Of all the places we hear about crazy contraptions, our absolute favorite and unquestionably least likely source is a subscription-only newspaper-style printed publication called Farm Show. It's a fantastic collection of the most clever, ridiculous, scary and cool creations to come out of farmer's garages. We picked up a copy back home on the farm while recovering from taking down unnatural amounts of turkey and stuffing and all the Thanksgiving trimmings, and guess what we found. Amidst the loader scoops made from cut-in-half LP tanks, home brew automatic silage choppers, and articulated tractors made out of two junked Chevy pickups welded together, a 1968 Corvette powered by a 12 valve Cummins. The post-meal nap was immediately postponed.

The car is the creation of Ryan Lusk, a diesel mechanic in Iowa with a side business called Low Budget Diesel Performance where he converts vehicles by installing diesel engines for better fuel economy and performance. This Corvette came to him as a rear end smash up. Instead of replacing everything with factory parts, Ryan decided to make a drag racer out of it. We'll let him explain:

When I purchased the car it was wrecked in the rear pretty severly. Instead of rebuilding the car with over priced Corvette parts, I opted to back half the rear of the frame and tub it. It now has a 4-link coil over rear suspension with a ford 9". I had a 396 BBC with a tunnel ram and dual quads in it that made over 550hp in the beginning. I also had some sweet chrome side pipe headers as well. It was coming along well

Amongst the progress of the diesel conversions we were completing, the Vette sat for a long time. One day my Dad made the comment that I should just ditch the gas guzzling BBC and throw a Cummins in it. I was like heck no, I'm not going to ruin the Vette! Well the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do this. I started the project in March of 2008. We will be at Beechbend Racetrack in Bowling Green Kentucky for the NHRDA Diesel Nationals. Weight of car with driver: 3620

Rear End
Moser 35 Spline Axles, 35 spline Moser spool, Moser HRW Nodular case, Daytona Pinion Support, Pro Gear 3.25 gears, Billet Yoke, 1410/1350 Severe Duty U-joints, Heavy Duty 30 spline output yoke, Art Morrison Coil Over Shocks, 4-Link Suspension, Corvette 4 Piston Disc Brakes, Wheelie Bars.

Front Suspension
1968 Corvette independent front with brand new Moroso BBC HD coil springs, polyurethane bushings and heavy duty steering components. Corvette 4 Piston Disc Brakes

Transmission
1995 47RH Dodge Lock Up Overdrive with Goerend Triple Billet Torque Convertor, Sonnex Input shaft, Sonnex Billet Drum, Goerend Valve Body, Billet flexplate, Assembled by Gilmore Performance in Kingdom City, Mo. Hurst V-matic 2 shifter, Lokar throttle pressure cable, Lokar flexible dipstick, LBDP SFI Flex plate shield, LBDP SFI drum safety shield

Engine
1998 12V CTD Bored .030 over, Mahle Pistons, Balanced and Blue Printed, Viscous dampener, 60lb valve springs, ARP Head Studs, 64/65 S300 Turbo, LBDP Exhaust manifold, 215HP cam, 180HP P7100 480cc's with .022 DV's and 550 with Full Cut DV's, 4k gsk, Mack Rack Plug, AFC mods, multiple fuel plates, Custom Revolution Diesel 370 Marine Injectors, IP Tuned by Smokem at Revolution Diesel in Hornick, Ia. IP assembled by Des Moines Diesel in Des moines, Ia. Aluminum Radiator, Huge Trans cooler, electric fans with electronic thermo coupling control.

Body
1968 corvette with 1973 rear quarter panels, 1972 Front clip converted to one piece tilt by LBDP. 12pt roll cage, with door swing outs, summit racing seats with 5pt. harness, aluminum floors, firewall, trans tunnel, wheel tubs, dash, and door panels. Auto meter gauges, aftermarket wiring harness, S&W Race Cars steering column with quick connect hub.

Fuel System
16 gallon TCI Fuel Cell, Air Dog 150 feeding a Raptor 150 Provided by Pure Flow Technologies.

