Atari_Prime

A user posted on here a couple of days ago that they spotted a mid-engine C8 in Irvine, California. Specifically, the Foothill Ranch/Lake Forest area. Supposedly it was driving down a public road and had the coverings much like other spy photos that have been seen.

I am trying to figure out why it would be here. To the north and west are some of the busiest roads in the entire country. It doesn't make sense to bring it here unless there's a good reason. It would be like parking a UFO on the White House lawn and covering it with a tarp. I suppose you could head out into the desert from here and do some testing free from prying eyes but Irvine isn't exactly on the route into the desert.

So why would it be here? Is there a GM facility nearby? There is a Callaway facility nearby. Could they have been taking it to Callaway for show and tell? If so, does that mean maybe there will be a factory Callaway (B2K) option again in the future?

Assuming it was actually spotted, I believe it would be the only one seen outside of Michigan or the spy photos from the Corvette Plant.

Any thoughts are welcome.

Zymurgy

GM has a facility in Yuma, AZ:

Desert Proving Ground Yuma
32.919818°N 114.323366°W
General Motors Desert Proving Ground in Yuma County, Arizona

Desert Proving Ground Yuma is a facility co-built and leased by General Motors located within the US Army's Yuma Proving Grounds, near Yuma, Arizona. The facility came fully online as of July 2009. The site contains an inner facility sitting on 2,400 acres (970 ha) with a 24-acre (9.7 ha) campus containing 98,000 square feet (9,100 m2) of building area and also has 40 miles of roadway. One of the main reasons that this site was chosen was the already imposed no fly zone which helps prevent unwanted photography of pre-production prototypes undergoing testing. The facility is also used by the US Army for their own testing requirements.

Of course, a "reported sighting" without photos doesn't hold much credence in my book.

Cheech Wizard

DebRedZR1

FrankLP

lostsoul

it was probably headed to Jay Lenos garage

Corvette_Nut

I live in Irvine and there is no GM facility nearby. However, there is a 2 mile long airstrip located in El Toro, the old Marine Corps Air Base. A lot of the car magazines use that runway for magazine shoots.

Callaway Cars Inc., has a facility located right off the CA-55 freeway in Santa Ana. What they were doing in Irvine, I have no clue...

Save The Wave,
Corvette_Nut

senah

how many macdonald's are there in the area where it was purportedly sighted?

Patches

You're probably referring to the post I made where I said it looked like a C8 mule but I went on to also say that it was dark and I was driving the opposite direction and that, upon passing right by it, it appeared to be something more like an Audi R8 prototype.

In fact, last week I was sitting in my boss's office having a meeting with him and the other directors and that same prototype drove by as I was sitting there, incredulous that I would see it twice within a couple of weeks. Again, it appeared to resemble an Audi R8 as it's door was totally exposed revealing no built in intake.

Zymurgy

In the words of the famous Paul Harvey: and that's the rest of the story.

Subfixer

The Irvine setting was my initial post.

I know, no picks (no phone while driving), but what I saw looked very much like the renderings here, except the black & white cameo was a bit different. More geometric than paisley.

I can say, the car was NOT an Audi R8 prototype. I own one and it was nothing like that. Also, Audi is discontinuing the R8 after 2020.

Sorry I can't give any more info than I had.




Additional.....
The front section up to the doors was covered in that black material, bit the headlights and parking lights were able to shine through. The shape and light placement looked very similar to the C7.
Rear of this car was also covered with the same material from the doors back.
Rear from doors back was longer than a C7 and rear wheels were pretty far behind the doors, similar to my R8.
Only the doors were visible with the black & white cameo paint.
If it wasn't a C8, then what? ME Ferrari? McLaren? Could have been.
Was definitely not a Lambo.

Patches

Subfixer - what you describe is a perfect description of what I saw both times. I only called it a possible R8 proto because I couldn't think of anything else that had the proportions I gleaned from my two sightings. The overhangs were significantly shorter than the mules pictured here and I saw no signs of the engine intakes molded into the doors. The bras and camo were just as you describe, though.

favrefan2k4

Aria is based in Irvine, CA. It may have been one of their cars or possibly a collaboration between them and chevy due to the founder's lineage? This article in the perfect explanation for my theory. Just a theory though.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/...t-la-auto-show

427Z0SX

Should've followed it!

SBC_and_a_stick

edit, beat to it!

Subfixer

Could have been an Aria prototype, but the article says they wouldn't have a prototype of this car for another year, although it could be a mule. There was no massive wing on the vehicle I saw.
The Aria shape is very similar to what we think the C8 looks like.

WaxWeekly

Note that Callaway is no longer located in Tustin. CA facilities were moved to Temecula.

bdutchik

It may have been a Karma. They have a facility off Bake pkwy and have been running a lot of camo units in the area lately.

0Callaway Chris

We moved from Santa Ana to Temecula about 1.5 years ago. But we still get up to Newport, etc.