A high-revving, motorsport-derived 5.5-liter V8 promises to make the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 an extraordinary car and while it may have less power than its supercharged predecessor, it is shaping up to be very, very quick.
Chevrolet has been testing a handful of C8 Z06 prototypes at the Nurburgring in recent weeks. YouTuber Carspotter Jeroen was recently at the famed German circuit during the car’s most recent outing and got out his stopwatch to see what kind of time the car could deliver.
Read More: 2023 Corvette Z06 Teased And Confirmed For Debut On October 26
Two prototypes were being tested by Chevy’s engineers. One was equipped with what is expected to be the standard aerodynamics package while the second have the upgraded aero kit that includes a pronounced front splitter and a massive rear wing. When the high-wing variant passed the YouTuber, he got out his stop watch and timed it for a lap. It took just 7 minutes and 12 seconds for it to complete a lap while the low-wing version set a lap of 8:18 (although the driver obviously wasn’t pushing as hard).
What is particularly noteworthy about the 7:12 time is that it was set while there were other cars on the circuit, meaning the driver would have lost valuable time when overtaking other cars. During official lap time attempts, car manufacturers have the whole circuit to themselves and it is inevitable that the car can go faster. Can it post a sub-7-minute time? It’s entirely possible.
The C8 Z06’s aforementioned 5.5-liter naturally-aspirated V8 has a flat-plane crank and is expected to produce up around 617 hp and 480 lb-ft (651 Nm) of torque. The car will be unveiled on October 26th.