C&D features a meltdown! ...and where was the Callaway??

[*89x2*]

ok, where was the Callaway??? It has been SO LONG since seeing any Callaway in a Car & Driver shootout - why?

I think the last Callaways in Car & Driver that were really written about, were the C8 and the C9 fast-takes stuffed in the back of the magazine, yet the others keep getting the ink.

While it is no secret that C&D loves to give LPE the press for their cars, why do they continue to feature Hennessey cars? Why would anyone with all the press that guy has behind him?

Anyways, here is the shootout: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...central/zero_to_200_and_back_feature/(page)/1


Cliff Notes: The LPE and Hennesey both DNF as they blow up, etc. Hennessey still gets 2nd place :crazy

 

[Aurora40]

Has Callaway approached CandD about inclusion in such tests? It's possible it just didn't occur to the CandD guys.

It's also possible they only wanted one of each car. The Lingenfelter 'vette makes a lot more power than any Callaway C6-based car I'm aware of. While the Lingenfelter 'vette blew up, there's no way CandD would have known that would happen. Lingenfelter has a strong track record with Car and Driver's supercar articles. I believe CandD named their supercar trophy after John L after he passed, a well deserved honor.

 

[*89x2*]

Csaba knows Reeves' phone number...


Don't take what I am saying as a total slam on LPE, but who cares how much power the car made on the dyno if it broke under load on the track. Cracking brakes shows the car was not sorted out at all when combined with the earlier failure. Is it the same ENGINEERING company, now that JL is gone?

Regarding the power level of the Callaway, if the crew from Old Lyme did not adhere strictly to the federal emissions standard, it is reasonable to say they could make as much power, maybe more than the rest of players in that field :cool Maybe one day, the playing field will be leveled down to that standard. Csaba, are you listening :confused

...now, about that viper from Houston

 

[Aurora40]

Don't take what I am saying as a total slam on LPE, but who cares how much power the car made on the dyno if it broke under load on the track. Cracking brakes shows the car was not sorted out at all when combined with the earlier failure. Is it the same ENGINEERING company, now that JL is gone?

Well, like I said, CandD doesn't have a crystal ball. They wouldn't have known the car would break. The failures don't seem that absurd, though. A missed shift can blow an engine. And a rotor cracked repeatedly, who knows what's up with that.

Anyway, the main point is how would CandD know? In the past, Lingenfelter has had great performances, winning many of CandD's supercar shootouts. And they have had great reliability. Maybe this is a one-time fluke, maybe not. It can happen to anyone, I recall a B2K that burned up (or something, I can't recall exactly) on a magazine test drive. Certainly that's not indicative of all the cars Callaway made then. Lingenfelter deserved the invite based on past performance.

Regarding the power level of the Callaway, if the crew from Old Lyme did not adhere strictly to the federal emissions standard, it is reasonable to say they could make as much power, maybe more than the rest of players in that field :cool Maybe one day, the playing field will be leveled down to that standard. Csaba, are you listening :confused

Well, maybe that's not what they are interested in testing. As very few tuners (or whatever word you prefer) sell their cars as "new", federal new car emissions requirements are not required. So why go to the expense? If the buyer doesn't care, why make them pay for it? It's seems like an arbitrary standard to me, in that it isn't relevant to the legal status of the modified car at the end. There is also the fact that Car and Driver does plenty of tests, comparsions, shootouts, etc with cars that meet federal new car requirements. In fact, most of their magazine space goes to such tests. The "supercar" shootouts are the exception rather than the norm for CandD.

I totally agree about Hennessy, though. What the heck are they thinking? And their mention of him was this:

John Hennessey is well-known to readers of Car and Driver for his tuning exploits with Mopar products, so it was a no-brainer to invite him to our inaugural 0-to-200-to-0 challenge with his 2006 Venom 1000 Twin Turbo, née Dodge Viper SRT10.

I bet his even better known for his other exploits... I can't believe anyone would leave their car with him to have modified.

 

[John H. Christensen]

SOME STATES HAVE EMISSION TESTING LIKE CT.
THEY EVEN CHECK YOUR EXHAUST FOR CATS, PLUS GAS CAP SEAL.
IF YOU DON'T PASS YOU HAVE THIRTY DAYS TO GET IT FIXED.
NO PASS, NO DRIVE!
IT LOOKS LIKE SOME DAY SOON ALL THE STATES WILL BE REQUIRED TO DO EMISSIONS TESTING.
IF YOUR CAR IS JUST A GARAGE QUEEN THEN THIS WILL NOT MATTER.

 

[kruzmisl]

Great point John, what does a person do with a 6 figure car that won't pass emissions test!:crazy

 

[Hib Halverson]

It's also possible that Callaway Cars was invited but choose not to compete. Whether or not that is the case is probably known only to the staff at CD and at Callaway.

The least powerful car in that competition made about 650 at the wheels and it looks like it took 950 SAE net at the wheels, or better, to win.

Perhaps Callaway looked at the competitors and looked at the structure of the competition and decided the CD "shootout" was not a good choice to promote its products.