Wheels and Tires
Weld Pro Star 15x4's in the front, Weld Pro Star 15x14's in the rear with 31x18.5x15 Hoosier Quick Time DOT's

We think it safe to say this is the best possible thing you could ever do with a previously-crashed plastic fantastic. There's so much awesome piled into this car it's practically incomprehensible. Actually, hold that thought, you haven't seen the car running. Check out the three videos below.

Here's what a Corvette with a glorious diesel engine never intended to live in the bay sounds like when running:

Here's what a dyno run looks like with a soot-spewing, turbo-whining Corvette:

And just in case you were curious, this is what this beast looks like when it hits the strip (careful about the momentary, trackside NSFW language here):

We're going to parrot the words of the drag racing announcer.... "Oh my GOD!?" If we may humbly make one suggestion to Mr. Lusk, we think it needs a constant stream of the Nuge piped to exterior speakers to properly serenade that majestic turbodiesel note. Nothing else so uncontrollable and unpredictably violent could possibly do the job.
[Low Budget Diesel Performance]

The British-built, American-powered Enzo-wannabe is built with a special carbon construction that reduces the need for excess resins and keeps weight down (because carbon fiber is so heavy). Even the major windows are made from a scratch-resistant acrylic to keep the AF-10 form weighing anything. So is this an Enzo killer? Not quite, with top speed of around 205 MPH and a 0-to-60 MPH time in the lower 3's it still has a way to go. But we expect them to go that way with a follow-up model.

[Arash via Motor Authority]

We pulled into Specter's parking lot and the brilliant blue car was already out front, undergoing final detailing and getting some last minute partner stickers along the rocker panel. The car's a stunner out in the sunlight, and looks unbelievable compared to the debut silver color, wearing colors reminiscent of the C4 Corvette Grand Sport, with the carbon fiber splitter and rocker panels wearing a subtle red/orange stripe to offset the blue and brooding matte carbon fiber details. The HRE carbon fiber wheels are pretty amazing, with a carbon drum and forged center bolted through bushings embedded in the lip, wouldn't want to hit a pothole with those babies at speed. The StopTech brakes promise massive stopping power and they look great too. No engine shots yet boys and girls, you gotta wait for something to see from SEMA.

The plain-jane Specter Werks Corvette GTR is a pretty sweet ride on it's own, but even with the tuned Z06 mill kicking out 535 HP and 530 lb-ft of torque, it fell short of the embolism-inducing 638 HP and 604 lb-ft of torque in the ZR1. Quickest way to address that is to talk to Lingenfelter and drop in a twin-turbocharged LS7 with a massive, kidney-crushing 800 HP and 800 lb-ft of torque. Accompanying the go is a healthy dose of whoa, with huge StopTech brakes with six-piston front, four piston rear calipers, riding over some slick HRE CF40 carbon fiber wheels tipping the scales at 22 lbs and wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 Zero Pressure tires. The black and blue blue finish somehow suits this beast perfectly.

No video game, no matter how good, should smack around cars like this. It's just a waste.

So, warning: The commercial below — of a 1969 Corvette Stingray and a 1988 Lamborghini Countach swapping paint on the track — contains footage that may be unsuitable for small children and, you know, anyone who loves cars. Viewer discretion is advised.

Based on the paint scheme, our first impression was "A C6R ate the wall, Oh No!" then we got to sleuthing. This particular racing automobile is wearing the ZR1's giant ceramic brakes up front, sporting the hood window to show off the ZR1's intercooler, and was racing at Watkins Glen — all things the C6R GT2 cars for this year do not have or do. So we were stumped and resorted to asking for details. Asking a tipster for details on a race car is like asking for directions while your wife and her mother and her father are in the car. In any case, we found out the following:

The Car is owned by Greg Soebelski, and it's a Private car that
essentially mimics the Phoenix Racing C6R cars. The car itself has
been modded (bolt ons, and IIRC increased boost) and is supported by
Entropy Racing (http://www.entropyracing.net/)

He purchased this car in early spring, and has been taking it to track
days with PDA (www.pdadrivingschool.com) and received his comp
license this season with NASA (www.nasanortheast.com). This race (Thunder at the
Glen) was his first 'competitive' race with this car.

The accident occurred between turns 8 and 9 ('Heel of the boot") on
Watkins Glen Long course.

