New Car Overview of the 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Sports Car

Description: Sports Car
Base MSRP Range: Not Yet Available
Invoice Price Range: Not Yet Available
Where built: Not Yet Available

Z06 is a high-performance take-off of Chevy's fabled Corvette, based on the C6 Corvette that debuted in 2005. It's the quickest production 'Vette yet.

What's behind that Z06 nameplate? That tracks back through history to 1963 when Corvette's chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov concocted a special showroom race car version of the then-new Corvette Sting Ray split-window coupe. The Z06 RPO (Regular Production Option) Sting Ray contained a heavy-duty suspension with stronger brakes, an expanded fuel tank, fuel injectors, GM's Positraction rear axle and a four-on-the-floor manual shifter.

The Z06 of 2006, like the rare issues of 1963, also adds up to a showroom race car. It arrives with a hand-built LS7 V8 engine that displaces 7.0 liters and develops huge muscle -- 500 hp. As with Corvette's C6-R race car, the new Z06 employs lightweight and exotic materials to trim weight -- the body is made mostly from aluminum with touches of carbon fiber and magnesium. Brembo-brand racing brakes are aboard, along with bolstered sport buckets in the two-seat cockpit. Z06 is incredibly quick, capable of ripping from 0-to-60 in less than four seconds and tracking a top speed in excess of 190 mph.