VIDEO: Rotary-Swapped Carbon Fiber Corvette is An Absolute Monster!

Taking a look under the hood of one of the most unique C6 drift builds: Axel Hildebrand’s infamous Rotary swapped carbon-clad ‘Vette!

Normally, when you think RX-7 plus Corvette, it usually equals LS swap. People tend to ditch the Wankel for a variety of reasons, be it power, ease of tuning and maintenance, reliability, torque, and so on. It’s such a perennial and universal swap that it’s almost a given that there’s at least a couple LS-swapped Japanese cars at any given drift event. But what if someone did the literal exact opposite, and put an RX-7’s rotary engine into a C6 instead?

Most people’s first impressions might be something between, “Why?” and “What’s the point in that?” And to be fair, they’re probably right to an extent. Those questions apparently didn’t occur to builder and drifter Axel Hildebrand. And when his unholy creation answers your question of, “Why?” by screaming like a banshee up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, it teases you to say, “Oh. Okay, that’s why.”

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Just see for yourself as Axel rips up the hill, leaving an indelible impression on anyone who doubted such a wild build. Wild, but not haphazard – Axel’s Corvette features an exceptionally functional design.

But seriously, what on Earth is this weirdness? And why does it work so well? The short answer is that it’s a 2006 C6 Corvette with a full carbon-fiber bodykit and a turbocharged 3-rotor swap. Arguably one of the most interesting and quirky purpose-built drift machines to ever fly up the hill. It’s not the first Rotary-powered Corvette, with others like Rob Dahm’s C5 floating around. But that certainly doesn’t discount all the time and effort it takes to realize such a unique build and make it a practical, competitive drift car. So without further delay, let’s take a closer look at the anatomy of this monstrosity and see the absolute madman who built it!

A Rotary Heart of Gold

Let’s address the elephant in the room right away. Axel’s creation is a base-model 2006 C6 with a turbo 20B producing a claimed ~700 horsepower. Though he estimates the engine’s capable of four-digit numbers, certainly not unheard-of in such builds (take Mad Mike, for example). The 20B was built by New Zealand-based Pulse Performance, and prominently sports a Garrett G42-1450 turbo and Walton Motorsport exhaust.

Axel properly designed the Corvette’s chassis from the ground up, not reusing a single original component that’s not totally necessary. It features a full unpainted carbon fiber shell surrounding a custom tube-frame, providing crumple zones to absorb impacts against barriers and other obstacles. It also sports a complete FDF steering angle kit and hydraulic handbrake, necessities to achieve the required angles for competitive drifting. And Axel totally stripped the interior, which features only the most Spartan of accommodations for lightness. The Corvette’s tricks don’t stop there, either. The car contains other little surprises as well. Like a Quaife 69G straight-cut gearbox, rear-mounted radiator, Haltech PDM ECU system, and Radium fuel system including racing fuel cell.

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Axel’s Corvette competed in various drifting and showcase events across mainland Europe and the UK. In short, it sounds like a bit of a gimmick car. But it’s genuinely a serious build, intended for serious competition. A fact that Axel happily showcased at his second foray at Goodwood, marking his Corvette’s debut at the Festival. A car that Goodwood themselves call the “antithesis of the LS-powered RX-7 of a certain Mad Mike.” Sadly the car’s input shaft failed during one of its runs. But Axel’s creation likely won’t sit still for long.

Dare to be different.

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