Speculating About the LT5 in the Next Corvette ZR1

Let’s Play a Game of Speculation With the ZR1’s Newest Engine

Because General Motors refuses to give us any concrete news about the upcoming ZR1, we have no choice but to speculate. That’s what our forum members recently did. And the results are interesting.

If you head over to the forums and read the post started by DAVE396LT1, you’ll find he wants to see some twin-turbo action. The LF3 is a twin-turbo V6 making 420 horsepower from 3.6 liters. By doing some rough math, a 6.2-liter version of that same engine would make 725 horsepower!

But hold on, engine performance doesn’t quite work that way. If you could just bore out an engine and magically make more power, we’d think a lot more manufacturers would do that.

What will the new LT5 be? Will it be naturally-aspirated or turbocharged? The leaked source material we shared with you last month suggests natural aspiration, but then it’s unlikely the car will make more power than the Z06.

CHECK OUT: What Forum Members Are Saying About the New ZR1

If GM goes big with the LT5 to beat its own horsepower numbers from the Z06, cooling becomes a real issue. The Corvette has had issues in the past with keeping everything cool on the Z06, which isn’t inspiring when it comes to an engine making even more power from the same basic body design.

Would a less-powerful-than-the-Z06 Corvette carry the ZR1 badge? History points to no, but again, it’s hard to believe a naturally-aspirated V8 will trump the supercharged V8’s power in the Z06.

Unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to have to wait longer than ever to find out. There was hope the new ZR1 would debut at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit, but no such announcement happened.

Why the delay? That’s an entirely different speculation post right there.