[VIDEO] Watch This 2023 Corvette Z06 Legends Panel With Corvette Team Members at Barrett-Jackson

Here’s a cool video taken during Barrett-Jackson featuring Craig Jackson, Oliver Gavin, and members of the Corvette team which included Corvette Product Marketing Manager Harlan Charles, Corvette Chief Engineer Josh Holder, and Corvette Assembly Plant Director Kai Spande, talking about the 2023 Corvette Z06. This was one of the “Panel of Legends” assembled by the auction company for their 50th Anniversary Scottsdale event.

Craig Jackson has the opportunity to talk first and he fills us in on some of his first cars which included a 1968 Corvette 427 model which he claims he “blew up” four times as he “hopped it up” and a few more Corvettes were added along the way. Most recently, Craig tells us he bought one of the last 2019 ZR1s, the VIN 001 2019 Corvette Z06, and a new C8 Corvette Stingray.

“Now, I am excited about what is coming next here with the Z06 with its 4-cam motor,” said Jackson. He adds, “I am super excited about this and the opportunity tomorrow night to make history again like we did when we sold so many of the great General Motors’ Corvettes over the years…selling the last front-engine car for charity for $2.7 million, selling the first C8 for $3 million dollars. I think history is going to be made again tomorrow night.”

Harlan Charles is introduced next and he begins taking us through some of the history of the Z06 starting with Zora Arkus-Duntov creating 199 Z06s during the 1963 model year. Harlan says the name then went dormant for a while and then brought back as its own model during the fifth generation “and quickly it came to be our showcase for bringing racing technology to the streetcar.” By the C7 generation, the car was so popular that Chevy finally offered it both as a convertible and with an automatic transmission.

When it comes the to C8 Z06, Harlan says with the car having unique fenders, quarter panels, and front and rear fascias, it’s the most changes they’ve done from the standard Stingray in the history of the Z06 and much of that is due to the wider wheels on the front and back of the car.

Harlan also confirms that the first retail Corvette sold will be one of the 70th Anniversary Editions, and he also takes us through some of the highlights of that new Anniversary edition that includes a luggage set.

Corvette Chief Engineer Josh Holder talks about his dream job of engineering and creating the new Corvette Z06 and he takes us through some of the engineering that makes the Z06 possible. That starts with a super-stiff lightweight body structure to handle the extreme loads that the Z06 can provide with the wide tires and wheel, and that also helps with the ride performance and the ability to provide a really comfortable ride.

Then there is the sound from the LT6 and the specially-designed center-mounted exhaust. Josh says they made a significant change very late in the development of the car to get that sound just right and he mentions the reverse parabolic shapes of the exhaust outlets which sends that note right back into the cockpit. “When you’re on the throttle and you’re hearing that 8,600 rpm of flat-plane crank titanium connecting rod fury, you get that visceral experience that this car really is all about,” said Josh.

Oliver Gavin spoke about driving four different generations of Corvette race cars over his 20 years with Corvette Racing and says that nothing compares to what the engineers put together for the C8 Z06. He describes taking the Z06 out to the Nurburgring for the first time and he could feel the difference right away, both with the different cornering radius, but also with the lighter Carbon Fiber wheels. He says the way the car accelerated through the gears to 8600 RPM each time just pulling and pulling and pulling.”

The conversation lasts for over 32 minutes and it’s filled with some great info straight from the team that covers everything from options on the car, to building and racing it at Le Mans. A question and answer session followed as well and we learned that Josh bought a ’65 Corvette Restomod at the auction on the day before!

Source:
Marque Media / YouTube

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