- Chevrolet has moved the testing of the C8 Corvette from Stateside to Nurburgring.
- The production-ready body of the mid-engine Corvette moves away from the traditional lines and looks as exotic as a Ferrari under the camo.
- Might carry the Zora name in honour of Zora Arkus Duntov.
The Chevrolet Corvette is going mid-engine for the first time. Under development for four years now, the mid-engine Corvette is in its final stages of testing already. We have seen the test mules of the Corvette (codenamed C8) being put through its paces stateside, with a heavy cladding. The testing has now moved to the gruesome Nurburgring where the test mule was spotted with its wheels in the air going over the Flugplatz section of the Green Hell.
The C8 Corvette will take on the Ferrari 488 and McLaren 720S when it arrives. There have been no details regarding the C8’s powertrain and Chevrolet has been very secretive about it so far. But according to reports, sitting behind the driver would be the 6.2-litre V8 from the C7. But that won’t be the only powertrain on offer since Chevrolet has two more iterations of the V8 in its inventory. The Detroit-based carmaker is testing three prototypes of the future flagship at the ‘Ring which also hints at multiple powertrains. The transmission will supposedly be an automatic, more specifically a Tremec-supplied dual-clutch unit.
Appearance wise, the mid-engine C8 departs from the conventional styling of the Corvette and adopts a low-slung profile similar to its rival. The test mule hides a lot of air vents, the most prominent of which is seen behind the doors. Upfront, the bumpers seem to have a simple design with no drama on the fascia. We hope this would change once the camo starts to disappear. At the rear, the deck spoiler is seen on the mule while there are more vents and diffusers to discharge the air over the aerodynamic profile. The taillight shape is ambiguous at the moment. Meanwhile, there will be a quad-exhaust set-up in the production model.
Apart from the production-spec C8, Chevrolet is also testing a race car version of the mid-engine Corvette. Called the C8.R, the race car could enter the Rolex 24 Hours Endurance Championship next year. The production version of the C8 is expected to arrive at Detroit Auto Show early next year. It is also rumoured that it would adopt the Zora moniker as a tribute to Zora Arkus Duntov, the founding father of Corvette, but nothing is confirmed yet.