As of last knowledge, he's already looking for another ZR1 to replace
this one. Greg comes to the track with his 'East Coast Racing Team',
which is comprised of an E92 M3 (fully modded engine and suspension) a
Widebody 350z 'vert (Supercharged) and a CLK 63 Black Series...

To which our immediate response was:

This is very important. Do you know if Greg looking to get rid of that motor (or the one supplanted by the race built one in the wrecked car)? Because we know of at least one place it would end up in a very good home if the price is right.

(Thanks for the tip, pictures, and details Cody)

Commenter YankBoffin was cruising through rural Indiana when he spotted this unbelievable headstone, featuring a the visage of the 2007 Corvette Indy 500 Pace Car replica. Of course, he had to stop, even doing that in a particularly Jalop way:

I spotted this near Brookville, Indiana over the weekend, scaring the wife half to death when I pointed and yelled "CORVETTOMBSTONE!!" as we passed a small monument business.

This is in Indiana, so I guess it isn't too surprising that the car etched in granite (yes, it is definitely etched, wished I'd taken a close-up) is an Indy 500 Pace Car C6 convertible.

In case Indiana is too far a schlep for you to pick up your copy of the Corvette headstone, we've hunted down the press image they used, so you can get your own made.

Yesterday we drove over to GM's Performance Build Center (PBC) in Wixom, Michigan to build an LS9 engine — the most powerful production engine GM's ever built — and the 638 HP beating heart powerplant underneath the hood of the Corvette ZR1 — all while being taught the tricks of engine assembly trade by the man who's built more LS9's than anyone else.

Here's how the magic's made.

Aluminum block, aluminum heads, forged crank, Forged pistons, titanium connecting rods, valves, and valve springs, a bespoke Eaton four-lobe roots-type supercharger displacing 2.3 liters of air per rotation blowing into an air-to-water intercooler, all backed by a twin-plate clutch. It's 638 HP of smack-you-in-the-face and it'll shove the ZR1 to a 0-60MPH time in 3.4 organ-crushing seconds. But first it has to be built

Each Corvette ZR1 engine is hand assembled at GM's Performance Build Center (PBC) in Wixom, Michigan, a purpose-built 100,000 square foot facility with the express intent of building the best motors in the GM universe. It's a mix of the latest thinking in lean manufacturing paired with the old world responsibility inherent in a one-man, one-engine build philosophy. The facility also builds the monstrous huge 7.0 liter LS7 for the Z06 and the hopped-up LS3 for the new Corvette Gran Sport, but when you're offered the opportunity to build an engine of your choice, you pick the LS9.

My guide through this most unique of looks into the guts of GM's baddest engine was Mike Priest, the man who's put more of these engines together than anyone in the world and some say he assembles the fastest ones. Good hands to be in. We start the day off by getting right down to business, cracking the connecting rods. Each piston comes sub-assembled complete with a high-moly top ring, a nodular iron lower, and a 3mm oil ring.We inspect each for nicks and scratches, make sure the wrist pin turns freely, and then systematically mark the bearing cap and con-rod to make sure they match up later. The bolts are then loosened and they're separated by a light tap or a cracking fixture.

The bearing journals are then laid in and everything gets placed in a tote and wheeled to the first station on the rolling engine stand.

The line is arranged into individual stations, each being fed by pre-kitted parts and a pull-type delivery system. The stations each have at least one Atlas Copco electric torque driver which torques fasteners based on a scan of the build sheet. Each data point is recorded and tied to the individual engine, and data can be reclaimed at any time. A naked engine block is sitting on the delivery fixture awaiting assembly, it'll be engine 10ZAN 322731901. In the very first step we install studs which will hold the engine to the rolling engine stand.

Once Mike gives the engine a good once, a water passage hole is plugged, then we move on to installing the first exciting piece, the camshaft. An assembly fixture is placed on the back of the cam and then a handle screwed onto the front, the journals are given a coat of assembly oil the cam slides in easier than any cam you'll ever touch. It's nice having factory tools. Mike then uses the overhead crane to hoist the block over to the stand where we bolt it down. Finally, the cam seal and retainer is installed.

Next we loosen the crank bearing caps and use a custom pry bar to remove them without damage and set them aside.

