Chevrolet Corvette C3 LT-1 specs

The 1970 LT-1 has long been celebrated as the peak of Chevrolet small block performance. That may be true, but it was by a very small margin. Having needed to be adjusted every few weeks, the solid lifters were quite inconvenient ,, especially when you consider that a reliable self-adjusting hydraulic lifter L-46 Corvette was just a fifth of a second or so slower in the quarter mile. And if the LT-1 owner let the valve lash get out of adjustment even a little bit, power dropped off dramatically, and the L-46 quickly became faster. I am still not exactly certain what Chevrolet was thinking.

@fastestlaps please delete the topspeed

@ Viking : Good very nice place to stay. After big Tsunami hit the dockyard, make all drifter feel sad. My father lose his precious car. A 1970 Nissan Skyline GTR. But amazingly his 190E Evo II survive with some minor damage. I actually not live in there when dissaster.

By the way, I think your father's car the 190E Evo II is cool. Very race ready, like my Neon ACR was, but with more power.

@Super8 how is Japan? I have never been there. I have lived in Qatar, vacationed in Europe, Iceland, the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and stuff, but I have never visited Japan. I am currently in California studying wine.

@Super8 Of course I am also envious of your youth. I compete in natural bodybuilding contests in the over 50 class. So I am a bit old now. I haven't given up driving performance cars yet. My current car is a 2011 Mustang GT 5.0 with 412 horsepower, the Brembo brakes package, Pirelli PZero summer tires, 3.73 rear axle ratio, and six speed manual transmission. So even if I am a bit old, I still like performance cars.

@ Viking : Yeah, that's a good car. It's very rare to see American sport car in Japan. Most of kid in here prefer a Japanese tuner car but for me it's to easy to drive. My 190E Evo II was able to beat all of them but i can't use it often cuz it's my father car.

Actually, you have an advantage over me, since I haven't driven a C6 yet. I owned a C4, which I then traded in for a C5. I ran both in SCCA competition, but with little success. My best competition success was with a 1995 Neon ACR. The race ready Neon ACR was even harsher than the Viper, but it had amazing handling. I was able to get over two degrees of negative camber on the front wheels (which kept the shaved road racing tires flat in cornering at over 1 g lateral force. The Solo II race courses were tight enough (lots of low speed corners and offset gates) that speeds were low enough that cars without much horsepower like the Neon were still impressive in lap times. I ran the Neon in D stock class, and later it was classified in G stock. It was the car to beat in both those classes. The Corvettes were in Super Stock class, and I just wasn't as good in that class for some reason. However, I usually was less than a second behind my friend Steve Dana in his 2004 Viper on a sixty second course with my 2002 Corvette C5.

@ Viking : I never drive Viper before but i ever drive C6 Corvette Cabriolet. It's my friend car and a little extreme i think. Im use it when the night only since im still not have Driving License. :D

@Super8 yeah, the Viper is thirsty, and rather harsh. I remember the 2004 Viper that I rode in at an SCCA competition, it shook whenever my friend and fellow competitor revved the big V10. It was quite a bit firmer in ride and had less body roll than the C5 Corvette that I was using at the time. Corvettes tend to be more friendly as daily drivers, except for a lack of decent ground clearance.

@Bijan The Standard Guide to American Muscle Cars has the 1970 LT1 powered Corvette at 0-30 mph in 2.5 seconds, 0-60 mph in 5.7 seconds, 0-100 mph in 13.5 seconds, the 1/4 mile in 14.17 seconds at 102.15 mph, and the top speed at 122 mph. In other words, you are completely correct.

@ Viking : Yeah i heard that too. About Viper, it's very gasoline thirsty for a big car eh?

@Super8 yeah, Bob Bondurant wrote about when he was a successful Corvette racer and the Cobras came out, and he beat them with great difficulty. He was very skilled, but soon Carroll Shelby called him and offered him a position on the Shelby team. He found it a lot easier to win with a Cobra, and soundly beat the Corvettes. On the other hand the Corvette has always been a great street car that could compete successfully on a track. Nowadays, the choice is between Vipers (modern style Cobra) and Corvettes. Both fine on a track, but the Vette is better as a daily driver.

Great thing about Vette : It can beat Shelby Cobra if you got the skill

The LT-1 was a hot small block 350 that factory rated 370 gross hp . it was a solid lifter with forged steel crankshaft, high-lift Camshaft, Aluminum intake manifold and 4 bbl Holley 780 CFM , M-21 CR tranny and 3.7 std final ratio and 3.55,4.11,4.56 options and very low production 1287 units. LT-1 covered the 1/4 mile in 14 seconds at 102-103 mph with 1970 tires. and reach 0-100 mph in 13.5 seconds, that very impressive for those days with very good balance and handling . The 1970 LT-1 was faster than Maserati Ghibli, Lamborghini Jarama and Iso Grifo 7 litri and very close to Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona super car , but with ohv , 4-speed and somthing about $ 6300 ,much cheaper than the italian exotics.