I was in pamona when he crashed at 180 mph..ran a 6.32...world import drag finals...hebwas running an ecotec for summit racing.. he was in a comma...woke up...talked about building a new car..went back to sleep...never woke up again...i work on vettes...
@@johnjelar900 he also wasn't a cry baby like Shelby either. Shelby was so scared of the C2 GS corvettes, they were some how banned from racing (hint, hint)
155 mph in my 1992 corvette is experiencing sheer adrenaline knowing any minor slip up and your done, just a mess of fiberglass composite and steel, scary thing was it had more in it, couldn't imagine
@@DanaOrtiz What? The F1 went 240 mph, this Corvette reached 255 mph. McLaren was the worlds fastest PRODUCTION car. This was more of a one off car. NGL, I'd rather have this Corvette than the McLaren.
Radio absolutely matters. It's a street car. A real street car. Not a stripped down car that is just street legal. They could of made this car weigh hundreds of pounds less by gutting it but they wanted a true street car.
Factory stock c4 could easily hit 150mph ,,,the cr1 c4 has been reported at 200mph, all still with factory AC,auto trans,luxury inteirrior and no super charger !!!!!!!
Too true, I had no idea and my grandfather was a collector of vettes. I'm glad this person uploaded this because now I can proudly tell him a vette was the fastest car in world. I'm sure he'll get a kick out of it.
Also my dream car. It was in several car magazines at the time around 1991-1992 along with a bright green 'standard' Callaway corvette. The only thing I didn't see at the time was this video with Reeves Callaway and the project engineers. My buddies' dream car was the prototype BMW M8.
Performance Stats Horsepower: 898 bhp (670 kW) @ 6200 rpm Torque: 772.2 lb·ft (1,046.96 N·m) @ 5250 rpm BHP/Liter: 157.54 bhp (117.48 kW; 159.73 PS)/Liter Power-to-weight ratio: 5.6hp/lb Top Speed: 254.8 mph (410.1 km/h) 0 - 60 mph (97 km/h) acceleration: 3.9 seconds 1/4 Mile: 10.6 seconds Reached top speed and was driven by the late John Lingenfelter in October 1988 at the Transportation Research Center, Ohio and was driven back to Old Lyme. FR layout this must have been the Fastest front engine car ever made Screw you Bugatti
***** Yea, I can go around a corner in my 12 year old Honda Accord better than this or the Veyron. By the way, even this car is better looking than that shapeless guppy.
DININJA RONIN improvementes in suspension and tires yes engine not really heads are better with the ls and lt but the actual bottom end has a few problems
A street legal Corvette running 254 mph in 1988...Insane...the Ruf Yellowbird was incredible but it's top speed was like 210-215...even stuff like Xj-220s or the hallowed McLaren F1 couldn't touch it.
I have the last TT Vett that Jhon drove still . Me and Jhon were at Muncie drag strip on Wednesday and he had his crash on Saturday. I have the day on tape . Jhon was a great guy I was very fortunate to have been is friend . And still love my Vett he hooked me up with.
I met Reeves Callaway and John Lingenfelter at a Corvette show years ago,both really nice guys.R.I.P. John,this world was so much more interesting with you in it.
Man I love this car. As a fellow C4 Corvette owner, it makes me feel good to know that the car has such a high rep and it's videos like this that really gets a gearhead's imagination going.
It is not so big deal to make a car to go fast. But main problem while doing so is reliability, longetivity, safety and comfort - this is what Buggatti has and other "kit cars" going fast does not have. Buggatti is basicly something like Mercedes-Benz S-class, while also doing 400+kmph.
@@Spazik86 the problem is Bugattis can't go at speed unless it's on a closed circuit and there's only like 2 to 3 places globally that this car can stretch its legs. Where is the C4 is a car that can just get up and go.
What are talking about? Doing 400km/h+ is problem for any car, it does not matter what kind of car it is. You just need a long runway, salt flats, long closed roead etc. I would assume it is way more easy and safe in Buggatti, than in modified Corvette.
@@Spazik86 that's not completely true there's people who go out to the Salt Flats all the time with insanely engineered and built cars and can't break 250 miles an hour. As for safer in a Bugatti or modified Corvette I can guarantee you with 100% certainty that Corvette which is safer at speeds than the Bugatti would be. Also had Callaway been allowed to go to test where Bugatti attested they would have got more out of that car. What you fail to realize and most of the public fails to realize there's only one places on the planet that the Bugatti can actually top out, Ehra-Lessien test track, where the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport hit its 268mph If you put a Bugatti on that same track that that Corvette went 254.76 mph it wouldn't be able to match that speed it would be much slower.
