Forget the American-car bashing. Forget anything Jeremy Clarkson ever said about the Corvette on TopGear. Forget gold-chainers in C3s and C4s. Forget it all. It used to be that the concept of a Corvette as a world-beater was a bit of a laugh…who was going to take a 200 horsepower Chevy seriously? Nobody, that’s who. What now commands respect on world tracks, has a LeMans win under it’s belt (among others) and does all of that running less horsepower (public horsepower, anyways) that the road-going version? The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, that’s what. In it’s yellow-and-black livery, barking the unmistakable bass notes of pure, pissed off GM small-block, barking through the Xtrac six-speed sequential gearbox, and moving like it’s being shot at, the C7.R is the bit of America that the world finds acceptable: some folks might balk at the idea of an average, everyday American hanging around them, but if a major sports star wanted to join the party, well then, c’mon in!
The noise is glorious, the car is performing nicely, and all we have to say is this: The base model is close in horsepower to this race-only version, and the hot version cranks out almost 200 horsepower more. That sound of freedom ringing might just be the ringing in your ears…