GRM sightings at the National Corvette Museum

I was at the NCM in Bowling Green last week and weekend for the C4 Gathering and spotted a couple of GRM-related things. Thought it would be fun to share.

First, the Cheaparral sucker Vette in all its glory on display in the main lobby area. Nice to see it getting some love. I remarked to a vistor that it was created for $201x which led to a nice discussion of GRM. A couple of other visitors walked up as we chatted and everyone was jazzed about the car and the Challenge. She is still wearing Challenge livery complete with GRM stickers.

Also checked up on the North Florida Corvette Association bricks outside the museum. I haven't been active with the club since first moving to Arkansas in 2010 but am a former officer and stay in touch with the old gang. They have for many years supported the museum by purchasing bricks, banners and the like. A shot showing a portion of the bricks. Yep, there I am.

But wait, there is an interesting brick in frame. It bears the name of our friend and GRM stalwart J.G. Pasterjack!

Because the bricks are purchased a few at a time year after year, NFCA draws the names of members who don't already have a brick out of a hat.

J.G., I believe this dates from the days of the '99 FRC magazine car. I don't know the story and never heard anyone in the club speak of it but there have been a couple of mentions in the magazine over the years of some hard feelings about the car's success at NCCC autocross. It was nice to find your brick; there doesn't seem to be any grudge from the NFCA crowd so hope the static came from somewhere else. Whatever the source I'm sorry it happened and understandably left a bad taste.

The FRC and you were wicked quick and fun to run with. I remember you coming out to the old airstrip at Green Cove Springs a couple of times and one could easily follow the car's development path as GRM studied the rulebook and figured out where to find speed. Hope you'll think of NCCC autocross again for testing and proof of concept opportunities if GRM takes on another Corvette one day.

Every time I see the sucker Vette at the Corvette museum I swell up with a little GRM pride.

Cool story!

That Corvette marks the day I found the print magazine on the racks in the mall and I was hooked since.

Did you do the plant tour?

Sure did. Just a couple of weeks left until they suspend tours until at least January 2019. Production will also be stopped for longer than usual this summer and early fall.

The official story is a new paint facility will be built out and the tour route will be revised to incorporate the new facility. Really, the new paint shop is already completed. Lots of internet speculation about and testing pics and footage of upcoming models out there. The most fun theory involves the newest Cars movie.

Anyway, what makes the most sense to me is something along those lines that GM isn't ready to reveal yet. Also, there is at least one clear spy shot of a new split-5 spoke wheel bearing a ZR-1 logo fitted on a test mule. I can confirm that a version of that wheel Was being fitted to the 2018 builds we saw on the line.

We got to see a couple of cool things and something unusual. Each car is driven off the line (briskly, too) over a serrated track like you might see at airports and then goes to a chassis dyno where it is driven up to 80 mph and hundreds of computer diagnostics are run. Next it goes to a water booth where it is checked for intrusion. If a technician hears any squeaks or rattles at any time beginning with drive out the car goes to a holding area for re-work. Few cars need this step and even fewer have a squeak that can't be corrected in rework. The unusual something is we got to see a car in the shake room. If the offending squeak or rattle can't be identified in rework it goes to a sound-dampened room and is put on a shake table. Techs can be inside, outside and even under the car with listening devices while it's on the table and the car isn't released until the problem is corrected. Someone is going to take delivery of a black Z06 convertible that has gotten much extra TLC.

conesare2seconds wrote: I was at the NCM in Bowling Green last week and weekend for the C4 Gathering and spotted a couple of GRM-related things. Thought it would be fun to share. First, the Cheaparral sucker Vette in all its glory on display in the main lobby area. Nice to see it getting some love. I remarked to a vistor that it was created for $201x which led to a nice discussion of GRM. A couple of other visitors walked up as we chatted and everyone was jazzed about the car and the Challenge. She is still wearing Challenge livery complete with GRM stickers. Also checked up on the North Florida Corvette Association bricks outside the museum. I haven't been active with the club since first moving to Arkansas in 2010 but am a former officer and stay in touch with the old gang. They have for many years supported the museum by purchasing bricks, banners and the like. A shot showing a portion of the bricks. Yep, there I am. But wait, there is an interesting brick in frame. It bears the name of our friend and GRM stalwart J.G. Pasterjack! Because the bricks are purchased a few at a time year after year, NFCA draws the names of members who don't already have a brick out of a hat. J.G., I believe this dates from the days of the '99 FRC magazine car. I don't know the story and never heard anyone in the club speak of it but there have been a couple of mentions in the magazine over the years of some hard feelings about the car's success at NCCC autocross. It was nice to find your brick; there doesn't seem to be any grudge from the NFCA crowd so hope the static came from somewhere else. Whatever the source I'm sorry it happened and understandably left a bad taste. The FRC and you were wicked quick and fun to run with. I remember you coming out to the old airstrip at Green Cove Springs a couple of times and one could easily follow the car's development path as GRM studied the rulebook and figured out where to find speed. Hope you'll think of NCCC autocross again for testing and proof of concept opportunities if GRM takes on another Corvette one day.

Awesome, man. Cool to see my brick there. I had forgotten that was a thing. I've been by there a couple times in the last year and should have stopped to see it.

There was never any hard feeling as such. Just the occasional good-natured butthurt that someone from outside the club came in with a supposedly "slow" car and started beating the Z06s and modified death mobiles. Some great folks in that club, and great events—especially at Green Cove (RIP that site...). I'm really looking forward to erupting my membership and hitting a few more NCCC events again late this year with a likely next project car that I can't currently discuss, but if I could I would tell you it'll probably be a C5Z if things work out. Nissan Versa if they don't.

In reply to conesare2seconds:

Did you buy a jar of sinkhole dirt at the gift shop?

I thought leno owned the sucker vette?

There are usually a few points chasers at any NCCC event, coming from OH, NC, and elsewhere. Same as any organization, mostly great people with a couple of asses here and there, it goes with competition whether it's basketball, bowling, softball, etc. We used to drive from FL to GA, AL, TN, SC, and NC and ran with regulars from as far away as IA and MI. I had to shake my head at the lengths a few folks would go to for a jacket in what was supposed to be a hobby and put on by volunteers.

It goes both ways, too. Years ago a fellow came out to an event in the first C5 Z06 that Lingenfelter supercharged. The car was way faster than the driver and the poor fellow was flummoxed that he was not getting FTDs and running faster than "lesser" Corvettes. Eventually, he looks at me and nods toward a well-prepped C4 that was the next-rowdiest car on course and asks: "Would you say that fellow is one of the premier drivers in NCCC?" Because obviously that's the only way anyone could be beating him, right? With the straightest face I could muster I replied, deadpan: "Sure, I think [driver's name] is good, but really, his wife is faster."

Great news about the project that you can't talk about, if it was I'd say yay for you and for us.

Tom, I took a pass on the dirt but a few new shirts found their way into my bags.

Tons of museum pics and details about the BG trip and a run to Chicago in the Your Trips & Adventures forum.

The Museum is fantastic and the plant tour is even better.

Our tour guide said that first blast across the rumble strips "settles and lubricates" the suspension parts. A guy saunters over to this 100% brand new car and spins them up over steel bumps.