I just got my April 2010 issue of Corvette Magazine and oh, snap! Guess what I saw? Gracing the cover is a 2009 GT1 Championship Edition Convertible. A car so rare, we'll be talking about the record prices these special editions are sure to get at auctions sooner rather than later. Only 7 Black GT1 Convertibles were made and we are pretty sure that only one has been tuned by Callaway.

GM was planning on producing 600 GT1 Championship Editions, but just as the cars became available, the economy hit Corvette sales like a sledgehammer. Production was slashed and instead of the planned 600 cars, just 125 GT1 Corvettes were built. That breaks down to 55 Z06s, 53 Coupes and 17 Convertibles. Seven convertibles were painted black, and of the seven, just three came equipped with a manual 6-speed transmission.

This Corvette took a slightly different road than the other two Black, 6-speed Convertibles as the power bulge hood identifies this GT1 as a Callaway. Under that bulge lies Callaways SC580, a supercharged LS3 with 580 horsepower and 510 lbs-ft of torque. The added power comes from an Eaton-based MagnaCharger, a cold-air intake and Callaway's Double-D exhaust system.

One the outside, a Callaway power bulge hood was painted to match the ghost-Jake graphics. Topping the mashup is a Spector Werkes/Sports' Group 6 exterior package that fitted the GT1 Corvette with a new front fascia and rocker panels.

Callaway says their Corvettes equipped with the SC580 package are capable of zero to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, runs the quarter mile in 11.3 seconds and has a top speed of 200 mph!

You can read more about this rare GT1 Corvette at Corvette-mag.com. This link will only be good for a couple of weeks.

Source:
Corvette Magazine

Related:
[VIDEO] The 2009 Corvette GT1 Championship Edition Debuts at Sebring
Final Production Numbers for the 2009 Special Edition Corvettes