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Serious Drag
I remember reading years ago that the C5 Corvette had a coefficient of drag of 0.29, which the magazine (?Road and Track, maybe) said was the lowest on any production car they had tested except for some electric hybrid.
I have heard mentioned that the C6 Corvette was similar or even a little lower--0.28
Now I see in Corvette Quarterly that the C6 Coupe has a drag cefficient of 0.286 while the Z06 has a drag coefficient of 0.342!!!
They spent 240 hours in a wind tunnel to increase the drag that much over the Coupe? Were they smoking pot and listening to old rock and roll or were they working on aerodynamics?
That result is surprising to me, as well as unpleasant to accept. Increased drag means slower accelleration, more gas consumption, and lower top speed. They also mentioned that the C5 Z06 was similar (around the 0.342 number), which may explain the lower top speed for the C5 Z06 compared to the C5 Coupe.
Hard to believe that the larger tires and small body changes make that much difference--more like a Chevy suburban...
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