Adjustable Ride Height for the C8?
A recent patent surfaced on MidEngine Corvette Forum that appears to be for the upcoming C8 Corvette. The patent concerns active aero, which we’ve reported on before. However, this patent is unique because it concerns an air deflector that only deploys when the car is at set to a specific ride height. This would suggest you can adjust the ride height of the C8 Corvette, or at least Chevrolet would like you to be able to.
With the July reveal date for the C8 Corvette looming, the chances of a patent that was just recently filed being on the car are pretty low. However, this could be for a future version of the Corvette. That version would likely be a high-performance version, possibly named ZORA.
The active aero elements on the car are at both the front and rear of the car, according to the abstract of the patent. Sensors will constantly measure the distance to the ground and determine when and how those aero components should be employed. When we first saw this, we assumed the active aero and ride height adjustment were for some kind of track-specific driving mode, but it could be a system that adjusts ride height and active aero components as you drive, which would be much more complex.
You can disregard the shape of the C7 in the patent filing. The C7’s production is winding down, and Chevy is just using it for the patent application purposes. If this patent makes it to a production Corvette, it will be on the C8. There’s always a chance that this patent will never come to fruition. However, we think the C8 Corvette will be more complex than some folks believe. Time will tell, and the reveal is getting close.