The bearing journals and main bearing are now snapped into place and liberally coated in assembly oil.

After inspecting the crankshaft, Mike expertly drops it into place with a crane fixture. He offered to let me do it, but the idea of marring such a critical piece wasn't something I was too excited about.

The crankshaft is gently turned to make sure there's no unexpected drag.

Next we assemble the other half of the journals into the bearing caps and oil, installing them as they were delivered in the block.

The caps are torqued down using a multi-spindle driver to simultaneously drive the inner then the outer bearing bolts. Those bearing blocks also get cross-bolted to the walls of the block, which increases the assembly's overall stiffness. As a validation, the torque to turn the crank is checked, to make sure there's no undue drag.

Next we stuff pistons. Assembly oil is applied to the piston bores, the edges of the piston and the connecting rod bearing. An assembly guide is slipped over the end of the connecting rod and a ring compressor slipped over the head of the piston. I' told to run the piston up and down to make sure it slides smoothly in the compressor then place it over its cylinder. When the bottom of the piston is seated in the bore, one strong push to the top of the piston and the entire assembly slides in smooth as silk.

The connecting rod cap is lubed and installed and the process is repeated down the line, then the bolts are all torqued. The engine is rolled to the opposite side and the process repeats.

Next up the engine oil baffle is attached to the studs on the crank bearing outer bolts.

Next, the timing is set. Piston number one, on the driver's side front of the engine, is raised to top dead center. The chain tensioner is then bolted into place.

The crank gear is then pressed into place with a pneumatic ram.

The timing gear for the cam is placed on, two timing marks on both gears are are aligned and the cam gear is removed, the chain is laid over top and then the chain is attached to crank gear as the cam gear is slid into place and bolted down. The pin in the tensioner is then removed.

The dry sump oil pump is then carefully positioned with a fixture to ensure its ports are flush with the bottom of the engine block, then bolted into place.

The back engine cover compete with rear main seal and the front engine cover are then installed

In the next station, the first step is to lay down RTV sealant beads at the front and rear covers.

The pickup and oil filter-equipped oil pan is now dropped into place carefully and torqued down.

A protective cover on the side of the pan is removed and set aside to be sent back to the supplier and the oil cooler is bolted in its place.

After a quick look we drop in one side of the cam followers living in their cam carriers.

Now it's time to for the aluminum heads. Here's a bit of information that'll be useful in garage trivia: The aluminum heads on the LS9 are exactly identical, there is no left side or right side, they are the same part number and on the engine one gets a screw in temperature sensor and the other gets a screw in plug, that's the only difference.

After tapping in guide studs and laying on a crazy seven leaf gasket you just drop them on without fanfare.

Fourteen stainless steel bolts go into each head and get tightened down simultaneously with a multispindle driver.

Next up is the valley cover which seals up the 'V' between the cylinder banks.

The final process in this station is putting together the valve train. First, the pushrods are slid in place. (Aren't those old fashioned?)

A cam rail is placed across the inside of the head and the rockers are put in and the bolts are hand started. A pair of installation guides are then placed over both heads. These indicate the torquing order for the rockers, begin on the green number one and travel around the engine in order driving the bolts in, when you run out of greens, stop, manually turn the crankshaft 180 degrees to realign the pistons and then pick up the tightening order for the yellow numbers.

Once installed, a generous application of oil on the rockers finishes the station.

At this point, the line turns around on the other side and starts back the other direction. Here a set of guards are temporarily put in place to protect the lower intake as rivet-like cup plugs are popped into small holes in the water cavity.

Next, the valve covers are put in place and torqued down followed by the coil packs that aren't delivered preassembled for the sake of assembly access.

The water pump is installed along with a couple of hard vacuum lines and the alternator bracket.

The crankshaft damper is placed on the crank and a pneumatic ram presses it into place.

The next step is where happiness is made.

The supercharger comes largely preassembled and is lifted from a tote by crane and inspecting for the hoses, wiring, and gaskets.

It's gently placed into the valley of the engine. The entire unit is bolted into place and the supercharger gets a good spin to make sure it turns freely.

You can hear it pulling a lot of vacuum against the closed throttle.

