sunsalem

Don't worry...Joe will find a way (he always does ).

JoesC5

This is what Duntov said in a SAE article presented Jan 14-18, 1963 regarding development of the 1963 Corvette.

"Chevrolet's most efficient engine in terms of power per pound and power per cubic inch is the 327 cu. in. Corvette engine. Therefore, this engine was carried over for 1963 in the traditional front engine with transmission and rear drive design. This component arrangement combined shortest wheelbase with lowest cost, because all engine-transmission combinations were carry-over and did not entail an increase in cost.

Important factors ruled out alternate designs. A rear engine of the weight of the 327would have had to go ahead of the rear axle and this would have increased the wheelbase and introduced a costly power train.

A front engine rear transaxle combination would not have produced perceivable improvement but would have meant a significant cost increase."

Notice how many times "cost" was mentioned by Duntov.

As the 1963 was designed it had a 47% front and 53% rear weight distribution, and the center of gravity was 16.5 inches, an inch lower than the C7.

JustinStrife

That's cute. But GM will never sell as many Corvettes to the rest of the world as they can sell here in America. And from a financial investment standpoint, doing all of these exotic things you guys are hoping for, will kill the Corvette as the blue caller worker's sports car as it has been for half a century. I don't understand why you have to mess with a formula that has worked well for GM and the automotive industry ever since the 50's.

You want to turn it from a 30k a year seller, to a 1k a year seller. Why? So you can stroke your internet ***** about having some Chevrolet Supercar that no one else has? May as well say goodbye to the Corvette Wave because you wont see another one in your city. Also, enjoy having it serviced at a Chevrolet Dealership.

LIStingray

You do realize in racing, especially IMSA and LeMans, it is all about what the governing body gives your car as the "performance equalizer" - Ford spent a ton of money and brought huge publicity to IMSA and LeMans, so the governing bodies made sure they were ever so slightly more equal than the other makes to get a pre-ordained result - it had nothing to do with it being a better car (which it may or may not be).

~Stingray

If its a trim, like the ZR1, then why is it called the C8? You think GM will produce an old and new generation at the same time?

LT1 Z51

The mid-engine is NOT called a C8, in fact it is not even called a C7, it's called a ZERV. The media has called it the C8, the media (newsflash here) is WRONG.

You can think of it as a trim of the C7 (hence my comment), but in reality it's not even a Corvette, it's another model entirely. Is the development done by the Corvette team? Sure, because they are the "premiere" performance guys at GM. Tadge can be the VLE/VLD for multiple products. The Cadillac guys usually have 2-3 products which they control.

Quinten33

I think it's a whole new line of Corvettes. Instead of replacing the C7 or being a C7, it would make sense to be called the Corvette Zora or something similar, and it would be the Z1 Corvette sold alongside the C7. I totally agree that it isn't a C8 or C7, but I think it will be both a Cadillac and a Corvette.

Think of the Audi R8 and Lamborghini Huracan. They're exactly alike underneath, but built for different purposes. The R8 is Audi's halo car and is designed to be a luxurious, tech-savy supercar. The Lamborghini, however, is a high performance, no compromise supercar with performance variants and few luxuries. That's what I think this new mid-engine car will be: an R8 for Cadillac, a Huracan for Corvette. Corvette gets the track ready variants, Cadillac gets the best tech and interior comfort.

ROUTE 66

You might be right. I hope it looks better than the C7.

roadbike56

Thanks for posting the entire article.
It seems strange to me that, according to the article, production begins Jan 2019, but the car won't be made available until mid-2021, two and a half years later.
While these dates are more realistic than dates presented by other publications, why does it take two and half years from production inception to product delivery?

sunsalem

It doesn't.
No one outside of GM (and maybe they haven't even decided yet) really knows the street dates for the C8.
Also, I would bet serious $$$ it isn't "mid 2021."

LT1 Z51

Inception is an idea. Part design and testing takes 2-3 years. And that’s with significant carryover methodology.

Designing and building a new car isn’t easy. If it’s a new platform it’s even harder. This is why the ME has taken so long. Things happen which cause delays.

Lacquer

Actually, this is not true, in fact it is quite the opposite. The GT was designed to run with no rules waivers or "gifts". In fact, IMSA, WEC, and especially LeMans have had to add above and beyond the normal weight and power restrictions to the GT to keep other Bricks like the 12 year old Aston Martin competitive. The Corvette has been hit hard too, but not as hard as the GT. In Mexico, it is computed the GT was only running 375hp. It was weighted up and was probably heavier than anything in the field by 60lbs. Of course this made it finish near the back. The Vette got passed like it was standing still by an Aston Martin that has literally twice the frontal area... The new Porsches are using exemptions to their advantage now to run the a mid engine car and call it a 911.
It is argued that the GT is a limited special built car designed to race and win, where the others are street cars adapted to racing, and that is really the most accurate argument. My thought is that what racing should be, special versions pushing technology. The new mid engine Corvette could and will be competitive in this field. But to keep making BOP to keep old models and inferior technology viable is sad. Just imagine if Ford would have fielded a Mustang instead of the GT, with BOP added to the rest of the manufacturers to make it competitive. A Mustang beating a Vette racing, especially at Le Mans? This was almost the story if you study what really went on.
Now it seems we are going to see more mid engine cars available for more common folk. This is a good thing!

sunsalem

^^^ You make some great points.
Professional GT racing in this country is not in the best of health.
Interest has been going downhill since the 70's.

What to do?
A lot of people in the Sport would like to know.
Is it BOP?
Is it homologation?

The current Ford GT program has put a kink in the chain.
By building a racecar FIRST instead of a streetcar, it short-circuited the process modern GT racing has been using for awhile.

Ford wanted an anniversary win for their legendary Ford GT40 of the sixties...completely understandable for marketing purposes and to the Ford Family.
Unfortunately, it has thrown a monkey wrench into how things had been done on the GT1 stage.
The question now is design your racecar or streetcar first?
And how much should the racecar REALLY be connected to the street version?

car junkie

It certainly will get the Corvette buying public time to get used to the idea of a ME Vette. Maybe that's the whole idea, it also gives GM time to see how it will be received.

I've always been excited about the prospect of a ME Vette. I didn't talk to a lot of people about it over the years but those that I did were always negative on the idea to an extreme, "no and never" was what I came to expect.

These expected long wait times are bumming me out, by the time it gets here I'll be frustrated by the wait and probably think what I always thought about Corvettes since the outrageously stretched out production run of C3's. A day late and a dollar short.

LT1 Z51

For a "regular" car, the earliest you'd see a mid-engine replacing the front engine would be the C9. The C8 will be a front engine car. But anything about the C9 at this point is wild speculation.

roadbike56

HEY! That's a Great idea. Let's start a C9 thread. If you think there's wild speculation on this, C8 thread, I think we'd see a lot of "you ain't seen nothin' yet" posts.

C6 Snowboarder

Rumor has it that Production has been delayed due a decision to change the tail lights so it does not look like a Camaro or a Prius.

Racer86

Cadillac has 3 midengined cars racing in IMSA right now. LS-3 based engines

sunsalem

And, with little competition, they're dominating the DPi class.

JerriVette

Gminsidenews is a forum of kids..it's not an official GM website,