In this episode, I share part 1 of an interview with Dave Cole. Dave’s father was Ed Cole, the Chief Engineer and then General Manager of Chevrolet. Ed was one of the gentlemen responsible for bringing the Corvette to life.

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In this episode, I share with you the genesis of the book I have written on the Corvette. It is written from the perspective of an insider who led the team and helped make it all happen for 17 years of Corvette history. The book allows the reader to approach the story at three levels, in pictures with captions, as the main stream story and as side bars that tell interesting side lights to Corvette.

Click here to purchase an autographed copy of the book.

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Every Corvette enthusiast should talk a trip to the home of Corvette Assembly and the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. The plant tour is a good visual experience, but there is so much more that is unseen. It is the unseen engineering and processing that makes it possible for the car to go together right the first time. Let me tell you what to look for to make the unseen visible.

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This year Mid America celebrated the Corvette’s that ran in the million dollar Corvette Challenge race series of 1988-9. I took this as an opportunity to share with you the genesis of these cars and how Corvette racing between 1985 and 1989 led to the ZR-1 of 1990.

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Mike Yager
Mike Yager is Chief Cheerleader (President) of Mid America Motor Works. As a thanks to its Corvette customers, Mid America hosts Fun Fest in mid September each year at it’s Effingham, IL headquarters. Who would believe that 15,000 Corvettes and 45,000 customers would head for a corn field in southern Illinois for this special event, but they do. The podcast interview with Mike is right here. Click on the link to Mid America’s website to see what they offer the Corvette enthusiast.

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Lance Miller
Lance Miller, son of the late Chip Miller. Like his dad, he is one of most respected and likeable guys in the Corvette hobby.

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This is Part 2 of 2 on Fuel Economy
Corvette fuel economy is a topic that affects the pocketbook of Corvette drivers but one that too few of us want to talk about it when we can talk about performance. So, ready or not, here is the lowdown on fuel economy, a topic that affects the performance of your car and along with emissions defines the performance that is possible. In two podcasts I discuss the current Corvette and then talk about the future and what’s in store for Corvette drivers in this world of increasing fuel efficiency requirements.

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Corvette fuel economy is a topic that affects the pocketbook of Corvette drivers but one that too few of us want to talk about it when we can talk about performance. So, ready or not, here is the lowdown on fuel economy, a topic that affects the performance of your car and along with emissions defines the performance that is possible. In two podcasts I discuss the current Corvette and then talk about the future and what’s in store for Corvette drivers in this world of increasing fuel efficiency requirements.

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Reeves of Callaway Cars fame and I go way back to the time in 1986 when we made the decision to go for a naturally aspirated 4 cam engine (the LT5). We shared with Reeves the work we had done up to that point to develop a twin turbo Corvette. Reeves took this and made it his own, producing the Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette. This lead to the 250 + mph Sledge Hammer and an ongoing series of Callaway Corvettes, the latest being the C16.

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The biggest issue facing the Corvette into the future is being able to maintain its extraordinary performance against the threat of fuel economy legislation. In this Podcast, I interview Peter Wright, ex Chief Engineer of the Lotus F-1 program, co-inventor of active suspension and now a consultant to F-1. We’re going to talk about design optimization in the digital world and F-1s mandate for energy recovery systems on board the race cars just one year out.

Peter and I are fellow inductees as Fellows of the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers). 20 to 25 Fellow grade memberships are conferred each year from a membership of about 80,000. Peter has written two books on F-1 racing which I highly recommend. Formula 1 Technology and Ferrari F-1, Under the Skin of the Championship Winning F-1 2000.

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This episode is in honor of Maurice Olley. Dave gets Bill Milliken on the phone to tell us about Maurice Olley. Maurice is going to be inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame this Autumn.

Click here to see an article from August 4th, 1948 titled “An Engineer At The Grand Prix”

Books Mentioned In This Podcast:
Chassis Design
Equations Of Motion
Race Car Vehicle Dynamics

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In this episode, Dave shares a video that was done at the NCRS National Event in Steamboat Springs in July of 1995. Video includes footage of some of those behind the scenes in Corvette History.

