You had to see this coming. You just had to: Chevrolet scalped its hardest-core Corvette model ever, the 2015 Z06. The automaker is debuting the topless heathen at the 2014 New York auto show. “But the C7.R race car isn’t a convertible,” we can already hear you muttering under your breath, followed by, “droptops are for conceited extroverts who don’t care about driving.” Except the 2015 Corvette Z06 convertible isn’t an affront to Z06dom or the track-car universe, where the structural rigidity afforded by coupe bodies is traditionally favored over supposedly floppy, style-conscious ragtops.
That’s because it not only gets the hardtop’s full complement of road-burning hardware, but also features a chassis every bit as stiff as the Z06 coupe’s sans its removable targa roof panel. The coupe and convertible’s shared aluminum chassis is a claimed 20 percent stiffer than the that of the outgoing, fixed-roof Z06’—60 percent more rigid with the coupe’s roof panel in place—and Chevrolet claims the topless car weighs nearly the same as the coupe. Need we even bring up other great rides like the Miata or the Boxster?
So, there shouldn’t be a single non-aesthetic reason why the Z06 convertible can’t share track time—or the Z06 name—with the coupe. Besides, Chevy came close with 2013’s 427 droptop, and it sold one Z06 racing package–equipped Corvette convertible way back in 1963, so the seal has been broken. (Never mind that the automaker hasn’t offered a topless Z06 of any kind since, and the other estimated 198 ’63 Z06s were coupes.) We say that if you want your Z06 cake and want wind to whip your face while you eat it, too, that’s your business.
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Convertible
Reviewed by BlogCarShow
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5
