America, The Last Bastion of the Petrolhead

The United States of America has two major players in the automotive industry, Ford and General Motors. At the top of the General Motors tree is Chevrolet, and Chevrolet, just a couple of weeks back, unveiled to the world the Corvette ZR1. The latest and greatest version of their beloved sportscar.

The ZR1 is a rear-wheel drive coupe, with 755 horsepower, 715 lbs/ft of torque and a top speed of 212mph. To put those numbers into perspective, a Ferrari Enzo has 651 horsepower and 485 lbs/ft of torque.

The mad, bad, Corvette ZR1

Not only are these figures eye-popping, but how they are produced bucks every trend of the modern age.

The engine is of a large capacity, 6.2 litres and 8 cylinders, and is bereft of any turbos or hybridisation.

It even comes with a clutch pedal and a manual gearbox.

All Ferrari’s V8s are now turbocharged, they’re infamous V12s will soon have hybrid assistance, and Ferrari haven’t sold a car with a manual gearbox in nearly a decade*.

The Corvette ZR1 follows suit of other recent American automotive marvels, such as the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and recent Mustang 350R, which all follow the same ethos of big power and analogue componentry.

The last manual Ferrari, The California.

In decades past, it was Europe and Japan that were the breeding grounds for the delights of the petrolhead. America used to produce crude, poorly built, disposable machines, that used technology that was almost Victorian.

Now however, as European and Japanese manufacturers are looking to the future, the Americans are looking at the present, and filling the gap opened up in the market as the industry shifts away from the internal combustion engine.

Us archaic-thinking petrolheads are enlivened by the tactile sensations of the motor car. We love the mechanical feeling of executing a perfect gear-change, the combination of the crescendo of sound and speed increasing, the smells, the vibrations, they’re all part of the romantic, and yes, foolish love affair we share.

It really isn’t the modern way

Those who don’t care for the car will mock, but for the same reasons vinyl has had it’s renaissance and why people still read books in their masses, is because people love the tangible, and slightly imperfect nature of the pre-digital age. It’s all that more...human.

The biggest difference however, unlike the vinyl revival, there can not be a combustion engine revival.

When the market demand for petrol gets to the point where only us one percent of car enthusiasts lust after it, it will no longer be made available.

The performance car won’t die with it, but it will be electrified and single geared, and probably drive itself.  The technology will thrive, but the passion and soul will disappear.

The Rimac Concept One, the all electric supercar

I don’t want to sound like a luddite, I fully accept and embrace that this must happen, our planets survival demands it, but until the shift is made, I’m happy in the knowledge that I can continue to live in the past until the future arrives.

-John Quinn

@JohnnyQ86

*The last one was the 2008 Ferrari California, which they sold a whopping 3 manual versions of. There’s a wise investment for the future, if you can find one.