Technology

The moment one sees the symbolic flag on the bonnet and 4 tail lights at the rear you can easily guess it is the Corvette. As an old saying goes Rome was not built in a day. Similarly, it took 60 years of constant research and planning to beget Corvette Z06. This car is a jewel in GMs stable. Everything in this car is remarkable right from the aluminum frame to the rear wind screen.

Unlike other conventional cars which are manufactured from a single factory, Corvette is produced from 3 factories. The primary factory is in Bowling Green in Kentucky where the assembly of the car is done followed by Hopkins in Kentucky where Dana technologies builds the aluminum frame of the CorvetteZ06 which is 30 lighter than the predecessor and the heart of the car which is the engine comes from a factory near Detroit. It takes a total of 1200 employees to manufacture this scintillating motor piece.

The Bowling Green factory is a state of the art. The factory is divided such that the car goes through several areas before it can be declared fit for the road. Trim Area, Testing, Paint shop, Chassis and Car Track are the phases that the car undergoes. All these phases are completely sequential and dependent. Even though there is involvement of several computers and humans yet the process seems completely automated. The process is extremely rapid.

For example it just takes 18 minutes to build the super light frame of the CorvetteZ06. The paint process takes 10 hours. But the paint job isnt conventional too. The workers have to remove their dirt and go through a crater test so that they are not contaminated before they can enter the paint job. I guess there couldnt be any other way to prove the level of professionalism.

One of the most impressing technologies that I witnessed is when the frame takes a dip in a protective solution called electro deposition where it is painted black to protect it from the rust. What also catches my eye is the immaculate paint job by the robots and putting the adhesive on the frame. The factory has 2 paint lines with each painting 350 panels a day using 66.84 gallons of paint. Another marvel in the CorvetteZ06 is the light weight body panels. Last but surely not the least is the tear drop rear window which has been the distinctive part of corvette since 1963. It is not just for cosmetic but also aerodynamic providing a smooth flow of air.              

The real gem which makes the Corvette to stand ahead of its competitors is the small block V-8 engine invented in 1955 by chief engineer of Chevrolet. It was light weight, robust and powerful. This car can never be completed until I brief about the engine. The 7 liter LS7 V8 engine churns out 505 HP married to 6 speed manual transmission taking it to 60 miles an hour in just 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 200 mph. These performance figures are commensurate to any other sports car like the Ferrari 430 or Lamborghini Gallardo. This engine is hand built by one technician just like any sports car in GMs performance center in Wixom Michigan.

But just when I was thinking that on the safety front the corvette has nothing more to offer than the conventional airbags, ABS and a rigid frame, I was left awestruck when I learnt that the car seats are computerized. The seats have an inbuilt device which is so sensitive that they can sense whether an adult is sitting or a child and subsequently change the settings of the airbags.

The technologies used in making of the CorvetteZ06 are simply marvelous. I wish to see more of these technologies in common cars like the use of carbon fiber fenders which weigh only 3 pounds and fiber glass panels. I think they can be easily incorporated in some common cars. The carbon fibers can also be quite useful in airplanes in reducing their weight and making them a lot more efficient. Also the precautions that the technicians take by inhibiting the use of silicon to get a beautiful paint job seem to be quite effective.

Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things put together. The manufacturing of the corvette seems to be based on this saying. In the world where it is believed that Americans can only build muscle cars which are defamed for their poor handling, the corvette Z06 silents its critics completely. The car starts at an attractive pricing of 74,285 which is value for money. Today it is regarded as one of the best cars in the world and is a dream car for several Americans. The legacy of corvette will be hopefully carried forward for several years.