Photo: HSV
The C8 Corvette appears to be all the rage these days in the automotive world, and for good reasons. It’s the first one to feature a mid-engine layout, it’s the first application of the LT2 small-block V8, and it’s the first ‘Vette with a dual-clutch transmission co-developed by General Motors with Tremec know-how.
Speaking to Corvette executive chief engineer Tadge Juechter at the launch of the C7 Z06 four and a half years ago, Popular Mechanics found out that any better than this would need to be mid-engined. Juechter was developing such a vehicle since 2013, hidden under the bodyshell of a Holden ute such as the HSV GTSR Maloo in the featured photo.
The black test mule was nicknamed Blackjack, featuring a “racecar-crude interior” and “an adapted PDK from Porsche.” At that stage, everything that mattered for the engineers was to get the basic structure and suspension geometry right for a mid-engine sports car.
Big pieces of the front and rear structure were milled from solid aluminum, and thus 7,000 pounds of the material were converted into 400 pounds’ worth of components. Fast-forward to 2016, and that’s when the first dry-sump V8 was fitted to a successor of Blackjack along with the eight-speed DCT.
What about the first C8 Corvette built from the ground up? An army of engineers brought their parts together over the course of two weeks, “the world’s most complicated IKEA project” as described by Popular Mechanics. By all accounts, it wasn’t easy to evolve from the C7 to the eighth generation of America’s favorite sports car.
Even more impressive of a feat is the starting price of the C8. Under $60,000 from the get-go is a particularly small fistful of dollars when compared to the C7 Corvette, but even more so if you take the Porsche 718 Cayman into consideration. Go for the Z51 Performance Package and you can also expect 495 horsepower and a sub-three-second acceleration to 60 mph.
The black test mule was nicknamed Blackjack, featuring a “racecar-crude interior” and “an adapted PDK from Porsche.” At that stage, everything that mattered for the engineers was to get the basic structure and suspension geometry right for a mid-engine sports car.
Big pieces of the front and rear structure were milled from solid aluminum, and thus 7,000 pounds of the material were converted into 400 pounds’ worth of components. Fast-forward to 2016, and that’s when the first dry-sump V8 was fitted to a successor of Blackjack along with the eight-speed DCT.
What about the first C8 Corvette built from the ground up? An army of engineers brought their parts together over the course of two weeks, “the world’s most complicated IKEA project” as described by Popular Mechanics. By all accounts, it wasn’t easy to evolve from the C7 to the eighth generation of America’s favorite sports car.
Even more impressive of a feat is the starting price of the C8. Under $60,000 from the get-go is a particularly small fistful of dollars when compared to the C7 Corvette, but even more so if you take the Porsche 718 Cayman into consideration. Go for the Z51 Performance Package and you can also expect 495 horsepower and a sub-three-second acceleration to 60 mph.
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