Next we take a quick look at the intercooler, which incidentally is the only class-A surface underhood in any GM product, which means it must be protected from damage just like a fender or a hood. The intercooler gets a gasket, debris and paint finish inspection.

It's then dropped onto the supercharger, torqued down, then covered with a cardboard guard.

Next, Mike puts a lot of faith in me as he applies his name plate to this engine which I've had a dangerous amount of involvement in building.

Next up is an all-too-unsexy but entirely necessary step, a complete leakdown test of both the coolant and oil passages. All the ports and still open areas are sealed off with plugs and covers, then a controlled amount of air pressure is applied and the rate which the pressure drops is measured. The less leakage the better, this one passed with flying colors.

Once all the testing equipment is removed, spark plugs are put in place and the exhaust manifolds are installed as well as the manifold studs, the engine mounts are put in place and two temporary engine hoist loops are put on the front and back for transport.

In the final station, coil wires are installed and then the engine number decal is put onto the head.

The engine is then taken off the rolling engine stand and dropped into the flywheel and clutch installation fixture.

The holes in the flywheel are then numbered to make balancing engine easier later downstream,

The flywheel is installed and torqued down.

Next the clutch housing is picked up with an assembly reaction arm.

A mark on the twin clutch pack is then aligned with a mark on the housing to balance the assembled parts.

The clutch is then installed. And with that, the assembly process is complete.

The engine is weighed (530.6 lbs dry) and placed on a palette and an engine audit is completed another employee.

The palette is taken over to the final step in our process which would be running the engine through cold test.

In the cold test process, 2.5 quarts of oil is put into the engine after it's affixed to a test stand.

The stand is rolled into the test cell and hooked up to electric couplings, various sampling sensors, like noise vibration and harshness sensors, pressure sensors, etc. as well as a big electric motor. When the doors are closed, the motor spins up and turns the engine over after building up oil pressure. There are an array of tests done in the 90 second cycle time, but in the end all the lights were green and it passed everything very convincingly.

Since it was a shutdown week, we didn't proceed to the next step, but normally the engine would go to the balancing chamber. In the balancing chamber, the engine is hooked up to an isolation fixture which freely allows multi-axis vibration. It's then hooked up to a special ECM and a natual gas fuel source and fired. That's right, a Corvette ZR1 motors first breaths come from a clean fuel. During the engine's operation, sensors detect vibrations and calculate where to add weights on either the flywheel or the crankshaft damper to bring the engine into balance. The weights are installed and the process is repeated until it passes the test. The final step in the process is a second, intense inspection, from the assumed position of the customer at the Bowling Green Corvette factory. After it's gone over with a fine toothed comb it's off to storage awaiting the truck to Kentucky.

It wasn't really my engine, I did a lot of the installing and bolting down, but I was just a monkey following directions. It was, and is Mike's engine, and I have to pay him my respects on his level of care and attention to detail over even the smallest potential flaws in any part or element of the process. He's like a parent watching over a child. And yet, at the end of the day, it was gratifying to see the engine turning over, pumping air and passing all of its tests. Someday in the recent future, that motor will find its home in a ZR1 and it'll be rocketing some happy new buyer to delirious speeds. Kind of a surreal day if you ask me.

I work at a ski resort in Salt Lake City, UT called
Snowbird. Yesterday on my way in the door I couldn't help but notice a
black and yellow Corvette in the valet lot. Remarkably it was also
missing a chunk in the fender behind the passenger headlight. As I
thought about it, I realized it was the wrecked ZHZ that was posted a
day or two before. Unfortunately the only camera I had available to me
was my POS camera phone. However, I was able to snap a quick photo for
you guys.

Later that day after work I was cruising down Highway 210 in Little
Cottonwood Canyon. When all of a sudden I saw the ZHZ come flying
around a corner booking it up the single lane road back to the resort.
It appears to me that if the ZHZ incurred any damage from it's run in
with a rock wall it was superficial and cosmetic.

Thanks to Ross for the story, and make sure to take pictures of this Vette as you see it because, odds are, it's not long for this cruel rental world.

My former boss posted these this morning:

"My neighbor had a little hard luck last night. At around 10:45 I was in the kitchen and saw his headlights come in, then a few seconds later there was a loud grinding, crunching sound. Looks like he had a few too many cocktails."

