Smartest Battery Charger In the World?
When it comes to Corvette Parts, just about every Corvette owner gets a battery charger. Battery Chargers have come a long way in the last few years and CTEK is certainly leading the charge. They have recently released a line of battery chargers that they coin "the smartest Battery Chargers in the world". I have always associated a Battery Charger as something fairly and clunky, nothing that I would want permanently mounted in my car nor would I feel comfortable leaving it connected to my car, boat, or Motorcycle without supervision. The CTEK Battery Charger will completely change the way you look at battery chargers, guaranteed! The CTEK is rugged, outdoor safe, dust and water proof while still maintaining the sleekest and sexiest look I have ever seen in a battery charger.
It can be mounted in the engine compartment as a permanent addition to your car or just used as a temporary solution during the winter months. Either way, you can leave it connected to your battery all the time without the worry of overcharging or damaging the battery. Unlike other battery chargers, the CTEK Charger does not require the car battery to be disconnected from the car prior to use. The CTEK 3300 Battery Charger is perfectly safe to use with your car battery connected to the car. The charger will not damage your vehicles computer or electrical equipment. Once the charger harness is connected to your battery it has quick release clips that allow you to remove and install the charger easily at any time. The charger is spark proof and reverse polarity proof so that you do not have to worry about accidently connecting it backwards, try that with a traditional battery charger.
The CTEK Battery Charger is 100% automatic, just hook it up and turn it on….It does everything else. You can leave it connected for months and months without any concerns. All CTEK chargers come with a 5 year guarantee and are shock proof, weather proof, dust proof, and certified for outdoor use. For the money (less than $100 bucks) it is the best darn charger I have ever seen and would recommend it for just about any application. I was so impressed with the CTEK charger that I installed the CTEK US3300 in my C6 Corvette Z06 permanently.
The CTEK 3300 is the charger I recommend for all Auto's, Motorcycles, and ATV's. It charges them all, with the simplicity of hooking it to the battery and plugging it in, that is it, very simple. CTEK also offer a CTEK lighter adapter, which allows you to use the CTEK3300 charger to charge the battery through the cigarette lighter plug.
People sometimes ask, why should you buy a CTEK battery charger instead of one that costs half as much and looks virtually the same (even the product description is the same)? But this is not the whole truth. CTEK products have a unique system (patented functions) not available in other legal battery chargers that can therefore not offer the same performance. As for "copy cats" or forgeries, it is guaranteed that they will not maintain the same standards as a CTEK charger. It is impossible to use the quality materials, hire qualified engineers that produce the right product composition, maintain an even and fine level of quality control while at the same time keeping the price down. The "copy cat" battery chargers do not meet the standards that CTEK enforces and do not guarantee to be non sparking, reverse-polarity proof, and electronics safe.
The C7 Is Being Produced to “target a very different sort of buyer”
The Corvette turned 60 this year and it seems that the majority of its target audience did exactly the same thing. The Corvette, long an American tradition and the true American sports car, has seen its audience grow older, and it seems that Chevrolet is beginning to get anxious about this. With this in mind, Chevrolet has decided to make direct and immediate steps with the next generation of their flagship vehicle to move it towards a new group of buyers. What is this group? Why, a younger one of course.
Based upon the popularity that the European sports car currently holds with the professional demographics in their 20's and 30's, it seems that Chevrolet will be making changes to move the Corvette in the direction of the Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. Finding and securing a younger fan-base is paramount to the long-term survival of the Corvette, whose style and badge alone have guaranteed it a place in the hearts of many customers already.
To attract this younger crowd, Chevrolet is moving in a few very specific directions. The first of these is getting away from the idea that larger displacement engines are always better. According to reports from high-ranking Chevrolet officials, the next generation of Corvette--it's 7th generation of vehicles in its long ling--will be outfitted with a small block, turbocharged V8. This small-black V8 will probably come in at around 3.0L in displacement, well below the current 6.3L V8 LS3 found in the current base Corvette. The drop in displacement will be offset by the inclusion of turbochargers however to ensure that the base Corvette still puts out impressive performance numbers--expect to see something in the 400HP range, or, 130HP/liter. These numbers will put right in line with the performance of such vehicles as the 911 Turbo and Lamborghini Gallardo, and will also help drastically lighten the curb-weight for the vehicle.