NOW 2017. see if they can beat it, when you think about it, most of the inventions or upgrades are all based on F1 tech, extra cooling & dry sump tech or hi pressure oil lines etc. everything that a F1 car has to make the engine,trans & differential to keep cool, with added hi quality friction additives as well & you will make it, especially with test runs after test runs & when they are very confident of the car doing what on paper it should they show the world what the engineers at GM produced from a road production car with mods, not a proto type but a road going car. :)
That is badass, I own a 1990 ZR-1, and it's a great machine, even the L98s set records, since I bought the Z I have come to appreciate the C4 platform. It was the first complete redesign of the Vette since 1963. Great video, thanks for posting. 👍👍🏁
@@numbereightyseven The Aerotech was built from a modified Indycar chassis and wasn't meant for street use. Purely high-speed test track driving. The Calloway Vette was a street car that could go to he track, then on the way back stop off at the grocery store with the radio & A/C on. Not really comparable. Now if Olds did 275 mph with a Cutlass Supreme. . . Well that'd be a different story.
This automobile was and still is the pinnacle of engineering. Built on a stock production chassis with no radical materials or framework done by a privately held shop using the latest aerodynamic tricks of the time. John Lingenfelter drove it to the track on public roads, got to 254mph on the track, and drove it back. The car sure did not cost $1m and did not need any special "mode" to be turned on like the Bugatti Veyron. All this in 1988, amazing feat of engineering!
Those boys did a damn fine job with it. The Sledgehammer really is an amazing machine. It was no trailer queen special either, just like was said in the video, this was a car you drove to the store, with the a/c on and the radio cranked up on the way there..I'd say a pretty refined car, considering it was a one off creation. Imagine if it had 1000 or more hp.
I know when they built the Sledgehammer they had three engine built. One was 898HP, the other was 1000 and the third was 1100 horsepower. The used the "weakest" of the three to go 254.76!
Drove it from Connecticut to Michigan beat the shit out of it all day, running it at 200 most of the day before pushing it to 254 MPH and then they got back in it, turned on the radio and ac, and drove it back home to Connecticut. This was in 1988, does the current Veyron even get to 250?
+DAK454 i know when the first veyron came this was still faster... what i dont get its they say it was the fastest production car in the world but this was....
Corvettes are amazing. This was 20 years ago... Now we have the LS7 and the Supercharged LS9 (although a swap for a Twin Turbo would annihilate ;) All hail the General
damn. Image what people will See this. 2030?? Haha maybe 2100??? Intresting to think about Like that. When humans will survive this can watched still in 1000 years.. the year 3022🤯 year 10.000 😧 what they will have in Future.. haha would be Like Magic. Lets Hope good Magic 5.th dimension Infinity So many question What are black holes? Just big stars with insane gravity? or realy holes? Or both I Hope u guys do fucking well in Future. Insane. I Love to think about that I Hope they/WE have still mother Nature And Love.. Not Just war and stupid lies . when i Look at our world and their selfish corrupt Humans/elite U will need it Good luck
U.S.A. Hands down!!! Doing 26 years ago what "super" car manufacturer's have only begun to do a few years ago, with less than 400hp, and with no seven figure price tag... Back in 1988!!! GM FTW!!!
"prototypes" they didn't have AC, windshield wipers, doors, or a second seat and this could be had from a LPE office ordered or bring them your calllaway and have it put on
I remember reading the road and track article about this car back in the late 80's and they said it had so much power that you could smoke the tires at 160mph. They even had a picture of the car doing it. The car was so fast it was scary if you didn't know how to control it. Great car!!!
I was 21 years old in 1988, I miss my youth, and I miss the 80's. Fast forward to 1997, I was working at Dinan BMW, and a customer had one of these Callaway Corvettes as a second car in the shop for dyno tuning, a beast of a car, but the clutch was so stiff, it was not friendly to casually drive, love this video, thank you
People don’t realize how advanced this was for 1988, ENGINEERS literally thought he was crazy, that should show you how crazy this is. Engineers are usually the people who make crazy shit happen.
This car is awesome. I have pics of it from when I visited the Corvette museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Just saw it go to auction at a Mecum auction and the high bid was $600,000......did not sell. Should be a lot higher. If Shelby Cobras are selling in that range, this car should bring millions.
