ProCharger for 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray in Development

The ProCharger crew is hard at work trying to crack new LT2 V8’s ECU and will begin dyno and street testing as soon as possible.

The presence of the 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray in the market is a good news/bad news situation. The good news is Chevrolet is finally offering the midengined Corvette many enthusiasts have been wanting for decades. And with its new LT2 V8, it’s more powerful than its C7 predecessor. The bad news is that we’re going to have to wait for more potent factory models with forced induction. In the meantime, ProCharger is working on a supercharger that will make the C8 Stingray a more lethal supercar predator.

According to ProCharger, “Planning was initiated last fall for the C8 ProCharger system, followed by 3-D modelling prior to the company’s C8 arriving at ProCharger headquarters” in Lenexa, Kansas. After ProCharger got its black Stingray, the hardware and software obstacles it would have to overcome to get to higher levels of power became more apparent. Chevrolet’s engineers packed the LT2 behind the passenger compartment in a way that puts the crankshaft pulley very close to the firewall. And ProCharger says the E99 ECU that controls the LT2 is “encrypted and reportedly hard to crack.”

It’s not exactly clear how much power ProCharger’s supercharger will add, but two things are definite: Its starting point and a number to beat. A standard C8 Stingray has 490 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque. With the available Performance exhaust or Z51 Performance Package, it generates figures of 495 and 470, respectively. ProCharger was able to up the C7 Stingray’s output by more than 40 percent (180 horsepower) so time will tell if it can top those numbers with its C8 setup.

As soon as it possibly can, ProCharger will start dyno- and street-testing its C8 development car. After that comes shakedowns at the Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas and Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California.

Whatever the finished product turns out to be, we have a feeling it’ll be impressive. We’ve seen several bestial ProCharged ‘Vettes over the years, including this 700-RWHP C6, this 7-second Z06, and this 900-horsepower 1/3-mile champion.

Photos: ProCharger

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