacement small-block ever produced by Chevrolet and GM.
LS7 shares the same basic Gen IV V8 architecture as the Corvette C6’s 6.0-litre LS2, but uses a different block casting with steel cylinder liners. The dry-sumped LS7 also has a different front cover, oil pan, exhaust manifolds and cylinder heads, among many other special components.
Internally, the LS7’s reciprocating components make use of racing-derived lightweight technology, including titanium connecting rods and intake valves, to help boost power and rpm capability – the rev limit is reached at 7100.
Special LS7 features include:
- Dry-sump lubrication
- Unique cylinder block casting with large, 104.8 mm bores and pressed-in liners
- Forged steel main bearing caps
- Forged steel crankshaft
- Titanium connecting rods with 101.6 mm stroke
- Cast aluminium flat-top pistons
- 11.0:1 compression
- High-lift camshaft
- CNC-ported aluminium cylinder heads with titanium intake valves and sodium-filled exhaust valves
- Low-restriction air intake system
- Hydroformed exhaust headers with unique”quad flow” collector flanges.
Drivetrain
A single-mass flywheel and lightweight, high-capacity clutch channel torque to the rear transaxle. The six-speed ZF manual gearbox – only manual is available in the Z06 – has been strengthened to handle the LS7’s increased torque. The transmission includes a pump that sends oil to a front radiator for cooling. The fluid removes additional heat from the differential before returning to the transmission.
The gearbox connects to a limited-slip differential and then through strengthened half-shafts with tougher universal joints to the rear wheels.
Chassis
The Z06 has a unique aluminium body structure for optimum stiffness and light weight. Perimeter rails are one-piece hydroformed aluminium members featuring cast suspension nodes, which replace many welded steel components on other Corvette models. Other castings, stampings and extrusions are combined into the structure with state-of-the-art technologies.
Advanced structural composites featuring carbonfibre are bonded to the aluminium. The wider front wheelhouses, for example, are carbon composites and the passenger compartment floors combine carbonfibre skins with an ultra-lightweight balsa wood core.
A magnesium cradle serves as the attachment point for the engine and some front suspension components. The lightweight cradle helps improve the front-to-rear weight distribution, as do carbonfibre front guards and wheelhouses.
The battery is re-located from the engine compartment to the boot.
Suspension, brakes
The Z06 retains the 2686-mm wheelbase of other Corvette models, as well as the short-long arm (SLA) suspension and transverse leaf spring design, but it rides on all-new wheels, tyres and brakes, as well as its own rear spring and roll stabiliser.
Wheels are cast-spun aluminium, 18 in. x 8.5 in. with P245/40ZR18 tyres at the front and 19 in. x 10 in. rims with P285/35ZR19 tyres at the rear. It’s the largest wheel-and-tyre combination ever offered on a Corvette.
Tyres are Goodyear Eagle F1. Ironically, due to Australian regulatory requirements, the original new tyres are replaced with identical tyres that must be certified as “new” and fitted locally.
Fittingly, the Z06 comes with enormous stopping power – 355 mm vented and cross-drilled front rotors and 340 mm vented and cross-drilled rear rotors.
Red-painted six-piston calipers incorporating six individual brake pads are employed at the front. Individual brake pads are used because they deliver more equalised wear compared to what would otherwise be a very long single-piece pad.
At the rear brakes, four-piston calipers are used, again with four individual pads. ABS is a Delphi four-channel system, coupled to traction control and an Active Handling system, incorporating a”competition” mode.
Design
The Z06 has an unmistakable and aggressive appearance, with design cues that include:
- A wide nose with a large grille opening and splitter below, and wheel opening extensions along the sides to provide aerodynamic downforce
- A cold air scoop in the bonnet that integrates an air inlet system for the engine
- The trailing edge of the front wheel opening is radiused to achieve improved drag, but protects the body finish with a tough moulding, and a large air extractor is located behind the wheel
- Fixed-roof bodystyle optimises rigidity and mass
- Wider rear guards with flares cover the massive rear tyres and a brake cooling scoop in front of the wheels visually balances the front guard extractor
- 10-spoke wheels
- Four larger stainless steel exhaust outlets
- Z06 badging on the carbonfibre front guards
High-Intensity Discharge lighting, fog lamps, leather seating, dual-zone air conditioning, cabin air filtration and head-up display (HUD) with track mode and G-meter are standard.
