With all the money GM has spent over the years transporting cars and crews over to Germany, you’d think that it would be easier just to build an American version of the“Green Hell” aka Nürburgring. Surely there has to be a racetrack somewhere in the continental U.S. that would give a similar bang for the buck?
I supposed anything European has “street cred” to some folks, but Corvette people? They have a deep passion for all things “local” aka Made in the USA, and I wonder if the cache of “tested at the Nürburgring” really resonates with the “Plastic Fantastic” crowd.
Either way, this silvery Z06 is hauling ass around the ‘Ring on a beautiful spring day. The C7’s styling gets better every time you look at it and all of the aesthetic quibbles voiced at its intro have long since melted away. Any car looks better in motion and our hometown hero really looks great at speed. With 650 hp this Vette effortlessly gets flung around the course.
The slinky body work is a little too hunkered down for the circuit and at about 1:00 into the clip, it scrapes its underbelly on an uneven section of track. An Audi R8 that follows fares better as it randomly hits at different angle, though it looks a little less stable.
One of the benefits of the Nürburgring is a lot of manufacturers test there and it is always interesting to see who else is validating a new model or just doing some high speed tweaking. Be sure and check out the two white Mercedes C-Class sedans, a Porsche 911 and the aforementioned R8. They all have a great view of those newfangled taillights…