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In this episode, Dave interviews John Fitch. During the 50s and 60s, John had a racing career that included driving for Mercedes-Benz and the Briggs Cunningham team. He celebrated major wins in the Argentina Grand Prix, the Mille Miglia, and Sebring. He was the first racing team manager for Corvette in 1956 and 1957.

Please have a listen and be sure to leave a comment and let Dave know what you think.

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In this episode, Dave is in Sebring, Florida for the “Twelve Hours Of Sebring” endurance race. Standing at turn seventeen, the last turn of the track before the cars head down the straightaway in front of the pits, Dave uses his digital audio field recorder to capture the atmosphere of the even through sound.

Please have a listen and be sure to leave a comment and let Dave know what you think.

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After Zora drove a 1956 Corvette at 150 mph on the sand beach at Daytona Florida, his Chief Engineer, Ed Cole, wanted him to take the Corvette racing. After a fitful first start in the 1956 Sebring 12 Hour race, Zora showed up the following year with the car he really wanted to go racing with, the Corvette SS. Sebring was a race that attracted the world’s best race drivers and the manufacturers who sold their cars based on their racing success. The white test “mule” for the SS was a sensation in practice. Juan Manuel Fangio was faster in it than the previous year’s lap record. As you will see in this video it was also driven in practice by Sterling Moss. The late arriving Corvette SS is also featured with its eventual drivers, John Fitch (Corvette Hall of Fame) and Piero Taruffi. A total lack of testing before the race plagued the SS and led to its early withdrawl. Zora’s plan to race the SS in the Le Mans 24 Hour race that June was dashed when GM agreed to the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) ban on racing.

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Dick Guldstrand races. Even at 80 he still races. He first started racing Corvettes in the late ‘50s when Zora began Chevrolet’s clandestine support of Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) racing. All these years Dick has been a friend of the Corvette and has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the marquis. We built them and he jazzes them up for his customers all over the world. Dick is a proud member of the Corvette Hall of Fame.

Please have a listen and be sure to leave a comment and let Dave know what you think.

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Dave Ferguson is one of the National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS) judges for his favorite Corvettes the ‘53 through ’57 models. Dave was imprinted with a love for the Corvette in high school. Two careers later he is back. Along the way he enjoyed careers as a fighter pilot, as a test pilot and as head of flight operations for the Lockheed Skunk Works where he flew the U2, A12, F117A and had first flight in the YF22.

Please have a listen and be sure to leave a comment and let Dave know what you think.

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In this fourth episode of the Corvette Chief Podcast, Dave shares his thoughts on the most recent High Performance Corvettes. We are very excited about the launch of the Corvette Chief Podcast and the response from each of you in the comments area of the posts. Dave is already working working on the next round of podcast episodes as well as a few video installments as well.

Please have a listen and be sure to leave a comment and let Dave know what you think.

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In this third episode of the Corvette Chief Podcast, Dave answers the question, “What is a Corvette?” He says, “I think we all think we know what a Corvette is…” In this episode, Dave shares how the Corvette came into being.

Please have a listen and be sure to leave a comment and let Dave know what you think.

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In this second episode of the Corvette Chief Podcast, Dave shares audio from a 1960 Test Drive given by Zora Arkus-Duntov of the 1961 Corvette.

Please have a listen and be sure to leave a comment and let Dave know what you think.

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Welcome to the first episode of the Corvette Chief Podcast. In this episode, Dave discusses the rumors surrounding a possible future mid-engine Corvette. He shares that rumors of a mid-engine Corvette have been flying since the 1960′s. Dave sheds some light on the rumor that started some time last Fall of the C7 being a mid-engine Corvette.

Dave shares, in this podcast, the reaction that he has received when he has ran into the current corvette engineering team at various events.

In this episode, there is valuable insight into the history of a mid-engine Corvette as it relates to the various proposals of the research and development of the Corvette program.

Please have a listen and be sure to leave a comment and let Dave know what you think.

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