2022 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Z06’s Engine Sounds Crazy in New Video

The Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray is great as-is, capable of hanging with the best sports cars in the segment. But the “base” mid-engine ’Vette is only the beginning. To really shake up the supercar establishment, Chevy needs to bring out the big guns. We’re of course talking about the C8 Corvette Z06. We’ve reported plenty on the upcoming Z06 variant and the possibly related C8.R race car, breaking the news of the C8.R’s dual-overhead-cam, flat-plane-crank V-8 more than a month before its reveal. Now, a recent video captures the C8 Corvette Z06’s engine note—and it sounds absolutely insane.

In the video, a camouflaged C8 can be seen making a left turn onto a street near GM’s Milford Proving Ground in Michigan. Seeing a Corvette C8 in full camo long after the car’s reveal is curious, but by itself not particularly newsworthy. But once the driver lays on the throttle, things get interesting. The engine note is less guttural than the standard C8’s 6.2-liter LT2 V-8 and it revs to the moon. That suggests to us there’s a different type of engine behind the driver—one with more valves at the very least and possibly even the C8.R’s flat-plane crankshaft.

The engine doesn’t sound exactly like the C8.R’s, however, as it’s slightly muted. Part of that can be chalked up to mufflers and other exhaust equipment for the street, but it could also hint at a pair of turbochargers under hood. As we speculated previously, the C8 Corvette Z06’s engine could use a smaller-displacement version of the C8.R’s 5.5-liter flat-plane engine.

There are two reasons we think so. Firstly, going any higher than 5 liters with a flat-plane-crank design typically creates harmonics and vibrations no customer, or engine’s integrity, would tolerate for very long. (The Ford GT350 gets around this with a massive harmonic balancer.) And secondly, the Z06 can make up the difference in displacement with forced induction. With a twin-turbo setup, the 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 could easily get up into the 700-hp range, or even higher if GM wants to surpass the 715-hp benchmark set by the C7 ZR1.

Concrete details are most likely still a few months out, but we like what we hear in this video.

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