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Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Callaway 2015 Corvette C7 Z06 upgrade to the rescue?

Typically, when there is a chance to earn extra money to buy another hair piece, Reese Callaway jumps on the opportunity.  Callaway already exploited the void in C7 line up before Z06 came out and offered his own supercharged and kinda factory warrantied version of the latest base Stingray.

The problem for Callaway, just like with the previous generation of Corvette is that his efforts are marketed as a joint venture with +General Motors , along the approach German tuners take with BMW and Mercedes.  Obviously, there is a price to pay for this symbiotic relationship and Callaway's cars reside not exactly at the top of Corvette line up, just slightly below the newest flagship.  There is still a great profit for Callaway there and for his hair pieces and not being the top dog is not the end of the world for Reese.

More or less, the relationship with Callaway backfired at GM, in light of the latest Z06 disaster.  Even though the Callaway offering has slightly less power, it seems to be considerably more successful on the strip and track, faster and more consistent.  This is actually a great irony here since Callaway is as always a cheap ass, doing little R&D and resorting to a hacksaw to make the supercharger fit in his cars.  No matter how crude this may be, driving around with a big hole in the hood, the larger supercharger works and heat soak is not nearly as much of an issue as it is with the Z06.

So now, here is this strange situation, a factory flagship being outdone by a less powerful aftermarket offering at lesser price as well.  But... there is also a new opportunity for Callaway here: cashing in on +Tadge Juechter 's incompetence and improving on the currently failed Z06.  Callaway already has a hacksaw, thus, swapping the little turdy OEM supercharger for his standard issue 2300 should not be all that complicated, cooling upgrades and intercooler upgrade may be an issue but unlikely to hamper the overall effort.

The problem here is: will GM let Callaway offer his own Z06 version?  If GM does this, it will be nothing short of admission of guilt and failure to deliver a real supercar.  Chances are very good that the Corvette inbreeds would be considerably more inclined to give Callaway their 20 grand while retaining a warranty on their car than risking blowing their motor after spending the same amount with aftermarket tuner who will not offer them any warranty.

Can Callaway convince GM to hack up the Z06 and most likely make it run or will GM refuse to allow him to take away their bragging rights regarding the fastest and most trackable Corvette ever?

Maybe GM can let Callaway have fun with the hacksaw and call the result ZORA?  In all seriousness, unless GM has a more powerful Corvette coming soon (one that actually can sustain the power), it is unlikely that Callaway will be allowed to modify the Z06.

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