Chevrolet has taken the covers off the new C8.R racer at the Kennedy Space Center.
Along with the new 2020 Corvette Stingray Convertible, Chevrolet has been hard at work turning the C8 into a true race car. We’ve seen a few teaser videos and spy footage of the C8.R at work, and now we get to see the finished product in the flesh.
Sadly, Corvette is pretty mum on the details. What we see is basically all we know for sure, which is that the C8.R gets a hardcore makeover from the standard C8. On the back is a massive rear wing sitting above an even bigger rear diffuser, while the front gets a larger splitter. The side mirrors have shrunk and the whole car now sits lower and meaner thanks to what is almost certainly a set of new adjustable racing shocks.
The C8.R is rumored to have a totally different engine than the standard LT2 6.2-L V8. Reports say that it’ll be a flat-plane-crank twin-turbo dual-overhead-cam V8 and will likely be built from the 4.2-L twin-turbo Blackwing V8 that’s so far dedicated to Cadillac’s V-series of performance cars. That’s entirely based on what people hear in the spy footage, so take it with a grain of salt.
“The C8.R is much more than just a race-tuned version of the 2020 Corvette Stingray. It’s a culmination of many years of testing and development between GM Design, Propulsion, Engineering and the Corvette Racing team,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. vice president of Performance and Motorsports. “The collaboration between these teams has allowed us to take these vehicles’ performance to the next level, both on the street and the track.”
Chevy has actually done pretty well for themselves as a racing team. They've won 107 races since 199, with 13 team championships and 12 driver and manufacturer titles. They even pulled off the endurance triple-crown by winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 2015 season.
Will that success continue with the new C8? Judging by the looks of things, probably.