Photos Courtesy of General Motors

When dressed in the "Heritage Package" with hash mark fender graphics, hood and roof stripes, and black wheels, the 2017 Corvette Grand Sport comes together to create a serious appearance. While most of these aesthetics harken back to the C4 Grand Sport of 1996, the white roof stripe and hood center actually date back to the original C2 racer. While matching the word heritage with a Grand Sport seems obvious to enthusiasts, I cast shame on those who can only picture the admiral blue C4 that delivered you to Macarena lessons. 

The 2017 Grand Sport keeps the Corvette’s standard LT-1 and choice of manual or automatic transmissions. You get the same 460 ponies that propel the Vette to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds that all other Vettes have. But that's where the similarities stop. To reel the Grand Sport in, GM allows you to check the Z07 box on your order form, and damn it, you better do it. This outfits your striped Stingray with carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes. These massive grippers slow you from 60 miles per hour in less than 100 feet. Also standard on the Grand Sport are magnetic ride control, limited slip and a few other aesthetic and mechanical nuances. Touted as an ideal middle ground between the standard Vette and the Z06, the Grand Sport is bound to be a great compromise – if these types of performance numbers are indeed a "compromise." Fittingly, the Grand Sport price tag starts right in the between the standard Corvette and the Z06 at $66,445.

The 2017 Corvette Grand Sport graciously tips its hat to the original C2 Grand Sport racer and the man who made it happen by title only. While the new Grand Sport is a nice salute to the C2 and Zora Arkus-Duntov, and certainly boasts strong performance numbers, the exhaust-heat-on-your-ass nostalgia of something closer to the real thing still seems a lot more Grand Sport-y.