QUICK SHIFTS: C8 Reviews, 1960 Corvette at Le Mans, Porsche Takes a Page from the C4 Corvette, and More!

It’s the long-awaited return of Quick Shifts! We would like to welcome you back after the longest content dry spell of the C8’s young life! The lack of direct media attention in the past two months obviously hasn’t hurt the mid-engine Corvette, but we are glad that our friends at the general automotive publications are back on the ‘Vette train.

Four on the Floor

FIRST GEAR:

One of Road & Track’s C8-skeptics, Mack Hogan (no relation to Hulk), got a second chance in Chevy’s new halo car, but this time it was around a frozen Monticello Motor Club. Was an inch of ice enough to make him change his tune? Read about it here to find out!

Over at KBB.com, you’ll find another glowing review of the 2021 Corvette. Read about the stunning, fast, and affordable triple-threat right here while you wait for yours to arrive!

SECOND GEAR:

In other generational news, Hemmings ran a fantastic piece that shares two different perspectives on the 1960 Cunningham Le Mans effort. You’ll see and hear from the Corvette guys in one and the Triumph team in the other. They are a must-watch if you are at the center of a three-way Venn diagram that features circles for Corvettes, History, and Racing! Don’t forget to score 30% bonus entries on the Cunningham Commemorative C8 here!

THIRD GEAR:

Here is a story that will hit home for C4 ZR-1 fans! Porsche took a page out of the King of the Hill playbook and put their new, naturally-aspirated baby through an endurance torture test! Before starting 992 GT3 deliveries this summer, Porsche took one to their parent company’s Nardo test track and ran it for 5,000 straight kilometers (that’s 3,106.856 miles, for non-commies!), only stopping to refuel. During that time, the car averaged 186 MPH! That is an outstanding accomplishment, but it also highlights just how impressive those DOHC C4s were! Over the same span, they were able to average 175.7 MPH with more than a 100 HP deficit, wearing inferior rubber, AND then they continued another 1,900 miles, averaging 173.79 MPH! We really wish Chevrolet still did things like this! Maybe as a way to prove the durability of their first foray into flat-plane-crank territory?

One last note on the GT3’s 4.0L flat-six; one was strapped to a testing rig and run at full throttle for “a very high proportion of” a 22,000-hour span, separately from the Nardo test. This thing is going to be a beast, and for $162,450, it had better be!

FOURTH GEAR:

If you want a GT3 but are short about $50k and decide that an SUV with extremely limited range might be to your liking, General Motors will have you covered in 2024! Since we last spoke in this space, the square-back version of the Hummer EV broke cover, and it is gorgeous! Be sure to watch the video(s) embedded in this Motor Trend piece. If it could be had with one of the C7’s supercharged mills, it would be off-the-charts desirable to your author, but as it stands, electric propulsion is the only way it’ll come from the factory. Luckily, those batteries can make the big brick scoot. Power is down from the 1,000 of the truck version, but the SUV still crank out 830 instantaneous horses, which can get it through the 60 mph barrier in a claimed 3.5 seconds. Anything short of a perfectly launched C6 ZR1, beware!

If $112,000 is still a little rich for your blood, or you share my trepidation for electrification, first tests of the 392 Wrangler dropped this week, and it sounds promising! 470 HP, equal doses of torque, 4.5 to 60, 33-inch BFGs, a 48:1 crawl ratio, and the ability to make it all the way to the dunes, fill up in 5-minutes, and get straight to tearing up the sand, all for $75 grand!

My boy, Dickey Meaden of EVO, is a full-fledged member of the electric vehicle skeptics club, but in his latest column, he points out an interesting pro of the plug-in revolution.

Stateside, my favorite columnist drew an interesting parallel between the current automotive climate and that of 1976 by flipping a Karl Marx quote on its head and using that new Cadillac my family wants me to stop bringing up at dinner. Enjoy it; I know that I did!

Three on the Tree:

1. A YouTuber that we begrudgingly posted about when he was shamelessly using a C7 ZR1 to earn likes is facing 18 criminal charges for jumping his Ram TRX, so he decided to… jump a Lamborghini Urus over an Aventador. Genius!
   
   The guys at Throttle House, aka YouTubers that actually contribute something to car culture, also got their hands on a Urus. They used the opportunity to race it against the only two SUVs on the market with more horsepower, the Hellcat Durango and its Grand Cherokee Trackhawk stablemate. Read about that previous guy and save your click for this video!
   
   
2. Automotive journalists love to play the car product planner game (keep your eyes on this site for our proposal for a C8 mid-cycle refresh!). This week Motor Trend offered up a modern take on the Silverado SS454, and it is safe to say that we approve! Hagerty then raised the bar with their 8 trucks that disserve another shot post. We especially like the new Syclone sitting in the 5-slot (by the way, have you heard about Hagerty’s new writer?).
   
   
3. I’d like to close this rejuvenated QS post with a fascinating story back on MT’s site. Did you know that the early days of the automobile spawned a group of people crazy enough to try them as replacements for the horses in polo? See this madness for yourself by following this link and then head out to enjoy that magical mixture of ‘Vettes and sunshine. Just leave the polo mallets at home! Have a great weekend, Corvette Nation!

Previous Quick Shifts:
C8 Lightning Lap, Blackwings and Raptor Revealed, Three-Car Garage Game, Guarding the Gates, and More!
C8 Corvette Rated, Caddy’s Blackwings, BMW M5 CS, Wagon Wars, SSC Tuatara’s Top Speed Run, and More
Base C8 Evaluation, Cheap Fast Cars, New 992 Porsche 911, Cadillac Flying Car, and More!