The Corvette Grand Sport is the Goldilocks of Vettes

[NOISE] A Corvette, the American take on the sports car. It sticks to a rigid principle. Drag at the rear, V8 in the front, two seats for perfect two people in the middle. The C7 Stingray has been around for a while [INAUDIBLE] 6 by 6 million horsepower and plenty of track based bits Came a while later, and now Chevrolet's brought out this, the Grand Sport. The Grand Sport doesn't get anywhere near the zed six's power. It keeps the 460 horses you get in the base car. However, it does get some of the handling trickery that makes the zed six So fantastic on a circuit. Think of it then as a sort of road going track crossover monster, essentially. Now, if you know your Corvettes, you'll know that the Grand Sport name is pretty important. And if you don't know your Corvettes, well, allow me to explain. Throw your mind back in early 1960s, Zora Arkus-Duntov, the man in charge of Corvettes wanted to go to Le Mans and start winning races. He plan on making 125 lightweight silly powerful tracks special to beast the competition. But, General Motors didn't like the idea of factory motor sports and told Zora where to go. Zora managed to make five Grand Sports though and somehow, it's amazing how these things happen, they ended up in the hands of professional racing drivers who, and you'll never guess this bit, actually raced them. And they did quite well. They are pretty much the Corvette to have. Now Chevrolet bought the name back in the Nineties and again in 2010. Now, though, it's back. [NOISE] It's packing a 6.2 litre V8 with 460 horsepower and 465 lb foot. Chevy says it'll hit 60 from rest in 3.6 seconds, and its speedo goes. Well very far around. It's a little quicker in a straight line than a base Corvette Stingray and a way off the [UNKNOWN]. But that's not what the Grand Sport is all about. [SOUND] This thing is all about getting around corners. You see, it's a bit of a mishmash of the Corvette lineup. So it gets the engine from the base Corvette, but its chassis has got [UNKNOWN] All over. It's got the bits that make it handle, so damn well. So for example, you get magnetic ride control. You get big Brembo brakes, Michelin sport pilot tires. That's all the standard but things better, if you tick a box, marked 0o7. 0o7 package, you stick to your pilot sport cup two tires, hug carbon ceramic brakes and well, more fun. The body work on the Grand Sport is mostly derived from the [UNKNOWN] car, though it's rear wing isn't quite as complete. And if you're super keen, you can get yourself a Heritage Pack that spruces up the aesthetics. So Internet, I have a little bit of an admission to make. This is my first ever Corvette, not played in one before at all. But from all I've heard, this is the one to go for, the Grand Sport is the one. The Z06 is a bit too manic, a bit too crazy. The base Corvette, good but not quite as good. So let's start with the good bit. The noise. My good Lord, it sounds good. [SOUND] [NOISE] That's America flying out of the back of the car. Listen to it. A big dirty V8. That's fantastic, and if you get the manual it's a seven speed manual. It will road match for you, so when you feel like you're ready to go just clutch down, drop it in, and we're hot to trot again and make lots of noise. I love the noise. Fire, ash, and brimstone. The gearbox itself doesn't feel quite perfect. It's good, and I'll sooner have it than the auto. But it's not, a little bit to notchy. A little bit to hairy chested for my liking. But hey, if you like it, fair enough. The brakes, a little bit, a little bit spongy to start but then back straight down as they stop. Decent pedal feel. They are pretty tasty as far as they go. This cars real party piece though is the handling. The handling [SOUND] It's incredible. But there's one minor caveat. Because in sport mode, that we're in now, the steering is fantastic. It's beautifully weighted. You can tell what the front of the car is doing. You can feel everything. Nice It's good, there's no body lean or anything like that. You can go around the corner and have decent confidence that you're not going to die. But track mode makes the steering unbelievably heavy, like, as in, has the power steering pump broken heavy. It's ridiculous. And it feels kinda good, but it's too heavy. You've got to really heft it. You've got to work out the [INAUDIBLE] ever. [SOUND] Cuz it's, yeah, it's something else, but the way this thing handles, the way it moves, the way it should be shaking a little bit under breaking when you go properly hard. [UNKNOWN] into a corner and you know what I was expecting. Thing you have to be very rude about [UNKNOWN] wobbly and lurching and leady and just generally rubbish. But actually it is really rather good. This is more than A contender for European sports cars now. It's absolutely stunning. It just has so much front end grip. Bang it into corner no [UNKNOWN] It's nice and neutral. Keep it thin, keep it thin, keep it thin. [UNKNOWN] the back of the corner. And it flies. And the whole car shakes with the engine. You feel the engine vibrating through the cabinet. It's magical. This is a proper, proper sports car. The [UNKNOWN] control light is telling me to stop being a hooligan. But frankly, [UNKNOWN] control light, I refuse. Yes, it's really good! Really good. There's a couple of things about it that aren't great. It smells weird, I don't know why it smells weird. I think it's cuz it's quite new. And some of the dials are a bit fussy. And it's a bit fancy. It's a little bit busy, some of them. Is this carbon fiber? I don't know, it doesn't feel like it. And the design of the interior is good. But it really is only, Minor things, this is a genuinely brilliant car. I want one of these in London. It wouldn't fit anywhere because [UNKNOWN]. Look at that. any day of the week. I get that the older vets weren't much of a match for the stuff that comes out of Germany. I get that they were of their time, for a specific audience, but the Grand Sport. That's different. Put simply, the Corvette Grand Sport is an absolute stonker. It's a wonderful blend of front-end grip, power and noise, something you can work with and gain confidence with and improve with, or you can take out to a track and embarrass a fair few other things in. My first Corvette experience was a very positive one. And Chevrolet made a cracker. [MUSIC]