Back in 2014, with the help of Arrow Electronics, former Indy car driver Sam Schmidt was able to get back behind the wheel of an actual, fully-functional vehicle. As stated in our previous article, the quadriplegic now operates his car’s steering with head movements and acceleration and braking with his breath.
Over the past few years, Sam and his modded Corvette Z06, SAM, have become quite the hit– participating in the Indianapolis 500, the Long Beach Grand Prix, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and even hitting a new land speed record for semi-autonomous vehicles. Thanks to this amazing creation, he has been able to continue his passion on closed courses and now on the streets after he was granted one of the country’s first semi-autonomous drivers licenses.
Now that the electronics have been proven on countless tracks, our friends over at Lingenfelter Performance Engineering have partnered up with Sam Schmidt and Arrow to take this project to the next level. Supposedly, the goal is to completely push the LT4 to its limits with some help from Magnuson Superchargers.
In the end, Sam’s Z06 will be the very first with Magnuson’s new Heartbeat Supercharger System for the 6.2-liter LT4 V8. Running at 12 psi, the Heartbeat will add over 80 wheel horsepower to the already modified ‘Vette.
“Together, Arrow, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering and Magnuson are working in the world of Five Years Out to turn what is possible into what is practical and help the SAM car reach its highest performance capabilities.”
When everything is said and done, this C7 should be an absolute missile–or more so than it already is. Kudos to Sam for not letting his injury stop his dreams of going fast. We’re with you, Sam!