The thing I love about the Corvette is that anytime you get 'bored' with it and cast your gaze farther afield, you see something - like a Veyron - and realize, 'nope, you could beat it's ass dead with a 'Vette and buy a nice house or two with the change.' I love the fact that I worked for a guy in LA that turned wrenches on that car. Big into Euro iron, he always had respect for the Corvette - no fool, after all...
This has to be the most underrated supercar of all time. As much as I love the Veyron, this car matched the Veyron in top speed back in 1988! And like the Veyron, it was a REAL car. Still had A/C, a radio, power seats and locks. It makes you wonder why it took so long for the performance to be matched again. Congratulations to Callaway. You proved the Corvette could run with any supercar in the world.
I worked at Callaway at the time. and was there at the shop watching this project come together. I'v driven' this car many times.. But as production manager, I still had to keep the shop producing our regular B2K models, so I couldn't go to the Ohio test track.
there was a hidden 1992 model with 4 turbos had 1090 hp 1300 lbfttq. did the 1\4 in low 8 high 7 seconds..high speed testing was scrapped and so was the car after attaining 279 mph. perhaps the engineers that worked on the 2nd sledgehammer are currently working on the texas based vccc? its possible.
This car really was the concorde of the car world - so far before its time it was unbelievable, and gives any modern version of it a firm run for its money. So fair play to Callaway! Although leave Europe alone, us British came up with the Mini Cooper, and that can still out-handle any car on the market nowadays! ;)
yes!!!!!! i remember that...back then in 1996-8, around10-12 years old, i read car magazines made 1988-91...the test was done in an old air lane. 254,7 mph(=409,9kph)!!!!!! from 880 ps.i can't believe how old is this car but it's in today's highest standards about performance. for the early 90's was extraterrestrial. Reeves is a genius. i have this car in my heart...but it's cost (back then) 120000 dollars...and my family never have so much money...
C4 was one of the best handling cars of its era. The Callaway Sledgehammer was a great feat in high speed. Very underrated and still one of the fastest cars today.
Still one of the fastest cars today? It is the second fastest car EVER, It beats the standard Veyron and the only car that is faster is the Veyron Supersport. They should regain the title with a Callaway based on the current Vette. They've already developed the Aerowagon. Perfect for high speeds
DolleHengst The C4 never had the title because it isn't a production car, it's heavily modified. This is what people get confused with the Veyron Supersport is the fastest production car, unmodified and there has to be so many produced and offered for sale to the public.
James wait let me get this straight the Veyron is Unmodified? with a V16 and 4 turbos compared to the corvette V8 with only two? YEAH OK lol...........but I do get your point on the production part, BUT what most do NOT understand the technology back then compared to today can't compare and the Sledgehammer STILL is fast as hell..........
I visited the shop in Effingham, IL once about 20 years ago, it was incredible. A laboratory of a factory and clean enough could eat off the floors, 5S'd beautifully
folks, he drove this thing to the track, established the world record and then drove it back, that is American reliability for you ! oh and no, i'm not an American beating the drums, just learned to give credit where it is due, and here it is. greetings from germany.
Back to revisit this amazing car and video, and I love all the butthurt fanboys who can't just appreciate an amazing car, looking for ANY excuse to put it down. The car was STREET LEGAL with power windows and AC and was driven SEVEN HUNDRED miles to the track and SEVEN HUNDRED miles back home. Get over it. Just appreciate these guys had their shit together.
my dream car i have always loved corvettes since i was a little kid and when i first saw pics of this one and read about it, i thought it was the most glorious piece of machinery ever.
Looking back from 2013,(this was 2 days after I was born) this is Cosmically astonishing. The Ferrari F40, Porsche 959, and RUF Yellow Bird were just released, and all had twin turbo systems, barely able to hit 200, What did Europe think when they heard this happened??? This is a testament not only to Callaway's genius in engineering on power delivery but also the Corvette's aerodynamic capability, took 19 years to beat this record. This is probably what inspired the Bugatti Veyron
I love you guys comparing brand new cars to a car that is over 20 years old. This car in the late 80's was an amazing build and the people on the project are one of the most intelligent mechanics of all time. This was a huge achievement.
I don't see why people are stating now that the Veyron and such seem obsolete because it took 17+years to do an extra 12+mph. You don't seem to understand the logistics of adding just that mere 10+mph. It's enormous and you should do some research on the topic. Also, the Veyron is a PRODUCTION car. This, is a one off. In any case, the Mclaren F1 was doing 150+ just 3yrs later and winning Le Mans (I.e. could actually go round a bend)
Technically speaking, this is not a "one off." It could have been modified by LPE for anyone. Just in 1988, there wasn't a frame of mind to advertise to the world about it. 2014 is a very different world where everything is instantaneous. Truth be told, we should have 5-6 "production cars," as you label them, capable of 300 mph. It seems you too, are lost in your own splendor of the "modern" era.