In addition to these changes, the next generation of Corvette engine will move to an overhead-cam configuration, instead of its current overhead-valve design. This configuration will utilize a dry-sump oil system that's incredibly effective in track-performance situations and allows for higher red-line RPM ranges, but will do so at an undeniable loss of straight-away speed. These moves, like the move to the smaller displacement engine, are certainly very European in design. Expect this turbocharged engine to redline at around 10,000 RPM, and have a wider performance curve with increased mid-range RPM acceleration--again, moves that are certain to improve, along with the decreased curb weight, the vehicle's track performance numbers.
All of this information, which has been leaked by various GM officials off the record "here and there", is right in line with one of the few official statements that has been given by the Corvette team: Mike Reuss' (president of GM's North American division) claim that the C7 Corvette will be “completely different” from its very American roots and that GM is looking to “target a very different sort of buyer for the next Corvette."
Of course, Chevrolet seems to still understand its roots, and it's very likely that the Corvette will be available with multiple different drivetrain options, including a larger, higher displacement, more-American V8--something in line with the current LS-series of engines. Couple that with the very classic Corvette design cues that are being promised--like the return of the split-window in the rear, taken from the collectible '63 Corvette--and it's obvious that the Corvette will still be, very much, a Corvette. The potential here then, for the C7 Corvette to be a melding of modern-European performance and classic American styling makes for a very promising next generation vehicle, and the sort of thing that could really bring a lot of excitement back in to a fading market.
Another area of the Corvette that is certain to get a large overhaul is the vehicle's interior, and this is long overdue. Ed Welburn, GM's Global Design Chief, has publicly called the current Corvette interior a "disappointment", and has stated that he will personally be overseeing the design and production of the C7 interior, and has promised that the new interior will be "world class". This change alone, if the promise is delivered upon, is enough to generate more buzz in the vehicle, as one of the major knocks on the current Corvette within media outlets has been the interior.
All of this speculation (because, let's face it, until we get this information straight from the horse's mouth is little more than that) is at least backed up, in some ways, by the public knowledge that GM has just made a $131million investment in their Bowling Green, Kentucky plant--the longtime home of the Corvette--in preparation for the C7's production. That sort of money, and GM's history of using their flagship sports car for the application of innovative new technologies, definitely provides a lot of promise for the vehicle. No matter what Chevrolet ends up doing, they've got one thing on their side: they're making a Corvette, and when it comes to the respect and excitement a vehicle name and badge can generate, the Corvette is unparalleled.
Tweel
To reinvent the wheel is something most of us can't fathom doing. Brian Russell of Colorado (and founder of the company Britek), and one of the biggest names in the tire world—Michelin—seem to be in a competition to see who can come out with the best reinvention… first. Imagine a world where tires couldn't go flat- a world where you could run over a patch of nails and not bat an eye. What if this same tire could give you better gas mileage, better handling, and last five times as long as a traditional tire. Now imagine military vehicles that had wheels and tires that were almost impervious to explosions from land mines and IED's, while simultaneously directing blasts outward instead of upward into the cabin. The world is in a new and exciting time right now for the automotive industry and the innovations that are coming out of it. Just like when Clark Foam closed its doors and shocked the surfing world—the world's supply of oil is dwindling—and the days of innovation are upon us. Change is never easy, and usually happens with much groaning and a fair amount of trial and error. But through the tempering furnaces of innovation come such unique inventions as quad fin parabolic balsa stringers, carbon fiber double concave swallow tails and big gun FRP glassed-ins with 50/50 rails on quad channel boards. The aforementioned mumbo jumbo are each things that no one tried before Clark Foam closed its doors, and with the pressure of the looming end of dinosaur blood, companies like Chevy, Toyota, and Honda (as well as a hundred smaller independent companies) are dumping millions of dollars into alternative fuel designs and new technology that would have otherwise never been funded. The catch is there are almost 208,000,000 cars on the road in just the United States alone. That leaves a lot of people who aren't going to trade in their perfectly normally working cars for a brand new car payment. So, this existing market leaves an area that desperately needs attention and fuel saving/ increased efficiency measures taken and introduced.