 

[C-4 Now]

I agree that leaving a car with Hennessey would trip my high risk alarm! Unique Performance bankruptcy auction is a good reminder of this!!;squint: As far as LPE breaking I've read these test long enough to know that even the big three and other manufacturers have had breakage at these test!! LPE has a good enough track record to still draw the enthusiast to the magazine. Would have been great to see the C-16 in the test! Maybe next time??

 

[Brangeta]

I stopped reading Car & Driver a long time ago. They give too much preference to non-domestic cars, and I find their comparisons really boring. I don't want to read about sedans, I want to read about sports cars! And several of their issues have absolutely NOTHING interesting in them. Not even good photography in some cases! It's like reading Business Week, Times, or Forbes, but the subject is cars. :ugh

This may be rumor, but I read somewhere once that many of the domestic companies stopped advertising in C&D because of bad (biased) reviews downing their products in favor of others. If my memory correctly serves me, the company I heard this about was GM and the product was one of their SUVs or sedans.

 

[*89x2*]

It's also possible that Callaway Cars was invited but choose not to compete. Whether or not that is the case is probably known only to the staff at CD and at Callaway.

The least powerful car in that competition made about 650 at the wheels and it looks like it took 950 SAE net at the wheels, or better, to win.

Perhaps Callaway looked at the competitors and looked at the structure of the competition and decided the CD "shootout" was not a good choice to promote its products.

Pehaps. Good points, Hib :cool

Would have been great to see the C-16 in the test! Maybe next time??

A Super C16 would be awesome to see hnoes 7.0L w/ a TVS blower

This may be rumor, but I read somewhere once that many of the domestic companies stopped advertising in C&D because of bad (biased) reviews downing their products in favor of others. If my memory correctly serves me, the company I heard this about was GM and the product was one of their SUVs or sedans.

Last I read, I saw domestic ads from GM. They have loved Hondas and BMWs for decades. I remember when they once said a BMW 5-series was a better car than a Ford Taurus. Well, duh :crazy

 

[Aurora40]

Great point John, what does a person do with a 6 figure car that won't pass emissions test!:crazy

I think Chris was talking about federal new car emissions requirements. If not, my mistake.

If you think Lingenfelter, Heffner, et al, are modifying these cars such that the owners will never be able to put them on the street, I think you are off base a bit.

 

[*89x2*]

I think Chris was talking about federal new car emissions requirements. If not, my mistake.

If you think Lingenfelter, Heffner, et al, are modifying these cars such that the owners will never be able to put them on the street, I think you are off base a bit.

I was, but to a large degree, Paul is on track as well. If either of those cars have moved or eliminated their catalytic convertors, they would TECHNICALLY not pass in our area. I know a guy with long tube headers and "pup cats" who recently failed visual on his OBD II C5. Really, 99.9999999% of the time, it would "get by" however, by the letter of the law, it did not

 

[*89x2*]

I totally agree about Hennessy, though. What the heck are they thinking? And their mention of him was this:

I bet his even better known for his other exploits... I can't believe anyone would leave their car with him to have modified.

...found this interesting :ugh

http://autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020405/FREE/204050704&SearchID=73250911497300

Ninety-eight percent of his customers love him, John Hennessey says. But a few hate him and some have sued.Hennessey Motorsports in Houston specializes in tuning Vipers, adding more power to what is already one of the most powerful cars in the world. Hennessey’s Vipers have been featured in this and many other magazines and the cars he has sent to us and to other media were impressive performers. Hennessey presents himself well, projecting an image of the consummate Texas good ol’ boy whose reassuring conversational style and howyewdoin’ demeanor put customers at ease. People believe they will get what he says he’ll give them. But not all people do.

