Corvette C8.R race car is ready to win at Daytona, LeMans, and around the world.
Many auto enthusiasts expect that the long-awaited Chevrolet Corvette C8 with a new mid-engine design will make its grand debut at January’s 2019 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Should that be the case, it will end speculation that has literally been going on for decades. But until January, we are still busy wondering what to expect from the next chapter in the story of the legendary Corvette.
In addition to a mid-engine road car, spy shots have shown that Chevrolet is also working on a race-only version of the mid-engine sports car and the odds are good that it will be called the C8.R. Like the C5.R, C6.R and C7.R, the C8.R will be a race car based on the production platform, but designed to win races like the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 24 Hours of LeMansand the 12 Hours of Sebring.
With the knowledge that the mid-engine Corvette will have a racing version, we had our artists pen a C8.R race car that is clear of the black-and-white camo that obscures the lines of test mules. The result is a gorgeous race car that is likely to look a great deal like the real thing, offering slightly more detail than our previous mid-engine racer rendering.
The C8.R Rendering
As you can see in the image above, our rendering of the Corvette C8.R race car looks a great deal like the artwork that we shared a few months back. There are some key differences though, in addition to the fact that this yellow car is a bit sharper than the red car we previously showcased.
Along the side, the yellow race car wears proper wheels and tires and up front, the C8.R has a far more aggressive face, accentuated by a pair of dive planes on each side of the nose. This new rendering has slightly sharped headlights than our last as well, with small vents flanking each bank of lights and much larger vents on the lower portion of the front fascia.
While we don’t know for sure when we will see the actual Corvette C8.R race car, if it looks like this, it will be popular with racing fans while the mid-engine performance will likely be popular with the drivers in the cockpit.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
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