This makes the second crash of one of the 500 Corvette ZHZs, the original occurring when a ZHZ smashed into a Dallas restaurant. No matter what the circumstances surrounding this one, you have to expect more of these in the future. Drop anyone in a rented 430 HP rear-wheel-drive sports car and they're bound to do stupid things. (Thanks again Cody)

Geiger's keeping mum on exactly how it extracts the extra power and torque (710 HP and 677 Lb-Ft in all), but we bet it involves a really, really, really loud exhaust. The stock ZR1 is capable of reaching 60 MPH in just 3.4 seconds, as Ben found out last month. All this additional oomph must overwhelm the rear tires, lengthening that time or at least the 0-to-62 MPH time (damn Euros) to a positively tardy 3.6 seconds. Yawn.

Of course, ze German tuning firm doesn't stop there, adding an even wilder bodykit to the already over-the-top Chevy flagship.

The press release follows:

Geiger GTS: Extreme sportsman with retro elements

The announcement was clear: "It is very important for Corvette, to offer the strongest, most high performance and best sports car in terms of handling in the USA." With these words the former chairman of General Motors Rick Wagoner set his engineers a clear goal around two years ago, which also included trumping the Dodge Viper SRT10, which was shown at the Detroit Car Show shortly before, in all regards.
The technicians got to work and so the next year the persons responsible were able to proudly unveil the quickest and highest performance series vehicle ever produced by General Motors: the Corvette ZR1.

Under the sheer endlessly long bonnet of the ZR1 lurks a newly developed LS96.2 litre small block V8 with compressor supercharging. Pressurised by the Eaton R2300 compressor with up to 0.72 bar, this primitive engine gets up to 647 HP and a maximum torque of 823Nm.
Further technical highlights of the extreme Corvette are its high performance breaking system with their 394 and 381 mm diameter carbon ceramic discs, as well as the electronically controlled suspension "Magnetic Selective Ride Control" with track level suspension mounting. Bonnet, roof, sill, rear wing and front spoiler are made of super light, but at the same time high strength carbon.

GeigerCars.de from Munich, which has specialised in the import and refinement of US cars for years, has not only brought this extreme sportsman from the United States to Germany, it has also optionally subjected it to diverse tuning measures at the same time – the first example of the Corvette ZR1 "Geiger GTS" will be presented to the world public at the 63rd International Automobile Exhibition at Frankfurt am Main from 17th to 27th September.

The datasheet for the Corvette ZR1 "Geiger GTS" shows 710 HP maximum performance with 6,600 rotations per minute and the car produces gigantic 918 Nm on the crankshaft at only 4,200 revs. Set up in this way the ZR1 storms up to 100km/h in just 3.6 seconds, and at the same time nails the back of the occupants' head to the head rest of the Geiger carbon sport seats. The propulsion only ends at a speed of 342 kilometres per hour.

At these values the hardest work is done by the 10 x 19 and 12 x 20 inch high performance tyres mounted on light metal rims with the dimensions 285/30ZR19 at the front and 345/25ZR20 at the rear tyres.

Of course GeigerCars extensively modified the look of the Corvette, lending it a styling, which is reminiscent of the large Gran Turismos of the 60's and 70's. The front and back were extensively modified; a wide air vent dominates the nose, while a massive diffuser attracts attention at the back. Both the fog and rear lights are based on modern LED semi conductive technology. The three layer mother of pearl varnish of the Corvette ZRI "Geiger GTS" with changing colour play is also a real eye catcher.

While I've been lucky and opportunistic enough to get my hands on a lot of interesting machinery in my day, somehow the Corvette experience has always eluded me. A shame, because there's always been something essential about it, something vital and visceral and deeply masculine, although it seemed I could never figure out the exact image the Corvette represented.

It goes deep; when I was a kid in small-town Midwestern America, it seemed every man had one, or wanted one, or was looking for ways to get one. Many disapproved, and if someone was brash enough to take theirs out in public, "decent people" would loudly voice their disapproval and shield their kids from the sight. Often the police were called. Nice ladies were assumed to dislike them, and tolerated them only to please their husbands' baser animal urges. Later on, when I went to college, I learned some women liked them, and some women even had them. This at first seemed like an affront to the natural order, but I've become more accepting since.

