One mile north of Detroit in Ferndale, Michigan is where the world-famous Woodward Dream Cruise begins every year: It's all about cool cars, showing off, hanging out, being seen, and some of the best people-watching on the globe. It took place this entire past week in and around the Motor City, and is now the world's largest one-day automotive event, drawing 15 million people and 40,000 classic cars each year from around the globe. You can see many different types of Corvettes during this event, and the Motor Trend staff was able to catch up with Ed Piatek, the C8's chief engineer.
They questioned him about the potential of more powerful variants in the future, and he offered up some wisdom regarding just how excited he was about the mid-engined model's brand-new existence. The base Stingray has a pushrod 6.2-liter small-block V-8 engine. The updated LT2 makes 490 hp, and 465 lb-ft of torque and the performance exhaust with the Z51 package takes that up to 495 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque. He wasn't quite ready to talk specifics about future superchargers, Z06, ZR1s or topics as earthshaking, but all of us here at West Chevy of Knoxville know just how high-performance levels can get with a car this awesome.
Ed began by laying out the fact that the seventh-generation C7 was tapped out and had reached its maximum potential, and that the physics of biasing an engine's weight towards the rear axle has been questioned for more than 6 decades. Horsepower can be used more efficiently with the configuration of the new C8, and there is the potential for more bandwidth. If you look at the current generation car with 460 hp and the 0-60 time, 300 horsepower can be added to that number and the 0-60 time barely moves. With the C8, you begin with a low 0-60 time, but with a wider wheel-tire package in the rear, and 20 percent more mass on the rear axle.
When asked if he had concerns about the C8 completely “maxing out”, he said that he felt the new model definitely had lots of room to grow, and it was obvious he was really enjoying the abundance of ripe potential with the new model. The outgoing 2019 ZR1 with the LT5 supercharged 6.2-liter V8 was rated at 755 hp, and 715 lb-ft of torque and the Eaton Supercharger that took up prime real estate in the 2019 ZR1 is 2.9 inches taller than the blowers that were in the 2009 ZR1, or the 2015 Z06. This is the first Corvette to offer a dual-clutch automatic, which paves the way for truly hypercar status acceleration, and we are excited to keep you posted right here on the blog about how it will unleash the potential for more power, excitement, and track-ready stature very soon!
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