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Affordable US sportscar; great performance though it lacks the refinement of what it's trying to compete with. Features an hand built all-aluminum OHV 7.0L LS7 small block producing 505 HP @ 6300 RPM and 470 lb-ft of TQ @ 4800 RPM with a redline of 7000 RPM. The powerplant is hooked to a close-ratio 6 speed rear transaxle. It weighs in at around 3130 lbs and the chassis is made of hydroformed aluminum and magnesium. The body is made of composites and carbon fiber. It features fully independent suspension consisting of double wishbones on all four corners, dampeners, anti-roll bars, and two transverse single ply leaf springs instead of coil springs. The use of leaf springs in the Corvette is not to be confused with leaf spring suspensions used in trucks and older cars; they are two completely different things. The Corvettes transverse leaf springs serve the same purpose as coil springs in other vehicles, but they are lighter, allow for the vehicles mass to be closer to the ground, and allow for lighter anti-roll bars since they can assume some of that duty. They're main disadvantage is that they are more expensive than coil springs.
The Z06 offers very impressive performance for it's price; it's track times are on par with some of the greatest production performance cars in the world
The new C6 Z06 Corvette may lack the refinement of its European competition but on the track it can give them a run for their money.
Only rich snobs that aren't true auto enthusiasts would insult the new C6 Z06.
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A car that has been heralded as one of the best automobiles ever made. Reason being? Selling at just under $24,000, it offers acceleration and, more importantly, handling of cars way out of its price range. On top of that, it has AWD and four doors, thus blending space, security, practicality, and ruggedness with high performance driving.
"Automobile of the Year: Subaru WRX"
"One of Car and Driver's Ten Best"
etc. on and on and on and on and on....
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Cars using transverse leaf springs in their suspension are not to be confused with older cars and trucks that use solid rear axle/leaf spring combinations.
The system is used in some high performance sports cars. Instead of using 4 coil springs, the cars use two single ply (instead of the multiple plys used in trucks/cars with live axles) leaf springs mounted transversely. Using a single ply makes them immune from the friction problems seen in multiple ply systems and also makes them very light (a single transverse leaf spring weighs 1/3 of the weight of the coil springs that could have been used). These cars often use double wishbone or multilink suspensions, just like any other sports car, just not paired with coil springs over the dampers.
Transverse leaf springs have the benefits of being very lightweight, moving more of the cars weight towards the ground, easily adjustable, and rarely (if ever) needing replacement.
They have the disadvantages of being more expensive than coil springs, and since the springs are often made of a lightweight composite material, they are sensitive to damage from harsh chemicals.
Modern Corvettes use transverse leaf springs paired with double wishbone supension on all four corners.
F1 used transverse leaf springs until they switched to the use of torsion springs.
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