According to a lawsuit filed in Salt Lake City, Utah resident Taig Stewart sent his Viper GTS to Hennessey last May for an engine upgrade to 1100 hp along with several other modifications. For that he wire-transferred $142,500 to Hennessey. The lawsuit states the parties agreed the car would be done by mid-July 2001. As of press time the car was still sitting under a tarp in Hennessey’s shop in Houston. Or most of the car, anyway. Stewart’s suit claims Hennessey sold the car’s engine, transmission, wheels, tires and hood. The suit seeks return of the money, the Viper and “no less than $1 million” in punitive damages.
Hennessey claims he’s just slow in getting the work done.
“My side of the story is we’re planning on finishing his car and planning on giving him everything that he paid for,” said Hennessey. As for the parts being sold, “That’s totally false. We’ve got all his parts in the shop except the hood and he wanted to do a lightweight hood.”
Stewart is not the first unsatisfied customer. The longer we dug the more dissatisfaction we found. Here’s a sampling:
<LI type=square>On Nov. 14 a New Jersey court entered a final judgement of $133,674 against Hennessey on behalf of Viper owner Gary Dan for a botched conversion.
<LI type=square>William Walters said he is out over $22,000 after shipping his Corvette to Hennessey for a head and cam package that was never done; he did have five rods bent and a head gasket damaged on the dyno in Hennessey’s shop during an experiment Hennessey tried with nitrous oxide.
<LI type=square>Jerry Johnson said he had to file suit in Placer County Court in California to straighten out registration and engine computer problems on a Viper he bought from Hennessey. n Jon Belinkie said he loves the changes made to his Viper but had to sue in his home state of Maryland, then register the judgement in Texas, to recover overcharges Hennessey made on his American Express card.
<LI type=square>Rick Ryan said he had to hound Hennessey for eight months by long distance from Marietta, Georgia, to put the proper wing and stripes on his Viper.
<LI type=square>Mark Lublin said he sent his Viper cylinder heads to Hennessey for new valves but when the heads came back he found the “new” valves were actually used; a cam that was delivered to Lublin in a Hennessey box turned out to be a stock Chrysler cam. Lublin was finally refunded $5,715 from American Express but only after nine months of disputing the charge; and he got no money from Hennessey.
<LI type=square>Bruce Iannatuono said he ordered $8,500 worth of Hennessey parts for his mechanic in Baltimore to install but was only able to use two-thirds of what was shipped, and then only after haranguing Hennessey for six months on an order that was originally promised in five weeks.
Most of the complaints come from outside Texas. Hennessey, some said, tends to take better care of local customers.
“If you were out of state, man you were fair game,” said Kyle Kent, a former employee at Hennessey Motorsports. When an out-of-state car came in it was sometimes parted out, with the wheels, tires and whatever else looked good going to other cars waiting to be finished or sold outright, according to Kent and others inside Hennessey Motorsports. Then Hennessey would call the car’s owner and try to sell him an upgraded kit. If the customer balked, Hennessey would take parts from other cars in the shop, or just let the job sit.
Kent described one typical disassembly on an out-of-state Viper. “The motor and transmission went into a Durango John was putting together, the brakes went to someone else, the hood went to a guy in Ohio, the rear bumper to South Carolina, man you name it. We had multiple cars like that.”
Another common practice was putting stock parts on what was supposed to be an upgraded car.
“One customer spent $130,000 to $140,000 and that guy thought he had purchased a Venom 650R package which he thought came with the stroker motor,” Kent said. “John told him he was getting a stroker. He was just getting heads and cams.”
Hennessey denies any wrongdoing. “I’ve got probably 3000 customers,” he said. “I’ve built over 300 cars and out of that I’ve had a handful of people that I’ve had some sort of a delivery problem with and I’ve had some of them who have sued me. So is that some sort of a trend or is that par for the course?”

 

[John H. Christensen]

LPE has been working to make there cars emissions leagal.
But some customers want somethings over the top and don't care if it's emissions leagal. In the end "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT" and can aford it.

 

[TurboLuigi]

:duh

-Luigi
:cool

 

[*89x2*]

I can't believe someone actually took them their Corvette

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Vehicle Description [/FONT]
2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Hennessey Z600 Over 700 HP! Over $110K invested. One of a Kind!

Wheels: Corvette C6 WCC Forged Wheels 946 EXT Series 3Pc
The 946Ext, the deepest 3-piece forged wheel on the market for standard body C6 Corvettes has a 3" (front) lip & 4" (rear) lip (C6 Z06 3.5" front and 4.5" rear). The 946Ext style is only available in 19" & 20" sizes for all 2005-08 C6 or Z06. ­These wheels come with "Triple Chrome Plating". $4,000

Clutch: Zoom twin plate design provides high torque holding capacity well over 900b/ft while maintaining streetable driving conditions. Zoom uses CNC manufacturing processes and their performance friction material to achieve max torque handling capabilities $2,000 installed


Hennessey Z600 Performance Upgrade:

2006 Corvette Z06 - Z600 - 620 HP Engine Upgrade

Power:
· 620 hp @ 6,500 rpm
· 568 lb-ft Torque @ 4,900 rpm
Note: Dyno sheet reflects actual rear wheel hp and torque for the Z600 upgrade.

Performance:
· 0 - 60 mph: 3.3 sec.
· 1/4 Mile: 11.2 @ 132 mph
· Top Speed: 210 mph

Includes:
· Long Tube Headers with High Flow Catalysts
· High Flow Air Induction System
· 180 Degree Thermostat Upgrade
· Reprogrammed Engine Management Computer
· Camshaft Upgrade
· Upgraded Valve Springs
· Crank Bolt Replacement
· All Necessary Fluids & Gaskets
· Chassis Dyno & Road Testing
· Professional Installation
$14,500

Corvette C6 LG World Challenge Hood $1599.00

C6 Lower Rear Painted Valance

C6 Rear Racing Spoiler

Cold Fusion Nitrous Oxide 100 HP shot single bottle System

Side and Rear Blackout Kit

K40 Radar with front and rear scrambler

 

[*89x2*]

LPE has been working to make there cars emissions leagal.
But some customers want somethings over the top and don't care if it's emissions leagal. In the end "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT" and can aford it.

John, it looks like they had their engineers work on their emissons "program" back in the 90s

I have a set I took off my 95 385. They sold for $2,500 back in the day from LPE. All they did was buy them from Callaway.