Repair-It

More stuff. This is actually news.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/mid-eng ... 2A13124821

We have heard this before but it is being repeated so it may be legit. I don't know if the car is a higher voltage system (like 42 or 48V). The higher voltage is something we have been told is coming for like 10 years. The reasons for it are sort of twofold but it is the same basic reason: to enable higher power electronics and electrical devices, but also to lower the current on ANY electrical or electronic device. A 48V device uses 4x less current than a 12V device to do the same thing. That allows thinner wire to be used which reduces weight and cost.

According to a new report from Hagerty, the mid-engine Corvette has been held up for three reasons. The first matches an earlier rumor we'd heard, which is that development engineers are having a hard time working out all the bugs in the car's electrical system.

Fairly inconclusive.

The second is that the design team is still fighting with the development engineers over some unspecified issue. Hagerty theorizes it may be related to visibility, ergonomics, or possibly cabin layout, but it can't say for sure.

This is the real news.

The third issue, however, might be the most interesting. Supposedly, the mid-engine Corvette's chassis can't handle the power of its near-1,000-hp twin-turbo V-8. Hagerty says its source claims the twist from the engine in at least one prototype bent the spaceframe enough to break the glass in the rear hatch. Assuming that's true, the car's launch should absolutely be delayed, but we can't help wondering if GM strategically leaked the rumor that the top-trim C8 is just too powerful in order to distract from the other issues.

We've had computer-based simulation, FEA and other technologies for literally multiple decades. It is REALLY hard to imagine that any mechanical engineer would be unable to predict that a frame can or cannot handle an amount of twisting force based on reaction to the car putting down power. Very interested in more info here. This isn't hot-rodding in the 1950s.

Well, according to this, the Corvette isn't getting the Blackwing.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/mi ... spartanntp

I guess we'll see...

Yeah that's a bunch of BS.

I think we will find that the statement is equivalent to a GM announcement in 1997 that "trucks will never get the LS1." Which is technically true, they never did. But that misses the broader point, obviously, that trucks DID get all of the architecture and benefits of the LS family of engines.

So is that exact engine not going in a Corvette? Sure, probably not. But could a variant (perhaps a higher power version with more displacement even) be in development for the C8? Uh, seems likely. It would be a cold day in hell before GM develops a second, completely unrelated engine architecture with twin turbos and high output...

Now the Northstar also eventually made its way into other stuff so even that wasn't exclusive forever. Plus even in the 90s there was the so-called "baby Northstar" 4.0L V8 in the Olds Aurora and also the "short-Star" 3.5L V6 in the Olds Intrigue. In the case of the Aurora, that was only 2 model years after the very first Northstar. And the "short-Star" came in 1999 in the Intrique. Which was a W-body of all things (granted, the nicest W-body available at the time).

More info. Options.

https://youtu.be/Kyg3atsu-Bk

Some interesting stuff. Bob will notice the high res backup camera.

Finally coming July 18th.

https://youtu.be/X3RByyZcoY4

More supposed leaks.

https://youtu.be/uoubI2ZeExI

LT2 supposedly 530hp, base engine.

Some of the other stuff is pretty cool. The pricing is unbelievable if true. I am getting excited.

2 days away.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/mid-eng ... B1AF38D356

I agree with these.

Not sure how this thread is quiet...

M/T: How We'd Configure Ours
https://www.motortrend.com/news/2020-ch ... 2366670ED0

As I read through this it reminded me that GM did something very smart and interesting with the C8. Maybe taking a page from Porsche's playbook, they are offering a ton of personalization/customization between colors and trim stuff. But they are doing it at a very affordable price point (I'm sure all that stuff costs but pretty much nothing can make this car a bad deal). It causes people to become more emotionally invested because they can play with the configurator and sort of day dream about their exact C8. I think these are going to do big sales. Now, a mid-engined sports car/super car is supposed to be a rare thing. So if these are all over the place, will that matter to anyone? Probably some whiner who doesn't deserve nice things. I think what people sometimes actually want is something cheap that they can buy but no one else has.

Also let's predict the tested 1/4 mile time. I don't think there are different axles yet but there will be least be different tire options. I don't actually know if the base model is claimed to do the 0-60 in 3.0 (or like 2.99) or by "base model" they mean the base Stingray with Z51 or something like that. We'll see.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a1 ... st-review/

Back in 2013 C/D got 12.2 sec @ 117 mph with a Z51 manual. Car weighed 3444 lb. For fun, the base price was $51,995 and as-tested was $66,385.

Given slightly less weight, way more traction, an extra 35 hp AND a very quick shifting DCT, I think there is a good chance the new one will do in the 11.5 @ 121 range. I might broaden that slightly to a range of 11.2 to 11.6 for the ET, and traps of 120-122 or so. This is approaching C6 Z06 territory, and thus C7 Z06 territory. C/D got 11.1 sec @ 127 mph from a 2015 Z06 A8. Or using 0-60, that car was 3.0s.

Transmission stuff:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/autos-s ... spartanntp

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2020-ch ... 38EFA1112B

I said something similar about the options. And I agree with the second part of the article about sacred cows. To quote, this is the actual mission of the Corvette:

But the C8 obliterates the tired old boomer-era sacred cows: where the engine sits, how the transmission is shifted, the traction-limiting transverse leaf springs. Instead, it focuses on the fundamentals: making the Corvette a sports car that's highly aspirational yet still relatively affordable, a sports car that's modern, relevant, and, thanks to that 6.2-liter V-8 now mounted amidships, still uniquely American.