Motor Trend magazine recently strapped a 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray onto a dyno and the figures they saw are eye-popping to say the least.
Running in fifth gear, the new 2020 ‘Vette delivered 558 hp and 515 lb-ft (698 Nm) of torque through the rear wheels. If you estimate a 15 per cent drivetrain loss, those numbers would mean the C8’s 6.2-liter V8 engine pumps out about 656 hp and 606 lb-ft (821 Nm), well above the 495 hp and 470 lb-ft (637 Nm) claimed by Chevrolet.
Confused by the results, the Corvette was strapped down for a second power run and delivered almost identical numbers. The third and fourth runs of the car saw 561 hp and 515 lb-ft (698 Nm) as well as 556 hp and 523 lb-ft (709 Nm) respectively. Surely the mid-engined Corvette isn’t that powerful?
Also Read: Can The 2020 Corvette Stingray Take Down The Porsche 911 Carrera S?
The final two runs were performed in sixth gear as Motor Trend looked to find which gear had a near 1:1 ratio. The penultimate run saw the car deliver 478 hp and 536 lb-ft (726 Nm) while in the last run it pumped out 478 hp and 544 lb-ft (737 Nm).
Chevrolet soon chimed in and provided gear ratios for the supercar, confirming that models with the electronic LSD have a fifth gear near a 1:1 ratio making it the best gear to perform a dyno run in. Motor Trend subsequently strapped a 2020 Ram 2500 Limited onto the same dyno and returned figures close to what Ram claims, indicating that an inaccurate dyno wasn’t to blame for the results.
It still remains a mystery why the 2020 Corvette consistently produced much more grunt than Chevrolet claims although it is obvious that the claimed 495 hp and 470 lb-ft are very conservative. It will take subsequent tests of press cars and customer-owned examples to confirm just how powerful the car is.