QUICK SHIFTS: Jordan Taylor, Save the Manuals, Unsung Hero Mauri Rose, C8 Markups, Ronde Barber’s Corvettes and More!

Welcome to Quick Shifts! Quick Shifts is a content feature here at CorvetteBlogger featuring links to Corvette and automotive-related stories of interest.

Check out this weeks list of automotive quick shifts featuring Jordan Taylor’s new ride, save the manuals, the Corvette’s Godfather, the good part of C8 dealership markups, the Corvette collection of Ronde Barber, the long-awaited match-up between the ZL1 1LE and GT500, and a look back at the styling concepts that nearly became mid-engine ‘Vettes more than 30 years ago.

FIRST GEAR

Jordan Taylor was a part-time driver from 2012 through 2017 as part of Corvette Racing’s line up for the 204 Hours of Le Mans, and even winning the GTE Pro Class in 2014 with Gavin and Milner. For 2020, the prototype driver makes the jump to being a full-time GT Le Mans driver in the C8.R where he’ll share driving duties in the No. 3 Corvette with Antonio Garcia and Nicky Catsburg.

Drop it into first and head to IMSA.com for the story.

SECOND GEAR

Here’s a great read from Automobile about why enthusiasts absolutely shouldn’t allow the manual transmission to die. Aside from the great message that we agree with wholeheartedly, this article features a few ‘Vette references and several shots of a Blade Silver 2019 ZR1 in action.

Read the stirring piece on Automobilemag.com

THIRD GEAR

Every once in a while, another online publication channels their inner CorvetteBlogger and gives the world multiple interesting Corvette reads in a week. Hagerty did just that in the past seven days. The first is a fantastic historical look at three-time Indy 500 winner, Mauri Rose, who author, Ronnie Schreiber, calls “the Unsung Hero of the Corvette’s Racing Legacy” and crowns “the Corvette’s Godfather.” This is an enlightening piece about a man that many of us hadn’t heard much about in spite of his influence on the early Corvette program, we would call this a must-read for any Corvette fan!

Check it out on Hagerty’s site.

FOURTH GEAR

Hagerty struck again with a look at the bright side of dealerships charging over sticker on C8s. If you can’t find a 2020 Corvette at MSRP, take solace in the fact that you have it a lot better than first time Ferrari buyers who often have to buy several cars that they don’t even want in order to “earn” the right to even be considered for an allocation on the newest models from the Prancing Horse.

Take in the full article here.

FIFTH GEAR

Motor Trend visited former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback, Ronde Barber to check out his garage. It turns out that he has excellent taste! He has a doublewide lift and all four cars on/under it are different generations of Corvette. He has a ’14 Z51, an ’03, a ’78 25th Anniversary car with under 5k miles, and, the pièce de résistance, a 425 horse 1966. In the article, the Super Bowl XXXVII champion shares the personal story behind each of the four ‘Vettes, making it a lot better read than the average MT Celebrity Drive segment. This has us curious what cars Ronde’s twin brother, former New York Giant and Today Show correspondent, Tiki has tucked away at home. Ronde’s eclectic collection of Corvettes would be tough to beat!

See the garage on MotorTrend.com.

SIXTH GEAR

For sixth gear we want to point you in the direction of Edmunds‘ YouTube channel. After countless odd-fitting comparisons to the C8 Corvette, 911 GT3 RS, and even… a 340 HP Subaru? Edmunds finally got the new Shelby GT500 together with its true rivals, the ‘Vette’s big, little brother, the Camaro ZL1 1LE and the Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye. Unfortunately, a road course segment is absent from this video but hopefully, we will get to see the Shelby and 1LE duke it out on one soon. Several drag races ARE included and on paper, the Chevy and its Z06-spec LT4 is seriously outgunned with 650 Horsepower. Compared to the ZL1, the Shelby is packing an additional 110 horses and that Redeye is only three ponies shy of 800! We don’t want to spoil the ending but we were proud of how well the underdog Camaro performed and still think it could easily regain “best in class” honors if GM would send in reinforcements and get the LT5 off the sideline.

Watch the All-American three-way drags here.

Bonus Content: Car and Driver also got the ZLE and GT500 together for a comparison test (still missing lap times, but they are going to be extremely close!) see who they picked to win.

Reverse

Reverse gear traditionally takes quite a bit of internet digging to find exactly what we are going for but Road & Track did our work for us this week. On Thursday they posted a piece that originally appeared in their June 1986 issue about the concept of a mid-engine Corvette. Many of our current readers may remember flipping through the pages of R&T and seeing these words before! With the arrival of the C8, it is a surprisingly relevant look into the past.

Read/Re-read about it at Roadandtrack.com

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