Well, that’s that then. Chrysler’s troubles, which are hopefully being resolved, have, in the meantime, meant mass plant closings and temporary idling for many workers. Another casualty, it would seem, would be the Viper, Chrysler’s impressive sports car.

The Viper has been the only American car to seriously challenge the Corvette for sports car supremacy. Indeed, in the history of American car manufacturing, this country has been woefully underrepresented in the sports car world. Besides the Vette and the Viper, there have been precious few American sports cars. Sure, there have been sporty cars, things like early T-Birds and the Kaiser Darrin, and an argument could be made for the first Cobras, but those were basically an English chassis with an American V8 crammed under the bonnet, not exactly a home grown sports car. It would seem that collectively we decided to leave high performance two seaters to the Europeans (and later the Japanese) and more’s the pity because of it.

Chrysler has made noises about selling the Viper line to any other carmaker that is interested, but so far, nobody has popped up. Chrysler was planning to end Viper production before 2011, so it’s not like this sad news comes as a total surprise, it’s just a little sooner than we thought the end would come.

Source: LeftLaneNews

Photo from Flickr user ANATOLI AXELROD

Chevrolet is bringing back all the old favorites. First, it was the Camaro and now it’s the Corvette Stingray, which they recently unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show.

When Chevrolet started their pitch to get both post-gen and young drivers interested in what they touted as the “Return of the Camaro” the marketers at GM decided to place the car in the first Transformers movie. It turned out to be a very smart move. As Bumblebee, the new Camaro was a big star in the highly successful film and definitely generated some major buzz.

(Photos after the jump)
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Top Gear, everyone’s favorite den of auto gadgetry (other than this site of course) has announced their top list of the best supercars of 2008. Yes SUPERcars—cars that go behind the mere mortal cars that we peasants drive, to become, well, super. Their favs include insanely fast and expensive vehicles that are not just all flash, but also all muscle. Here’re a few from the past 12 months that stood head and shoulders above all others:

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Looks like Aston Martin really wants to beat the bow-tie boy’s Corvette, doesn’t it?

Just to get you up to speed, for a while now, Aston Martin, under the guise of a ProDrive propped & managed Vantage GT4 have been duking it out with Chevy’s Corvette in the FIA’s GT series, most notably at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And when I say ‘duking it out’, I ain’t kidding. Last June’s 24 Hours was a total slug fest, with the lead swapping multiple times a lap, it seemed.

The boys from Gaydon want more, hence they just rolled out the upcoming GT4 Vantage.

A 4.7 liter V8 replaces the old 4.3 mill. There’s a new free flow exhaust system and air filters (more air in and out) and you get your choice of either a six speed manual, or a Sportshift transmission with paddle controls. Both boxes have a Valeo twin-plate cerametallic racing clutch mated to a lightweight flywheel. It tips the scales at 2,932 pounds, which is 660 pounds lighter than the street Vantage V8 (no C & C features on the track boys). Of course there’s all the standards racing gear; roll cage, fire suppression system, 6-point harness, etc.

The suspension is only mildly tweaked from the original road car. Larger diameter front and rear anti-roll bars, adjustable ride height aluminum shocks, as well as single rate, flat ground springs with separate helper springs. You can dial in extra camber and castor via a modified front subframe and there are bespoke cast magnesium front and rear wheels wrapped in high performance Yokohama A048-R tires. The brakes are uprated with Pagid RS 29 pads.

Oh, and they’re selling them. Price? a mere $143,000 US.

Source: CarScoop

By Derek Mau

I’m supposed to be on vacation in Hawaii. The plan was to spend a few relaxing days visiting relatives, friends and some quality time with the GF. Early Saturday morning I passed by the Honolulu Zoo driving up to Diamondhead to do some hiking. What caught my attention was a row of modified and restored Corvettes with very shiny paint and their proud owners polishing the chrome with their micro-fiber cloths. Whoa! What is happening here?
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A ZR1 was never part of the original C6 plan, but, at an early program review, the Z06’s proposed aluminum frame, carbon-fiber parts, and LS7 engine so impressed CEO Rick Wagoner he casually mentioned aloud, “Geez, if that’s what you can do with $60,000, I wonder what a $100,000 Corvette would look like?” With no more formal authorization than that, Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter and his team launched a skunkworks effort dubbed “Blue Devil” — a nod to the boss’s Duke alma mater.

The power behind this tire-burning, road hazzard is the new LS9, a supercharged and intercooled, 6.2-liter version of the famed small-block V-8 that is assembled by hand at GM’s Performance Build Center in Michigan. The LS9 uses a new, sixth-generation Eaton supercharger that expands the effectiveness of the compressor, helping give the engine terrific low-end torque and high-rpm power. The tremendous power boost of the “blower” allowed the engineers to spec a “smaller” cam than we use on the Z06’s LS7 engine, giving the ZR1 exceptional drivability. You can drive this car to work every day and it doesn’t beat you up, yet you can drive it to a racetrack on the weekend and “school” the competition.

In-car video of Jim Mero’s smokin’ lap of Nürburgring below the jump

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by D.A.

Pros:

• Great driving feel
• Extremely fast, yet handles beautifully
• Unique, well-executed features like “Head-Up Display”

Cons:

• Cheap interior quality; low-grade plastic feel
• Poor layout and functionality for interior buttons (radio, AC, etc.)

Introduction

I must admit, I have never been a big fan of Corvettes. Yes, I know it’s supposed to be a great American supercar – all car magazines rave about it, admiring its powerful engine, great handling, and so on. But still. I always thought it never really stood a chance against British, German or Italian supercars. Plus, for some reason over the years the Corvette owner didn’t evoke a very positive image. Somehow that was the image of a guy like the ladies’ man character Larry in the old TV series “Three’s Company”. Shirt open halfway down, gold chain, big fluffy hair…
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638 Hp From The Supercharged LS9 V-8

PONTIAC, Mich. – When it was introduced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this year, the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1’s power was estimated at 100 horsepower for each of its 6.2 liters of displacement. GM Powertrain has completed SAE certification of the ZR1’s supercharged LS9 V-8 and the results exceed the estimate: 638 horsepower (476 kW) and 604 lb.-ft. of torque (819 Nm).

The LS9’s output is nearly 103 horses per liter, or just about 1.7 horses for each of the engine’s 376 cubic inches. It is unquestionably the most powerful automotive production engine ever manufactured by General Motors and enables the Corvette ZR1 to achieve a top speed of more than 200 mph (322 km/h).

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DETROIT – Chevrolet announced the 2008 Corvette 427 Limited Edition Z06, a limited-production model that pays homage to the big-block Stingray models of the mid-1960s. The 427 designation refers to the cubic-inch displacement for the highest-performance engines offered between 1966 and ’69 – and is also the cubic-inch equivalent of the Z06’s 7.0L LS7 small-block V-8.

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2009 Corvette ZR1 Powered By The Most Powerful Production Engine Ever From GM: The Supercharged LS9 Small-Block V-8

PONTIAC, Mich. – When it arrives next summer, the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 will be the most powerful and fastest production car ever produced by General Motors, with performance enabled by a new, supercharged 6.2L LS9 small-block V-8 engine.

Incorporating the engineering experience already found in the Corvette Z06’a LS7 engine and the new-for-2008 6.2L LS3 of the Corvette, GM Powertain is targeting 100 horsepower per liter for the LS9, or 620 horsepower (462 kW), and approximately 595 lb.-ft. of torque (807 Nm); final SAE-certified power levels will be available in early March 2008.

It is, indeed, the ultimate small-block engine for the ultimate Corvette. Read the rest of this entry �