Corvette's Program Engineer Manager Shows Us a Nifty C8 Trick

Going Under

By now, we've seen pretty much everything there is to see on the 2020 C8 Corvette. Or have we? No one has really spent a lot of time looking around underneath one of these new machines, but as it turns out, there's some pretty cool stuff down there as well, as Corvette Program Engineer Manager Josh Holder points out in this interesting video from Roadshow.

Air Intake

Before going underneath the car, Holder points out some interesting aspects of the C8's side inlets, however. It's difficult to see, but the bottom two-thirds of the inlets are used to cool the engine. "Air goes in through the engine compartment and out through the tonneau and rear fascia, Holder says. "We've got it up in the air, so you can see features and pieces that you normally wouldn't see." 

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Straight Pipe

Holder points out that this is a Z51-equipped car, and it has the performance exhaust. "The key feature of the exhaust is the actuator on the tailpipe," he says. This actuator opens and closes a valve. Obviously, it helps when that valve is open, as the exhaust flows basically straight through the muffler."

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Cooling Off

But perhaps the most interesting thing back here is what lies underneath the C8 - rear brake ducts. Paired with an elbow duct, they cool the rear brake rotors quite effectively. Once the car's owner installs an elbow duct to the lower control arm, the air that moves underneath the car flows through the elbow and channels it into the previously installed brake duct.

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Redirecting Air

If you're gonna take your Z51 Stingray around a race track, you would install the elbow duct to the bottom of a lower control arm. That takes air moving from underneath the car, brings it through this duct, and cools off the rear brake rotor," Holder says.

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Reduced Lift

Finally, Holder moves on to show us the location of the engine oil filter and drain plug, which is positioned in a way that you don't have to remove any panels to access them and change the oil. He also points out just how flat the bottom of the C8 is, which was done specifically to keep air moving freely underneath the car and reduce drag and lift, as well as increase downforce.

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Nifty Features

Other nifty features we see in this video include a carbon-reinforced closeout panel, as well as the large central tunnel section that basically serves as the backbone of the C8's lightweight aluminum structure. It's all very fascinating stuff, and this video gives us a quick glimpse at some of the many engineering feats that make the newest Corvette so great.

>>Join the conversation about the Roadshow C8 video right here in CorvetteForum.com.

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