C8 Corvette Z06 Spotted in the Wild Playing with a Ferrari
Despite twin-turbo rumors, we expect the next Corvette Z06 to have a street version of the 5.5-liter flat-plane V8 currently in use by the C8.R.
It won’t be too long until the first C8-era Corvettes hit the open road, now that production is underway. The base models of this new age for America’s sports car are nothing to sneeze at, either. With the Z51 package, owners have 495 horses ready to go through the eight-speed dual-clutch to the nearby rear wheels from the 6.2-liter LT2 V8. Yet, there’s at least one mid-engine Corvette we can’t wait to see next: the Corvette Z06.
The hype machine is in overdrive for the high-performance ‘Vette, with random spottings of alleged Z06s popping up. Such a spotting was captured by YouTuber CorvetteWorld the other day, not far from our home in Los Angeles.
“Z06 right there,” the YouTuber says. “Z06 right there! There’s another one. Valencia, California.”
On February 7, the YouTuber was driving around the city of Valencia, an hour northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. There, a pair of alleged Z06s in tons of spy camo rolled past him on Interstate 5 North.
The two Corvettes were following a matte black Ferrari 458 Italia through traffic, likely using the Italian stallion as a benchmark for all the things Chevrolet has in mind for the Z06. Knowing full well they’ll be videoed while out and about, GM covered the bottom of their plates with orange tape.
This isn’t the first time the new C8-era Z06 was allegedly caught out and about testing in the real world. Back in January, Car and Driver happened upon one hitting the snowy roads. Unlike the previous pre-production ‘Vettes, the snow bunny had wider fenders hiding under the thick layers of black camo. The wide fenders are, of course, for the wider tires needed to plant and guide the power on the road.
Speaking of power, the Z06 is expected to have the 5.5-liter flat-plane V8 currently in use by the C8.R. According to Car and Driver, we expect the next Z06 to be 600 horsepower, all naturally aspirated. We can’t wait to see the new car for real.
Screengrabs: CorvetteWorld / YouTube
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