@Bamananatic A Callaway collector bought it along with 3 or 4 other Vettes at the Barrett Jackson auction a few years back. And no matter what Callaway said John Lingenfelter built this motor.
No, not really. The Sledgehammer was a one-off, it was built with the sole intention of reaching very high speeds. Apart from the token radio and carpets, it was practically a race car. Now the Bugatti, or should I say VW, is a far more impressive package. You get the immense power and speed again, but you get it in luxury package that is able to be mass produced and is perfectly usable and reliable on the road.
Nattapol, yes...yes you can Pineapples arguement is invalid and is obviously obsessed with new shit....in 1988, this car was legend and still is...and will still eat the overated Bugatti..
james C It will eat a Bugatti? Lets see, it's not a fast, it's not as quick to accelerate, it's not a usable, it's not as luxurious, it's not as high quality... I could go on, but you get the point.
again you moron....your comparing a car from 2010+ to a car from *ta-da* 1988...your right, its not as quick to acc but it did have a slightly higher top speed of 254.7 vs the Bug's 253. also your comparing a MR w16 vs a FR v8....considering all of those factors, the Sledge eats the Bug. your point is invalid.
james C I'm comparing the two cars because the original comment was... you moron. And as I'm sure you know, their are many variations of the Veyron, the SS spec topping out at 268MPH. And what factors do you consider make the Sledgehammer better exactly? I listed six without thinking about it, and all you can come up with is that the two cars have different engine layouts and design?
Project Gotham Racing kept this beauty alive through the 2010s. I drive by the callaway shop in CT a few times a year and they are still cooking up some sweet cars and trucks too.
I'm shocked, and really impressed by this feat of engineering. I loved a lot of things about the 80's, now I have one more great thing to add. Thanks for posting the video.
Love these kinds cars, I remember I had a big book of "tuned" exotic cars as a kid. The sledgehammer was one I remember, and some Ferrari with twin turbos and a supercharger!
It's not that hard to build a car that can go 200 mph. It hard to build a car that can go 200 mph with a warranty and an engine that doesn't need to be rebuilt every 3000 miles. Any idiot can run super high turbo boost and create monster power in a motor that will destroy itself in a few hours of use.
SouthshoreVice The car is owned by Callaway, it was basically used to advertise Callaway, they say that if someone wants one still, they can still build one in 2009, but it wont be cheap.
I dont care what your favorite brand is, if you know ANYTHING about cars, you know that this car is an automatic BOW DOWN car if you talk about it. 1988 and that power and speeds? Yea, true mechanics and science that is still impressive by todays standards. Such a sick piece of art.
The 1986 Chevrolet twin turbo Corvette did 218MPH with me driving, stock, factory, off the showroom floor. The front-end danced around pretty bad. Probably the safest and best car I've ever owned. Long lasting, held it's value well, reliable daily driver, very safe, relatively affordable parts cost and an excellent dealership network and STOCK of those parts...and not that bad on gas. If it's a very good year for the 'vette: look for a special one and make the purchase with FULL confidence. It's a VERY well-mannered drive: predictable, not testy or finicky like a 911 Turbo Carrera or a Lambo or Ferrari. Oh, the 911. That car will corner great until it doesn't, NO WARNING - and that's your butt, it's wrapped around something and so are you. The 'vette will talk to you. It will communicate how it's doing and you can respond appropriately. A Corvette will drift at very high speed and NOT feel scary! Just the opposite: it will put a VERY big smile on your face and a warm happy glow in your heart. 10/10 would recommend.
I was unaware that John Lingenfelter drove the Top Gun Vette to it’s top speed. that further enhances in my mind, the reputation of this gentleman who could hot shoe the hell out of anything he drove and build the crap out of anything he wanted. Rest in peace, John. You are a legend.
the hardest thing is that they had probably no wind tunnel testing done...I would think that that beast flips over at 400km/h...-what an outstanding achievement!!!great stuff!!!
Don't know who bought it, but it was sold along with 5 other Callaway Corvettes the private buyer bought it and the 5 others for 685,000 dollars. The car was sold by Barrett Jackson Auction in Pheonix Az.
The Callaway Corvette was driven to the Test Track and Back home after it was tested and the Car performed exceptionally well without any issues what a Callaway Corvette indeed this was an awesome video. Sledgehammer indeed.