Australian versions feature supportive sports seats upholstered in perforated leather with crossed-flag embroidery and contrasting stitching. An AM/FM radio with CD player and MP3 capability is standard.
Click to read the Corvette Z06 Specification Sheet
Many more pictures taken at the Brisbane Motorshow can be found here
Tags: Corvette Z06
$240,000… is that a joke? Nice car, but I wouldnt buy one even if I had a billion dollars.
nice pain job! who is the body man?
nice paint job… who is the body shop?
really??? but it’s yellow
Awesome!
I would love to have one someday…I have my car installed with DC sports cold air intake, i like its performance on the racing track.
^
Yeah but Im sure its already got a better intake then that piece of sh*t your trying to sell…. in fact I would say an 80s Camry has a better intake then that crap, they do shyte in all in terms of power.
why are you so bitter paul? get a life
At $200,000 plus, you won’t see many of these on Australian roads. If it was $100,000 I’d buy one.
Live in Dubai and have one, costs 83,000AUD New
Awsome car simply blows everything on the track,lambos,ferris,etc what a bargin!
Thats the tax man for ya.
Bringing it back next year YYYEEEEEEHHHHH
The Corvette’s a cool car but $240,000 seems to pricey in Australia. But you do get what you pay for.
In America the Z06 is only USD$70,000.00 but that sum of in Australian dollars would be about $80,000! For $240,000 you choose to either buy a house or the Corvette and live in it.
Why do these cars have to be so expensive in Australia?! (Feel free to answer if you want.)
Sab – the car is so expensive because they have to swap everything in the car from one side to another!
Hopefully Chevrolet be importing the next model of these cars within a couple of years (as they plan to make a RHD model due to high levels of interest in Japan), so then they will be available to us for much less than $240,000.
:D
i hope so i’d rather buy a 911 for that little bit more and get the status figre aswell as the performance like my muscle cars but it costs 30 grand to do a rhd conversion luxury tax is only about 8 grand no way is the cost equal too 240g bet yo’d still looking at plus 150 same as new challenger an camaro we can only hope it is american ater all lol keep ya money buy german
Im with you Michael!!
For those of you who haven’t worked it out, Aussies get systematically ripped off by importers who buy cars, bikes etc with the strong Aussie dollar, do NOT pass on the savings and claim that this is the “cost of doing business”. A load of crap, anyone who has travelled OS knows you can buy, say a new Ford F250 ute for under 20 grand, yet here in Oz used examples sell for 4 times that. Harleys, Dukes, you name the marque, all retail for 15-20%% less in the US, but we continue to make the importers rich, kind of sucks wouldn’t you say? Importers are giving to Aussie enthusiasts up the arse, enthusiastically, and laughing all the way to the bank.
why pay the importers anything at all,,,do some homework and bring it over yourself,,i just brought a new ls7 crate engine over which took about 10 days and saved 7 grand ,,just my bit of a say
$240,000!! Biggest rip off I’ve ever heard of.
240,000 AUS Plus on road! yep i saw these in L.A. a few weeks ago 72,000 US Plus on road.
with import duty 11,000, shipping say 20,000, Cange over to RHD (which you dont have to do you can REGO as LHD)say another 20,000.
That ADD up to 123,000, what the hell is the other 100,000plus dollars for.
Bendover Aussies and get RIPPED OFF!!! what a Joke!
Just import your own.
u guys are so right it is a major rip off and wha does the government do say ok we baught it for this much lets sell it for this much and rip everyone off
hello,
very nice car, but 240 000.-
….look at my “nice” car. it cost 12500.- €, 698ccm, 82PS and 3 zylinder
http://www.motoclan.de
greetings from “cold” GERMANY ;-)