Nearly every part of the Ford Shelby GT350’s suspension is purpose-built for the sports car: It has the most powerful brakes ever fitted to a Ford, the lightest wheels and probably the most aggressive tires anywhere south of a V-8 supercar.

Ford invited journalists to Allen Park, Mich., near Detroit recently for a deeper dive into its latest high-performance pony car, and we came away even more excited to get behind the wheel.

Ford execs say they got everything they wanted from the engineers (and bean counters) including six-piston calipers, two-piece rotors, carbon fiber wheels, adjustable dampers and super-sticky tires, the latter of which were developed for this car.

The Mustang suspension — already new — has been heavily revised for the GT350. It gets a new aluminum front knuckle, plus hub and bearing assemblies that are stiffer and lighter than standard GT parts. The control arms and subframes get rigid bushings with heavy-duty bearings. [...]

When I drove the new Corvette Z06 for our inaugural Car of the Year Awards, pace car was not the first thing that came to mind. It was only a letter off, though.

The 650-horsepower beast really is a racecar for the road. It has the power, grip, and incredible handling to mop up lesser machines around almost any arena, assuming you have a driver brave enough to give it the beans.

For the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500, Chevrolet found just the guy for the job. Four-time Nascar Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon will drive the Z06 pace car this year, marking the 13th time a Corvette has been recruited for safety duty.

“Indy is hallowed ground for racers like me and I couldn’t be more thrilled to drive the Corvette Z06 pace car around the track that helped drive my success over the years,” said Gordon. ”The Indianapolis 500 is one of [...]

For most, the 650 horsepower offered by the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is more than you’ll ever need in a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports car. However, for the rarefied buyer out there that demands even more power—much, much more power in some cases—there are companies like Hennessey Performance that endeavor to meet such needs.

Here we see Hennessey testing a new 1,000-horsepower—yes, one thousand horsepower—package for the Corvette Stingray. While it looks stock on the outside, almost all of the drivetrain components have either been swapped out or reinforced in order for the car to safely and reliably handle upwards of 1,000 hp.

Hennessey develops such power using either supercharging or turbocharging, depending on the buyer’s preference, with the version being developed here relying on a supercharger. This is no bolt-on job as Hennessey rebuilds the entire engine using a host of forged, lightweight elements. The tuner also upgrades all of the cooling systems and [...]

The Chevrolet Corvette has a long history of excelling at endurance racing, and continues to dominate today. To celebrate that legacy, Chevy is bringing some of the look of its track machine to the road with the 2016 Corvette Z06 C7.R Edition. These machines might be gone faster than the racecar’s lap time around Le Mans, because the company is building just 500 of them.

All of these track-inspired, special editions are based on the 650-horsepower, supercharged Z06 in the top 3LZ trim, and they also come equipped with the Z07 Performance Package that includes carbon-ceramic brakes, adjustable aero elements, and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires.

Offered as a coupe or convertible, these ‘Vettes use some tricks to match the style of the C7.R. They’re available in the racer’s traditional bright yellow livery, but black is optional. Unpainted carbon fiber trim (including material for the hood) and grilles that are painted Spectra Gray Metallic [...]