The Corvette Grand Sport is reintroduced for the 2010 Corvette model year.
This new Grand Sport model is available as either a coupe or a convertible. It uses bodywork, wheels and tires from the Z06 Corvette, but it is powered by the LS3 Corvette engine. This powerplant allows the Grand Sport to be available with an automatic transmission. The Z06 Corvette and the ZR1 Corvette are still available, but remain distinctly different models. The Grand Sport replaces the previous Z51 option.
The 2010 Corvette Grand Sport utilizes a new front fender vent design to match with the remaining Z06 bodywork and wheels. A unique Grand Sport emblem is placed directly above the fender vents, much like the Z06 and the C3 Corvette Stingrays.
The original Grand Sport was a lightweight version of the production 1963 Corvette coupe. It was built as a competition version of the assembly line Corvette Sting Ray. It was built with a tube frame chassis, thinner gauge fiberglass, and a specially built all aluminum small block engine. Zora Arkus Duntov planned to have these lightweight Corvette Grand Sports built at a facility off grounds from any GM or Chevrolet building. Plans were made to build 125 examples to sell to racers and enthusiasts. Unfortunately, an executive board with narrow minds and undeveloped long term vision cancelled the plans for this competition version of the Corvette after only 5 had been built. The Corvette was supposed to be a competitive sports car wasn't it??
If you are craving more information about the original Corvette Grand Sports, my book, Corvette Racing Legends covers the whole story and has photos that have never before been published anywhere. Follow this link for more information.
Now lets get back to the 2010 Corvette Grand Sport.
Chevrolet had a Corvette Grand Sport back in 1996. Again both in convertible and coupe form. The power was supplied by a special LT-4 fuel injected small block engine. They were blue with white stripes running down the middle of the cars. Red hash marks were placed on the fenders. Chevrolet denied for decades, that the Corvette Grand Sport existed, and here they were painting all of them in the trademark John Mecom color scheme from the 1964 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring.....blue with a white stripe.
For 2010, the Corvette Grand Sport is available as a coupe or a convertible, but now with many more color options. The fender hash marks are still present, which are odd to this writer. No Corvette Grand Sports ever used a contrasting color on the front fenders to identify itself as it sped past the pits back in 1963 or 1964, but here is a production Corvette Grand Sport with these hash marks.
The original Corvette Grand Sports did use identifying colors to distinguish themselves from their teammates, but the tape was used on the nose of the car, not the fenders. The team that used the fender slashes was the Shelby American Cobra team, not any of the Corvette Grand Sport teams. You can see for yourself on my other website. Roger Penske is there driving his Grand Sport with the very visible hash mark on the nose of the car.
Now don't get me wrong here. I'll still probably going to buy one of these models some day, and I'm sure that my wife can picture herself in one with her hair being blown around by the wind. But I find it kind of twisted that a company who claimed for decades that they never built the cars, are now building examples that use the Grand Sport name, and bragging about the success of these models, can't even duplicate the correct paint schemes.
Despite all of that, It's still a really cool looking Corvette and it adds to the diversity of the 2010 Corvette model line. The bucket seats look really nice and comfortable. I'm spoiled by the XM Radio and the Navigation System!
The 2010 model year looks as if it will bring us 4 different Corvette models, with the base model and the new Grand Sport offering us either a coupe or convertible and the special high performance Z06 and ZR1 Corvettes continue on in their coupe configuration.
Hopefully, we won't see an L-88 or a ZL-1 "trim package" in the future!
|
