The plate of treats, assembled by the biggest jive turkey of them all, +Tadge Juechter was originally offered at SEMA and is currently offered through participating GM dealers happy to see a solution to their constant headaches derived from C7 owners insisting on having their cars fixed under warranty.
Here is a funny offering from that plate, there will be more soon, of course:
A 600-watt cooling fan "upgrade" offered to the owners of the base and Z51 equipped Corvette C7 Stingray. Apparently, the fan upgrade will allow the C7 owners "tracking" their cars to increase their cars performance potential? Hmmm...
Right off the bat, +Tadge Juechter and his crew take a very interesting approach to peddling performance electric cooling fan: advertising the power drawn by the fan in lieu of the airflow (typically provided in US in cfm). Is this a case of chief engineer being so clueless or perhaps a calculated marketing approach to attract truly stupid Corvette owners drawn to items that offer power increase?
Who would be so stupid to advertise a PARASITIC POWER DRAW as a marketing bait? Are the Corvette owners really so stupid (asking rhetorically)?
Now, if Juechter was really about performance, the upgrade would be a real one: offering air flow increase while requiring LESS POWER because extra electric draw puts extra load on the alternator and this in turn causes more drag on the engine, something that is usually reserved for the high power car audio tools and certainly nothing that could increase car's performance on the track. Maybe this is an audio fan? Making racing sounds while the piece of shit limps along the track? No way to know but maybe this is what this upgrade really means?
However, there is more to it and what GM claims amounts to nothing less than another marketing fraud (now, there is a surprise, LOL).
Here is the GM description of the fan upgrade directly from the GM's ass:
The problem is that among the performance enhancements for the track, the cooling fan matters the least, assuming the track events takes place above about 30 mph. It is a well known fact that as speed goes up, the less air has to be drawn through the radiator because air velocity goes up (those pesky physics and fluid dynamics laws again). That decreased demand is the reason why active air intake shutters exist, improving aerodynamics that suffer a lot at higher speeds, with a fixed air intake opening.
Now, what matters for a track oriented car, with regards to cooling? Air circulation and efficiency of the cooling system, radiator specifically, combined with prevention of pressure build up. The parts of the car design that address this part are the air intake opening, air intake itself and radiator shroud.
Ironically enough, at higher speeds, the shroud itself is considerably more important than the electric fan that should never ran during track events, while on the track. If the fan would run at higher speeds, there is a phenomenon called AIR STALLING that would prevent air flow from taking place.
In addition, shrouds design for high performance include trap doors frequently, to prevent the aforementioned pressure build up.
So what does this electric fan have to do with track oriented improvements? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! The latest Corvettes, including the certified piece of shit C7 Z06 flagship suffer from overheating problems at high speeds, not low speeds where cooling fans matter. Perhaps this is an upgrade allowing a more effective cool off lap that new Corvettes require as a rule, even in cold weather?
Now, if track performance improvement was really the objective, Juechter and his crew could at least revisit the air flow situation and at least pretend they have a clue but apparently nobody bothers...
Will there be Corvette C7 owning morons falling for this marketing fraud? Of course there will be, as always, intelligence is not a quality associated with typical Corvette owners, they are ignorant and outright stupid as a rule and the fact GM takes full advantage of this situation is very easy to see...
Your shitting me, GM performance is offering a 100 watt upgrayed to meet track performance. Ole Tadge puts out more wind than that.
ReplyDeletePeter - I appreciate your correct comments regarding Tadge Juechter, the C7 ZO6, the "new GM" and how Dave Hill got screwed. You are correct about the heat issue with the ZO6 and Juechter's curious attempts to address the symptoms instead of the cause - which is poor engineering. Doesn't speak well of either Juecter's technical knowledge or his truthfulness.
ReplyDeleteBut IMHO you went a little over the top when you called all Corvette owners "ignorant and outright stupid".
Thx - Chuck (BSME and performance enthusiast).
On the one hand, I can see Griff777's point regarding the suggestion that Peter has gone "over the top" when he refers to Corvette owners as "ignorant and outright stupid." On the other hand, Peter has pretty much described my experience with these owners on forums, facebook, etc............ I'll tell you why.
ReplyDeleteI started researching the purchase of my next sports car about 2 years ago. I was interested in several cars: Ferrari 355/360/430, Lamborghini Gallardo, Porsche 911 Turbo, Corvette C7 Z06, SRT Viper GTS, Audi R8. I am a strong believer in doing your research, particularly when spending over $100K on a car, and because that's what I've been trained to do as a lawyer. I figured the best way to go about this endeavour was to sign up on the various forums regarding these vehicles, and see what the "true" ownership experience was like, instead of being fed the bullshit spewed forth by a marketing team, or Tadge Juechter. I quickly found some interesting characteristics with respect to the owners of the various cars I was researching.
For example, the Ferrari owners tended to be more "pretentious" and "snobbish", but they readily admitted that the reliability of their cars was lacking. The Lambo owners, on the other hand, were more laid back, and with Audi involved in the production of their Gallardo, suffered far less reliability issues. The one thing I found about the Corvette owners was, despite the fact that their cars were breaking and imploding every bit as much or more than guys who owned old Ferraris (i.e. more than 3 years old. Ferrari ownership works like "dog years".) they seemed to maintain a defiant and what might be described as "ignorant" view of their cars. While Ferrari owners tended to have the "I'm better than you attitude" regarding themselves personally, they were readily prepared to admit all of the flaws and faults with their cars. Corvette owners, on the other hand, defended Tadge and the car to the point of complete absurdity, and still do.
Ultimately, I decided to purchase a Viper GTS for various reasons.
As for the Corvette owners. Their inability to admit that the C7 Z06 Corvette has been a complete failure in so many respects, and their willingness to attack anyone who brings this to their attention, makes them ignorant for not recognizing the cars deficiencies, and stupid for buying such an underperforming car when a little bit of research would have saved them from such a huge mistake. Now they are stuck with payments on a car they can't drive on the track, and can't sell because everyone knows what a piece of shit it is. If they were more like the Ferrari owners who go, "Yean, I know it might catch on fire at any moment, but hey, it's a Ferrari, and I love it." then they'd be tolerable. But instead, Corvette owners display an outright ignorance and stupidity not found on any of the other car forums. They will defend Tadge and the car to the bitter end, and instead of admitting their car is a plagued by a multitude of design flaws, they insult and ridicule anyone who brings these facts to their attention. Yes, Peter, you are correct. IMHO, a vast majority of the new Corvette owners are "ignorant and outright stupid."