However, I haven't come any closer to defining exactly what the Corvette really is, and I hadn't when I went to pick up mine on a rainy day last month. There's no doubt it's a striking unit, and as it sat there, dewy with moisture, throbbing from root to tip, something about its quivering presence told me that as much fun as it could be it was also a lot of trouble. Flaunt it in front of people and I'd go to jail. Let it think for me and it could ruin my life and perhaps even endanger others. And if I damaged or broke it, it would hurt in a way that would be impossible to describe. Yet it was already affecting my thinking, altering my judgment, and I hadn't even done anything yet. I hadn't felt this way since my early teens…but that couldn't possibly be related to the Corvette in any way. Could it?

Oh, well. Back then I wouldn't have known what to do with one of these, but now I am a full-grown man. Surely I could control it now, right? Well. Ha. I've heard older men than me make that claim, men whose lives were in shambles and whose families had cast them out after they'd let their own Corvettes led them to younger, faster women. Or something.

Mine wasn't a particularly threatening specimen. A base-model convertible, it was supposedly less sensitive and a bit floppier than the uncut models, although some find it more aesthetically appealing. I didn't miss the extra stiffness; enough's enough, I guess once you're a certain age, and it's not like I could complain about the performance. The 6.2-liter LS3 has so much oomph that every surge forward is like the first time all over again. The power seems to come from the base of your spine, and it's easy to lose yourself in the swelling surge; you can see why so many young men lose it every year when the sudden rush of sensory overload clouds their heads and they wind up splattered all over the landscape. Luckily, it's a responsive unit as well; if you're mature enough to resist the temptation to be a 0-60-in-4.7-seconds man, the control and responsiveness running through every inch of it will let you last as long as your back holds up. Refined? No, not really. But somehow you don't want that.

But that's a lot of sports cars, not just the Corvette. What's so special about it? What's it's aura, and what's the allure in its tapered yet swelling shape? It looks bigger than it actually is, which pleases the hindbrain in ways that are difficult to describe. It comes in many varieties-the Z06 with more potency and a larger opening at the tip, the ZR1 with a supercharger for the ultimate rush of oxygenated fluids where it really counts-there's a vas deferens between them all. And even the older models have their appeal. But I just can't, for the life of me, figure out exactly what it is about this car in particular.

Oh, well. Maybe decent guys just don't think that way. But I really wish I could at least find a way to describe what I think it looks like.

Launch control. On face, it's an anti-manly feature. Using it is an admission of incompetence; You're fundamentally admitting the car is it's own master, and you are only a passenger. Fine. It still makes a tire-shredding drag run ride a hell of an awesome thing. Launch control for the 2010 ZR1 is buried in the traction control options. So how do you do it? Press the traction control button twice and you put the car in performance mode, rock the ZR1-only traction knob once and you're sitting pretty in the performance dry programming.

Now is when all the magic happens. You put the car in first gear and mat the accelerator with the right foot, clutch with the left one. Normally this would mean bouncing the engine off its rev limiter and being a total prick to all the internal components, but in the ZR1 the engine bounces off the 5000 RPM mark then settles in right at the 4000RPM mark. With that 6.2 liter supercharged monster serenading you, the next step is to do what you're taught to never ever do with a manual transmission car — dump the clutch with extreme prejudice. It feels wrong, but it delivers results that are oh so right.

For the controls engineer in us, this next part is like magical happy land. To provide launch control, the car starts by measuring wheel spin. By measuring fleeting instances of wheel spin, it determines the surface friction available and the maximum amount of torque the wheels can handle at a given speed, it then sends a torque request to the engine which delivers the maximum power exactly by modulating fuel and spark for every instant of torque demand. It's a beautiful feedback loop which delivers crushing performance.

It's definitely fast, but it's very dependent on the driver too. Dog the clutch release and the car will bog down and only deliver a 4 second 0-60MPH time. Shameful. But if you let if go just right, like we did, you'll see a crushing, blistering, surreal times of only 3.48 seconds (Ben's being somewhat modest here. He had the best time of the day and best of all the auto journalists in attendance — Ed.). Considering the ZR1's quoted time with an experienced pro-driver behind the wheel is 3.4 seconds, this is as close to perfect as you can possibly get.

