[VIDEO] The Chevrolet Press Conference from SEMA

Chevrolet officially opened the SEMA show on Tuesday morning at 11:00 am with their official press conference on the show floor. Although slightly condensed from the official media preview the night before, for many this was the first time to see and learn more about the great new cars and trucks on display.

Jim Campbell, Chevrolet’s Vice President of Performance and Motorsports once again handled the microphone duties and then did a virtual walk around the four major “neighborhoods” on the show floor: Chevy Trucks, Chevrolet Red Line Concepts, Performance Neighborhood (Corvette/Camaro), and the Performance Parts “garages”.

Introducing the performance car segment, Jim Campbell welcomed Corvette Racing driver Tommy Milner who talked about the incredible win at Le Man with co-drivers Oliver Gavin and Jordan Taylor.

Jim then introduced the 2016 Corvette Z06 C7.R Edition and Tommy talked about his first experience driving the new 650-horsepower street car at Road Atlanta.

Jim Campbell with Tommy Milner at SEMA

After Tommy leaves the stage, Jim calls up Corvette Racing ambassador and Chevrolet’s official driving school namesake Ron Fellows, along with Chevrolet’s Mark Dickens to talk about the new performance parts available for the Corvette. Ron recounts a conversation he had with Mark last year at SEMA about how to extend the performance of the Corvette Stingray’s Z51 Coupe, especially when racing on a Nevada race track in 100+ degree temps, and that was the birth of the Corvette Stingray Track Day Concept car.

Mark then walked around the Corvette Z06 and the parts boards to show the various Z06 performance parts that are “flow-down” to the Corvette Stingray. These include the Z06’s front grille, suspension and cooling parts, brakes, and even the carbon fiber torque tube. The segment was then wrapped up with Ron talking about the new entry-level Michelin Corvette Challenge racing series to be held at Spring Mountain in 2016.

After some Camaro introductions, the 1970 Camaro is unveiled to the crowd. Under the hood is the new LT4 6.2L SC crate engine now available in the 2016 Chevrolet Performance Parts Catalog.

Chevrolet wraps up the conference by talking with their Chevy-sponsored racers in various series.

You can watch the full 40-minute Chevrolet press conference filmed live at SEMA here:

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Go Racing in the Michelin Corvette Challenge at Spring Mountain