David
R Thomas, the owner of Thomas Motorsports in Greer SC has been working
on a very special Corvette model. The car in question is a 2019 C7 ZR1. The
ZR1 is Dave's fourth Corvette. The car that started his journey into
Corvette fanaticism was a beautiful 1980 C3 that had its share of
problems. Dave only kept the C3 for about a year as the inherent
quality control problems of the C3 convinced him to seek a newer model
preferably with a warranty.
Dave refers to some of the
problems owners face with older Corvettes as the "Corvette
Tax". Dave has had many performance cars over his 41 years of
driving and racing. He has never owned a true dedicated "race"
car as he always enjoyed the challenge of having a daily driver that
performs as well as it looks. In
the summer of 2011 Dave went shopping for a new performance car. First
on his list was a new Camaro. This first choice had a nostalgia factor
as Dave's first car was a 1969 Camaro . He then test drove a Dodge
Challenger, which was a pretty darn good but still no cigar. The quest
finally led him back to the world of Corvettes. Dave initially wanted a
C6 ZR1 or Z06 but could not find one that suited his needs. Dave test
drove a C6 Grand Sport and was very impressed with the ride, drive and
performance.
Dave
purchased a 2011 GS and after about a year started modifying it. He
upped the power by adding a supercharger and all the other bolt on's he
could find. Unfortunately the car was totaled on a road trip by a hit
& run driver. This prompted Dave to resume his search for the
perfect Corvette.
In 2015 he bought a 2015 M7. Dave
purchased the Z without test driving it and on the drive home he
realized that he did not like the manual transmission. After four
months he traded it in for a2016 A8 Z06. After a year of happy
ownership he, as many Z owners do, began to modify and racing it.
In
2019 Dave got a call from a local dealership about a newly arriving C7
ZR1. After some minor haggling Dave bought the car. The icing on the
cake was that the dealer gave him a lifetime powertrain warranty as
part of the deal. The delima with GM warranty's is that almost
any modification will cause GM to void it. No problem for Dave as his
moded race car was a C7 Z06. The
ZR1 is Dave's go to church and date night car. I have had it on a
couple of tracks, but nothing hard and heavy on the car. Dave
says that the performance of the ZR1 is almost unbelievable. Since
modding his Z06 he knows what it takes to achieve certain performance
levels and the ZR1 is amazing. Dave says it drives and rides so much
better than his Z06, almost a night and day difference.
Dave's
16 Z06 is currently number 1 on his local drag strips top 10
fastest street cars. and his 19 ZR1 is the fastest all stock ZR1 on the
Corvette Forum. Dave shares the ZR1 experience at shows by allowing
kids to sit in it and get their pictures taken by lots of parents and
grandparents. return to index page
