2008 Chevrolet Corvette Hardtop - "OL' Smoke" And No Mirrors

In many cases, contest giveaway cars tend to be regular-production versions, maybe with an aftermarket add-on or a special color scheme. Our Timber Wolf C2 project car was one notable exception. But what about a car that's built to be more than that-to be "too good to be given away?"

Such was the challenge that Stacey David was given by the folks at Armor All, in conjunction with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Tony Stewart: Come up with a C6 Corvette that is just that good. If Stacey David's name seems somewhat familiar, you'd be on the money because he was the host and producer of the very successful Trucks! TV show for 8 years back in the late '90s. At that time, it was the most popular show in Spike TV's weekend lineup. In fact, Trucks! maintained the highest viewership for automotive/how-to programming since it first aired in 1998, and quickly became one of Spike TV's highest rated shows overall.

Stacey, who's now the host and executive producer of Stacey David's GearZ that airs each week on SPEED TV, says their plan for this project was to build a car with notoriety, as well as collectability. "The whole idea behind this was, let's create the car that the enthusiast would want to build himself, stick in his garage, and say 'That's my baby!' says Stacey from his Nashville, Tennessee, shop/studio. Stacey's plan was to call it "Ol' Smoke," after Stewart's nickname, and also how he wanted the car to perform. He started with a new C6 Corvette hardtop, and improved it with an STS twin-turbocharger system, for starters.

The big difference between the STS setup and other turbocharging systems is location. STS' twin turbos are located aft of the catalytic converters, where the OEM mufflers are...or, were on this car. They flow the pressurized air forward, with no added underhood heat. "Everything stays cool," Stacey explains. "Just the action of the boost going through the long tubing cools it, so you don't really need an intercooler." Stacey says that this car did have an intercooler on it, which cooled down the pressurized intake charge that much more-and led to big numbers on the dyno. A misinformed perception of the STS system is that because of the long tubing and overall distance the turbos are from the engine, you will get massive lag. This is simply not true. There is no turbo lag created from having the turbos at the rear of the car. Another added benefit of the STS system is that the remote-mount installation is easy.

"The car dynoed right at 637 hp, with 7 pounds of boost," Stacey says. "The STS guys said, 'We can switch to 7-pound springs-from here on out, every pound we go up in the springs gives you 35 more horsepower, guaranteed. We'll take you to 7 pounds psi, and that'll take you to almost 700 hp. That LS3 engine will handle 7 pounds of boost with no problem.'"

A power adder like that on the engine not only deserves a set of high-performance brakes, it needs them! "As you know, these cars are performance machines," Stacey says. "To me, if you're doing something like adding the turbos, or making it go like that, you've got to be able to stop it, too." That meant a set of brakes from Stainless Steel Brakes Corporation, which was an early-production set for the C6. "They were just a step past prototype, the first production ones, and they really nailed it," he says. "I laid into this car pretty heavily, and I was on the brakes all the time because I was out on the track road-coursing it, and that was part of what we were testing. If you go with one upgrade, you really need to go with the other."

Just outboard of the new SSBC brakes are a set of SLP Performance Parts new "Smoke" wheels that are similar to the OEM ones that fill the Z06's fenderwells. The big difference from the original-equipment rolling stock is the smoke-gray powdercoating that the SLP wheels have. SLP also contributed its C6 hood with functional hoodscoop, as well as its third-brake light cover and carbon-fiber door handles.