Enter the Tweel by Michelin and the Energy Return Wheel (or ERW) by Britek.
What these companies have done is create a platform that applies to every car. An airless tire that not only does all of the above mentioned ideas, but then some. A large part of Britek's goal by developing this new technology is to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. By making a wheel more efficient, the platform it utilizes becomes more efficient. This means that the modern cars that aren't equipped with the newest technology, or the latest biodiesel conversion, or even the most efficient fuel injected system around. Just think about how many cars from the 80's and 90's are still on the road. Now think about how far technology has come since then. Now imagine all of those cars getting somewhere between 20% and 37% better gas mileage. That means a 20%- 37% drop in oil consumption—not exactly a small chunk.
To put that into numbers, the current cost of WTI Crude Oil as of today is $99.34 a barrel, and Brent Crude Oil is $113.76 a barrel. The US consumes somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 billion barrels of crude oil per year (based on 6.9B barrels in 2009, and 6.85B barrels in 2008, source: U.S. Energy Information Administration). This means that $695,380,000,000. That's a hefty chunk of change, and one hell of an expensive habit we have. Out of those 7 billion barrels, roughly 53% (source) or $368,551,400,000, were from foreign sources. If we could reduce our consumption by even 15% with better fuel economy we could reduce our foreign dependency by almost $55,282,710,000. That's a big difference, and a huge amount of money. Now, these are just estimates, but if every car in America was equipped with tires that gave them 20% (or more) better fuel economy—that would be an enormous impact on our crude oil consumption. This is the driving force behind the ERW from Britek. Their goal of reducing our dependency on foreign oil, while improving gas mileage for the consumer, and simultaneously transforming tires into safer, better handling properties of our cars seems like an enormous step forward.
Michelin is the next biggest contender for the airless tire; their innovative approach is called the Tweel, a combination of the words tire and wheel. This creative design uses polyurethane inner spokes to support a tire on the outside using the spokes to flex to mimic the properties of a pneumatic tire. The Tweel is already in use in smaller skid-steer applications and has proven to be extremely durable and is currently in testing for the military and other high stress vehicle applications. The upside of the airless tire from both manufacturers is the obvious elimination of flat tires, however—in certain scenarios, this might be an issue- such as police and military checkpoints in which spike strips are utilized. The design of both of these tires renders them impervious to puncture- even from such forces as 250 grams of TNT. The only issue that Michelin seems to be encountering, that the Britek wheel/tire has solved is vibration at high speeds. Both designs are simply engineered, yet complex in their ability to function. Right now, the ERW has patents in the US, Japan and China; and Michelin has already begun to implement their technology small scale for testing, but no word on full-scale production can be found.
The surprising fact about all of this is both of these technologies have been out for well over five years now, and we have yet to see the actual implementation of these on the road. So now, after building you up with so much enthusiasm, I have to admit, that I'm skeptical that either of these companies will succeed in their quests for a mass produced airless tire. The Britek website seems to have been all but forgotten. The last update for their forums by an administrator was over two and a half years ago and they don't seem to exist anywhere else on the internet. The company seems to have fallen off the face of the planet and so does interest in their product. This, at a time when the U.S. is so seriously in need of a new technology for our extreme oil addiction, seems to have been lost. Perhaps the recession hit the company hard? Or perhaps the larger tire manufacturers bought out the technology? Maybe it was a combination of lack of interest and a hard pressed market that drove them underground, but whatever the reason, neither manufacturer seems to have been particularly focused on bringing this technology back to the front of the line.
Another interesting conundrum could be the simple issue of trying to sell technology like this to potential investors. The market has been established with the use of conventional pneumatic tires for almost a century now, and the altering of thinking is always hard to do. The wheels of change move very slowly, (no pun intended) and getting the enormous automobile market- an industry that pulls over $4 billion a year according to SEMA, is surely no easy feat.