Of course, you can easily defeat the whole system and still get the "oh-my-god-this-car-is-trying-to-kill-me-but-this-is-awesome" experience, but you won't be beating every single car you line up against.

Think of the latest incarnation of the Grand Sport as the Z06 light, for about $55k you get a lot of the goodies in the Z06 but at a $20,000 discount. It's not so much of a kidney-pounding, mean and nasty brute, but it'll hang on the track all day and do it reliably, because it's built to a higher spec than the normal LS3-equipped Vettes.

So, what do we have then? Well for starters, the Grand Sport rides on the steel frame of the base Corvette but wears the bodywork and dimensions of the Z06 all around, modified with a set of gill slits in the coves as well as a slightly taller spoiler. This will be the first time the more aggressive Zed's style will be available with an open top, so that's potentially where a lot of sales will originate. It also gets unique wheels in Z06 dimensions all around which come in either chrome, silver painted, or our preference the Competition Gray, hot. Those wheels wrap around bigger brakes shared with the Z06, 14" up front and 13.4" rear, with six-piston and four-piston calipers, respectively. It really announces its presence when optioned with the telltale hash marks sprouting from the wheel wells. Unlike the original 1963 race spec Grand Sport or the 1996 limited run GS, this one has matching stripes on driver and passenger side — a little spit in the eye of tradition, but unless you're a stickler, it's pretty neat, especially when you notice the Corvette crossed-flags emblem in the corner of the leading stripe.

That's all well and good, but we suspect the part that'll get Corvette owners talking is the engine. It's an LS3, yes, but with some very tasty upgrades. All Grand Sports get a forged steel crankshaft instead of the standard cast iron piece which can withstand higher loads for longer times as wells as tri-metal main bearings that'll take a whole lot more abuse than standard ones. On the manual transmission cars, you get a dry-sump oil system standard, with a higher flow and higher pressure oil pump and a 10.5-quart capacity, that dry sump occupies the same space as the battery normally gets, so it's moved to the rear as a result. Because of the dry sump complexity, the engine is being built by hand right alongside the LS7 and LS9. That means you get a properly balanced engine and a reinforced bottom end for the price of admission on the "cheap" Grand Sport model. Add to that the differential cooler at the rear and you have exactly what you need for a solid track day. Sounds pretty good to us.

As with all Corvettes, you can hand it off to Grandma to go pick up groceries and she'll only complain about sitting so gosh-darn low. However, she'll also be able to turn around and rip off 3.95 second 0-to-60 times all day thanks to the addition of launch control, which GM cheekily assured us would never void the warranty, not only that but it works pretty well too (sadly we only had time to test it on the also-equipped ZR1, which was in no way more exciting than sex on a roller coaster, turning in 0-to-60's in a plodding 3.48 seconds). You'll note that 3.95s time puts the GS 0.35 seconds faster than the standard Vette, due to improved traction, transmission gearing and final drive. On the track, unsurprisingly, the Grand Sport reminds us of a Z06 missing about 70 HP, which is actually more manageable than the 7.0-liter brute. 436 HP with the valved exhaust is more than enough to get you rocketing to delirious speeds in no time, and the big brakes haul you down even faster. You can throw every mistake in the book at the car and it's almost too easy to drive at speed, easy to catch when you push too hard, and riotously fun when you do everything right. The upgraded brakes and anti-roll bars really make a difference when late-braking for corners and diving through chicanes as accurate turn-in and quick transitions are incredibly rewarding.

GM's thinking the Grand Sport might top 50% of total Corvette sales at least in the short term, and there's good reason to believe it might. On the one hand, it offers the boulevardier Corvette owners the enticing pitch of the Z06 body with the convertible top, upgraded suspension, unique looks and a reasonably good automatic transmission (really, in manual mode, it's pretty respectable). On the other hand, the base Grand Sport coupe with a manual gives you a lot of the Z06 goodies with a hand-built engine equipped with a dry-sump and upgraded internals for $20,000 less. And here we thought it was just a stickers and wheels package.