Over 150 Corvettes were expected, but forty failed to show, so our stalwart crew took top honors as the winner of the Participation Award. That's RJ Munson in the middle with the club award, and for the Gulf Coast Corvette Club of Bradenton, it was a repeat from last year when we also scored most cars from one club. And last year, my C-6 red convertible won the First Place for my class. This year that honor stayed with the GCCC, but went to the fellow on the far left, who drove down from his home in the Carolinas to compete. Last year he drove a C-5 (fifth generation Corvette), but in the interim period he purchased a bright yellow 2010 Coupe, which ultimately took top honors in class.
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| 2014 Corvette C-7 Coupe |
The red C-7 was parked next to mine, and was one of half a dozen 2014 Corvettes entered. While this one did not win, it did show off several of the features of this initial year of the seventh generation Corvette. First year models are often problematic, so my lust for a new car is muted (that and fear of my wife breaking either my leg or simply my wallet). However, the 2015's are expected to feature a Z06 Convertible. Yep, you read that correctly - next year for the first time there will be a rag top Z06 - so Chevy must have figured out how to negate the torque issue that would in the past have proved what happens with too much horsepower and too light a frame are put together in a 500 plus horsepower package. When I moved up from the 2001 to the 2004 cars, both had the LS-2 engine, with about 350 horses. I did not purchase the first year of the C-6, which was 2005, nor the 2006 or 2007. It wasn't until the 2008, which introduced the LS-3 engine, with 430 horsepower. And the subsequent Corvette I purchased also had that LS-3 engine, a Cyber Gray coupe.
That's my 2010 Red Grand Sport in the background, with fellow Kiwanis members Jim Larson and Glenn Peterson (with wife Lisa) standing in front of mine and behind the C-7 also pictured in this post. Jim Larson is also a member of the GCCC, and owns two Corvettes, neither of which he entered into the show. On this date, Jim drove his 2000 fifth generation to the Circle and joined me for breakfast at the Blue Dolphin, during which time the skies opened up and kept raining for a solid five hours, until around 2:00 PM when the sponsoring club decided to award prizes. It held off just enough for me to escape the grass and drive the six miles to home.