Videos on both:
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup ZP Tires For the New Corvette
At the end of the 2004 racing season, Michelin and the Corvette racing team had had an impressive season with the C5.R in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. 
This marked the beginning of the Michelin/Chevrolet Corvette pairing, and only the beginning of things to come for Corvette owners. The Corvette ZR1 and Z06 became the guinea pigs for testing the limits of the new creations that Michelin would put out for the road hungry V8's. In 2009 the ZR1 became the only recipient of the Pilot Sport PS2 Zero Pressure (ZP) tire, and the Pilot Sport Cup for the Z06. Selecting the Z07 package on the Z06 or the new PDE performance pack on the ZR1 guarantees the brand-new, Corvette-exclusive Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Zero Pressure (ZP) tires, featuring a DOT-approved, street-legal and track-ready design that comes as a direct reflection of the racing experiences and information collected during their events. Lee Willard, tire development engineer for Michelin North America and designer of the Pilot Sport Cup ZP, said, "The tire is the only single element of a car — whether on the track or on the street — that can simultaneously improve braking, acceleration and cornering. It was natural for Corvette to tap Michelin's extensive racing and ultra-high-performance expertise when looking for a track-tuned tire that would improve lap times and still be street legal."
The new tire, as stated above will be Corvette-only, and is slated to put enough rubber and grip on the road to bump up the lateral G measure to 1.1 G's. This is great news for the Corvette community and awesome for a street tire. Not until recently did street tires break the 1.0 lateral G mark on the skid pad. Engineers estimate an 8% gain in lateral acceleration, and an estimated 3 second lower lap time for the Vette on Virginia International Raceway (VIR), due to better grip and later braking capabilities. The trickledown theory of economics plays its part in the tire world too, so if you're not lining up with wallet in hand for the new Corvette, you'll eventually get the advantage of sweet tires in the coming years. "The technology developed from racing expertise and initially used in high-performance tries will make its way into the more mass-market tires produced by Michelin for its passenger car and light truck tires," according to Kip Newton, Michelin's technical category manager for ultra-high performance products.
So, hopefully soon after the Corvette is released with its new sticky beauties, the general populous will be soon to follow.
"Michelin and the Corvette teams are driven by a constant quest to reach higher levels of performance and technology," says Rob Murray, Michelin North America Inc.'s vice president of operations for passenger and light truck original equipment tires. "Michelin tire engineers worked closely with Corvette vehicle engineers to tailor the new tire to enhance the two highest-performing models."
GM Announces $131M Production Plan for C7
On Wednesday, General Motors North American President Mark Reuss took the opportunity to inform the waiting ears and eyes of the world that Bowling Green, Kentucky will continue its legacy of producing our iconic Corvettes. Starting soon, GM will be investing time and money to bring the Bowling Green plant up to C7 standards. Reuss said, "I'm here to announce that GM will invest $131 million in Kentucky to ensure that the next generation Chevrolet Corvette will be produced by this team, in this plant, in Bowling Green - the Home of Corvette." The announcement was met by the eager ears of a packed room of GM officials, media, and numerous leaders and community figures from the Bowling Green area, as well as the state of Kentucky. The standing ovation was an expected reaction to the news of not only the impending investment to the plant, but the creation of 250 new jobs as well. The news is welcomed and inspiring in an economy that seems to be sluggish in returning from the recession.
The plant will continue churning out the C6 for roughly two years, until the debut of the C7. The work behind the scenes will be beginning soon, with the updating of equipment and processes readying the plant for the new production line. The C7 is slated to debut in spring of 2013 for the 2014 model year. "As you know Bowling Green is a special place and not just to me and to GM but to Corvette lovers around the world. This place is THE Mecca for those who appreciate true affordable sports car performance and they come from the four corners of the globe to see what you do here," said Reuss. "It is amazing and it is inspiring and it is very American." Reuss made further comments about the quality of the Corvette against its European competition, noting that the Corvette regularly ousts the competition with a distinctly American grin. "They come to see how on earth Americans can build such a car... a car that meets and beats the best in the world, and the world has to offer, although typically the world has to offer theirs at a MUCH higher price point." He also noted that while he was in school, he knows that the advertised EPA MPG estimate was 27 MPG highway; he regularly got 29 MPG on the highway between Detroit and Nashville.
