Did a YouTuber Blow Up Their C8 Corvette On Purpose?
No publicity is bad publicity, but why would you intentionally ruin your car?
It seems that, in this day and age, folks will do just about anything for YouTube views. The online car community is no different, as we’re no strangers to internet infamy. A recent video sparked a spirited discussion here in our forums for precisely that reason. Our friends over at GM Authority posted about it, too.
YouTuber EmeliaHartford is lucky enough to be one of the first people with a new C8 Corvette. She wasn’t content with the 2020 Corvette’s 495 horsepower, however. The simple remedy, in true YouTube fashion, was to bolt on a pair of turbochargers. That’s where the trouble started.
Turbocharging an engine is not exactly a simple affair. Ideally, an engine needs to be built from the ground up with turbocharging in mind. That means beefed up internals and a lower compression ratio. Additionally, the engine will have to be tuned to add the right amount of fuel and avoid a lean condition.
A Suspicious Situation
Instead, EmeliaHartford decided to just bolt up the turbos and send it. The result? Predictably, catastrophic engine damage thanks to a melted piston. As several posters pointed out, she knows her way around an engine, and knows a thing or two about building fast cars. What happened, and why?
Dio55 points out that “Without lower compression pistons, any stock engine will detonate itself into oblivion under boost. If you want to leave the internals stock, run 3 to 4 lbs of boost max and settle for a 100hp max gain.”
Right or wrong, many of our members seem to think that failure was the goal from the very beginning. Savoy2001 says that the whole situation was “almost like they wanted it to blow up for the hits.” It certainly worked — after all, we’re talking about it. No publicity is bad publicity, right?
Not everyone had a negative take on the whole affair. OnPoint states that “I love seeing shops dive into mods and push the limits.” Blown engines and late nights in the shop are the price you pay for development in the world of high performance.
Still, for many of us patiently waiting for our cars, seeing one ostensibly blown up for YouTube views hurts. At the end of the day, though, it’s their money, not ours.
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