When the C6 ZR1 was originally conceived, Dave Hill had no intention whatsoever to use a supercharger on that car. As any good engineer would do, Dave used his engineering and scientific skills to come up with a design he considered worthy of a supercar- twin turbo system force feeding the small block. Yes, the original ZR1 was supposed to be a turbo charged car, setting a performance bar higher than what the production ZR1, powered by LS9 delivered.
As with anything that happens in GM, cost is the major design consideration and unfortunately, the ultimate objective. Investing as little as possible while charging as much as possible is the GM way and this way has not changed until today.
Since turbo systems require a very comprehensive design, they are not cheap to develop, especially when high power output is required. The twin turbo system requires serious considerations to deal with heat and packaging. Needless to say, Dave Hill received quite a bit of resistance from GM management, after the R&D proposals and associated costs were submitted. Undeterred, Dave Hill continued with his original idea, to the point where sustainable design was finally created.
Enter Tadge Juechter, a GM engineer with Eton connection, the same person who happened to lead the design team for another GM brand, Cadillac and specifically, its flagship model, XLR.
XLR was a great illustration of the fact that stupid people do not learn from their own mistakes. With a delusion of being a premium brand, supposedly a valid alternative to Mercedes and BMW, Cadillac attempted to create a flagship model for its line up, targeting the Mercedes SL line of two seater luxury coupes. After failing with its first attempt, Allante, Cadillac pressed on and tried once again, this time with a hardtop convertible car, called XLR. In charge of the second attempt was none other than Tadge Juechter.
Since good ole Tadge prefers shortcuts instead of actual engineering, the XLR amounted to a Corvette C5 chassis, with air suspension and supposedly improved Northstar V8 4.6 l DOHC derivative of the LT5 engine. The final product was typical Juechter: heavy, complex and underpowered and underperforming-a far cry from the corresponding Mercedes SL of the same period (not like SL was a top performer since it was never designed to be a sports car anyway).
After sales and reviews of the XLR hit the bottom due to horrible defects and quality problems and breakdowns (sounds familiar?), Tadge decided to "spice up" the XLR by adding power to it. Since Tadge was familiar with people at Eton, he made a deal with them to use their M122 supercharger on the XLR, proposing this modification to his superior. The cost was low (as were the power gains) and Tadge got a permission to use the supercharger on the XLR, the result was pretty pathetic, with the car producing slightly over 400 hp while hauling around about 4100 pounds. The cost of the already expensive GM kit car (corvette chassis, Northstar engine, Eton supercharger, air suspension and XLR specific fiberglass body plus that folding roof) exceeded 100 grand, the car managed to cost more than its Mercedes counterpart and of course, the sales sagged.
By 2009, Tadge was looking for a new job since XLR was no more. Tadge was transferred to Corvette Team, against Dave Hill's objections and joined the ZR1 drivetrain design team. Since his experience with Eton and supercharging, Tadge was approached by Eton and offered a "deal" on the new line of Eton superchargers, designated as TVS (TWIN VORTICES SYSTEM) and specifically TVS2300 that allowed for compact packaging, without serious engineering intervention due to location of the air intake and exhaust).
Although this is not widely advertised, Tadge bypassed Dave Hill and introduced the Eton design to the management above Hill, scoring big points for low cost of the design. Needless to say, the twin turbo never happened and Juechter's sneaky way won, resulting in a supercharged ZR1 (this is the time when European competitors were already using turbo instead of supercharging). Hill never got over the entire incident and eventually resigned although the ZR1 was gaining plenty of respect due to its performance potential.
After Hill left, Juechter collected his reward and became the next Corvette chief. Needless to say, Eton still resides under the hood of the newest "flagship" even though it is less efficient (unless someone looks for a heat pump instead of air compressor) and prevents the new flagship from competing with its predecessor but nevertheless, it is still there, the Cadillac XLR way.
This information is not widely advertised but nevertheless, it is still interesting why the new flagship resembles more a (failed) Cadillac than a sports car. Perhaps if this car had a folding top and Cadillac insignia, it would not face such scrutiny? Too late now...
You mean Eaton?
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of fuckstick puts a 1.7 Eaton on a big V8 to the tune of 650hp?
ReplyDeleteVadge Jokester is a corporate whore
ReplyDelete