Mid-Engine Corvette Storms Around the Nurburgring
Mid-Engine Corvette Storms Around the Nurburgring
Our best look yet at the exterior design of the mid-engine Corvette, even with the camouflage.
We have been talking about a mid-engine Corvette for decades. It seems that with each upcoming generation of the storied American sports car, there are whispers of a mid-engine design, but it seems that the eighth generation of the sleek Chevy will finally feature a new drivetrain layout. Over the past two years, we have seen countless spy shots, leaked General Motors documents and video footage of what we believe to be the long-rumored mid-engine Corvette, but this video from Jalopnik is the best footage yet.
In this video, we get to hear the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette roar around the world’s most famous road course. More importantly, the camouflage is the thinnest we have seen, giving us our best look yet of the lines and vents all over the mysterious supercar.
Mid-Engine Corvette at The Ring
In the video above, we get to watch three minutes of footage of what pretty much everyone in the world believes is the long-awaited mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette. The car is covered with the usual black-and-white checkered vinyl in an effort to disguise the lines, but this is the most minimalistic camo we have seen thus far. So, it gives us our best look yet at the exterior design.
Up front, this mysterious supercar has the greenhouse set much further forward than with the current Corvette. This all-but-guarantees that this car has the engine mounted behind the seats. It has a variety of large vents up front and massive scoops extending off of the body along the sides, but oddly, there is no huge rear wing. There is a unique tiered wing on the wide, flat rear end, but it appears to be stationary and smaller than the aero bits on the likes of the current ZR1.
Fairly Quiet, No Whine or Whistle
Rumors have long-insisted that the mid-engine Corvette would be powered by a gigantic V8 with forced induction and an output of at least 900 horsepower. However, if you listen carefully to the car in action in this video, there are no engine sounds that would suggest that it has forced induction. There is no whine like a supercharger or whistle from a turbocharger setup, pointing towards a naturally-aspirated engine. Also, as the car drives away from the camera, the exhaust note is surprisingly quiet. It’s a far tamer note than what we hear from the current Z06 or ZR1 when they are being driven hard on the track.
Based on the lack of more noise, it seems likely that this could be a “base model” of sorts with a naturally-aspirated V8 like the LT1. Down the road, we could see the rumored twin turbo engine, but this car sounds far too quiet to be a 900-horsepower supercar.
What do you think about this latest C8 Zora news? Naturally, the forums are already buzzing with talk.
