There are not many cars nowadays having such charisma that mentioning its model provokes your friend to say with an expert face: “Wow, that’s a really awesome car”.
There are not many cars nowadays about which there are composed such many songs so you are not able to remember all of them. And there is russian rock and roll («Agatha Christie» — «Corvette goes to heaven») and Johnston Brothers with “Corvette song”, and my favorite Prince, aka Artist — “Little Red Corvette”...
And how many movies was this car filmed in! Not every actor has such cinematic destiny. Do you remember a race between two Chevrolets — Corvette and Camaro in the movie «Return of the Hero»? And now «Captain America» will appear in cinemas with Corvette filmed as well. Besides that, I discovered at least 17 more films with different generations of «Corvettes», and also it was filmed in the famous «Cars” cartoon.
Speaking seriously name «Corvette» came from small and highly maneuverable warships and not from «Star Wars». And this is a sign. Engineers say that the new generation was created for maneuver. Riding a straight line is not their nature.
However, we had the opportunity to test this statement. This spring at the Dmitrov test track during the 12th Unlim 500 + Festival a new Stingray was driven by a man persistent and purposeful. Albert Demchenko, luge vice-champion of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi drove a handsome red car.
It was the first drag racing experience for Albert, but he is quite experienced in driving powerful and distinctive cars. And it was very interesting to see how he is going deeper step by step into the process and how he starts to get fun.
And I must say that Albert and Stingray discovered each other, and in a straight line «little red corvette» did it best! His result at 1 km is 23 seconds, top speed is 238.5 kmh. Definitely this car is able to drive a straight line!
Generally, Corvette Stingray is quite unexpected. It is one big contradiction to all the latest trends in the traditional automotive industry. First and foremost — is the engine. Corvette has 6.2 liters, which of course are not usual 8 or 9 liters for US cars, and not 1.2 —1.4 liters, popular nowadays in Europe and Asia. Taking in account such size of the engine, fuel consumption about 14–18 liters in the city looks very pleasant.
And another thing that amazes — this seven-speed manual gearbox, and this is kind of happiness! It is not a problem even with the 466 hp of power on urban roads and in traffic jams. Unless you like manual shifting, of course. Pretty tough clutch nevertheless allows a smooth start, gear switching passes gently. Another point is that in Moscow traffic you will never use 7-th gear unless you switch it especially. Even electronic tip never offered this option. Everything is changed in the highway. M4 «Don» highway with the maximum allowed speed at 130 kmh has become a testing road for me. And here I switched to the 7th. So what?
7th gear continues the sixth on long accelerations. For example, Albert during his 1 km passes in Dmitrov track used it every attempt. 130 kmh and even 150 kmh did not imply the necessity of the 7th. What are we talking about, if the first gear exceeds 100 kmh? When the speedometer shows 150 it's time to switch the third gear!
Actually, the third gear is the most versatile for Stingray. It can start without any problem and the range of gear ratios allows lazy people to go around the city using the only 3rd gear without switching. Practically the same can be applied to the fourth gear. Well, regarding the fifth, it is uncomfortable to start with it :)
This is, of course, a joke, but — as you know, there is a part of truth in every joke... No wonder this car has many technologies borrowed from motorsport, from C6.R car for example. There is one interesting racing «trick»: Stingray is equipped with on-board telemetry Performance Data Recorder, which records and allows you to analyze the data from your racing attempts and understand how and what to do next.
And now, few words from the soul: it is fantastically beautiful and charismatic car, to which is difficult to find an equal. Definitely it has its own character, but if you're ready to drive something different from a soap-box and to give a real sports car attention, reaction, and respect — the pleasure will be unlimited. Three nights in a row, I went to the Moscow avenues to get a portion of adrenaline and attention and I got it. Give a bit more throttle than is needed and you can pass the curve with light drift. Open the throttle while you are waiting for the green light and it starts with a smoke from the rear wheels.
At the same time, if you remove the top part of the roof, you enjoy soft sunsets, and all others are enjoying muscular silhouette, powerful sound and unreal color of your car.
Well, this car can’t leave anyone indifferent and it always attracts attention. If you can live with this sense — Corvette Stingray is the most funky car for you!