"Unlike any other facility in North America your doors are open to our customers who make pilgrimages to Bowling Green to see their car being built, meet the people, and visit the National Corvette Museum." Reuss also praised the Museum noting that it is not funded by General Motors and being a private organization relies on its customer and fan base. "I'm one of the lovers of the Museum and the heritage of Corvette and this state means a lot to me personally." Reuss concluded his presentation saying "Tadge [Juechter- head engineer of the Corvette] and the team are doing the next generation Corvette and it will thrill all of the sports car drivers of the future and it will be built right here." Reuss also made it a point to say that this is just one of GM's ongoing investments of billions of dollars into their US facilities, maintaining and generating jobs for their American employees. Later in the presentation Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear instituted Reuss a Kentucky Colonel, presenting him with a framed certificate and mint julep cup.
The National Corvette Museum was established as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit foundation with a mission of celebrating the invention of the Corvette; preserving its past, present and future; and educating the public about Corvette. Be sure to visit them in person in Bowling Green, KY and experience firsthand the passion and the excitement of America's Sports Car, the Chevrolet Corvette. The GM Bowling Green Corvette Assembly Plant, the only place in the world where Corvettes are made, is located across the street from the National Corvette Museum at I-65, exit 28.
For an interesting video about the upcoming Corvette, and how Tadge Juechter is handling the media and speculation on what might be in store for the public with the C7, be sure to check this link out.
Also, for the entire speech in its entirety, CLICK HERE, as it was posted by Corvette Blogger on YouTube.
GM Military Discount
GM has been renowned for their military discount for the past year, and now they're making it even better. In a bold move, GM has decided to expand their military discount to the spouses of military personnel and retirees through the end of May, which happens to be National Military Appreciation Month. What this means for military professionals, both past and present is that they have the ability to include their families in the discount that ranges anywhere from $500, up to $4,000 of the MSRP of Chevrolets vehicles.
Chevy has implemented a special badge for the cars purchased with the Military discount in the month of May. The badge is the iconic yellow ribbon that has become symbolic of military personnel support since 1979 in the United States. On the badge itself it reads "Honor and Valor" around the edge 
of the badge surrounding the ribbon. The badge can be applied (at the purchasers request) to the cars purchased using the discount, at no additional charge. Since the beginning of 2010, GM has applied the discount to over 70,000 personnel and their families with a value of more than $60 million. GM will also donate $100 to the charity Cell Phones for Soldiers. This charity, founded by two teenagers, is geared at helping servicemen and women deployed overseas have an available means of contact to loved ones at no charge. The charity was spawned after the teenagers, Brittany and Robbie Bergquist, heard a story of a deployed soldier accumulating an enormous bill from calling home to speak with his family. Cell Phones for Soldiers accepts old or unwanted cell phones and recycles them through ReCellular, who in turns pays Cell Phones for Soldiers enough to provide an hour of talk time which is then sent via phone cards to deployed soldiers. Since May 2010, Chevrolet and its dealers have collected more than 50,000 cell phones. Since the program began, proceeds from phone collections have provided more than 114 million minutes – or more than 200 years – of free calls home for U.S. troops.
Also in addition to the GM Military Discount is the $750 discount on selected Buick, Chevy and GMC models offered through USAA, the premier financial services group for the armed services. "We are committed to offering military professionals and their family members the best value in the industry," said Dan Akerson, General Motors Chairman and CEO. "As a former Navy man, I hold the highest regard for the men and women of our Armed Forces – past and present – who help keep our country safe and preserve our precious liberties."
So, if you or your loved one are currently serving in the military or previously served in the military (which includes the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard) in either Active Duty roles or Reserve Units, and you're looking at buying a new car- this would be the time to do it!