The Corvette has always been a vehicle whose character is defined by the exact specifications of the particular car in question. It has a long history of employing fire-breathing big block V8s or supercharged V8s with track-ready suspension—but some cars have relied on sluggish base engines and slushy automatic transmissions.
In recent years, Chevrolet has followed a cadence of introducing first the base car—in this case the Stingray—followed at some interval by the Z06 and then ZR1 to maintain interest in the vehicle over the model generation’s lifespan. The company is mum about the ZR1, but the rumor mill says it will use a turbocharged version of the Z06’s engine and an electric motor to drive the front axle. Time will tell.
Speaking of forced induction, supercharged engines use a belt-driven turbine to pack air into the engine’s intake tract to make more power. They produce a characteristic whine that builds with rpm as the turbines spin correspondingly faster. Meanwhile, turbocharged engines use compressors for the intake charge that are driven by turbines in the exhaust stream, which makes the boost they provide sensitive to engine speed.
“With natural aspiration, if you want to make power, you’ve got to spin it!” declares chief engineer Josh Holder. And the Z06 sure does spin, with an 8,600-rpm redline. Peak power of 670 hp occurs at 8,400 rpm. That’s great for redline racetrack running, but some turbulence in the incoming air/fuel mixture encourages mixing to create a homogeneous charge in the combustion chamber. Rather than impeding the flow to induce swirl as the air comes in, Chevy engineers borrowed a trick from the company’s IndyCar program and relocated the direct fuel injectors to the edge of the combustion chamber beyond the exhaust valves so that they spray into the chamber from an angle to help stir things up.
Despite the heap of new tech on the Z06’s all-new engine, this powerplant weighs only 2 pounds more than the engine in the Stingray , while producing an additional 175 hp. Compared to the supercharged LT4 engine in the previous-generation Z06, the new engine weighs more than 30 pounds less and it produces 20 more horsepower.
The optional upgrade with the most shocking contribution to the Z06’s track potential is the selection of the Carbon Revolution carbon fiber wheels. They cost either $10,000 for a black paint finish or $12,000 for a clear finish that highlights the wheels’ carbon weave. In either case, these wheels slash 41 pounds of weight compared to the standard aluminum wheels.
The steering wheel-mounted shift paddles provide the opportunity to select gears manually, but you will not be able to do a better job timing shifts than the car’s computer. It will even give the Z06’s flat-plane powerplant a stab of throttle on downshifts to let it announce that it is doing important work here, just as you’d do if you had a conventional shifter with a clutch pedal.
what can it do in 1/4 mile?
Fantastic review of this amazing vehicle, AutowriterDan does an excellent job explaining the benefits of reducing unsprung, rotational mass!