FIA Rules Require It
The new C8.R racing car that will be the car leading Corvette Racing on in its quest for perfection means that Chevrolet will have to make a street-legal car with that same engine. Stefan Cross, GM’s assistant manager for product and brand communications told The Drive that the C8.R’s 5.5-liter naturally aspirated flat-plane crank V8 will make it to a road car. The reason? Racing rules.
Cross told the publication, “FIA [LM GTE] rules state that 300 copies of the engine must be produced for a production car, so the C8.R does have a future production-based engine.” This means that a higher-level variant of the Corvette will get a similar engine to the one in the actual racing car.
It’s unclear what version of the car will get this engine. We’d expect it to be the Z06. Chevy has yet to release any information on the C8 Z06 but we know it will come at some point. We’d expect the car with the racing engine to get that designation. “But what of the ZR1?” you say. Well, the engine in the racing car is naturally aspirated. There’s always the chance that Chevy could supercharge or turbocharge the racing 5.5-liter V8 and have an even more impressive version of the car that could get the ZR1 name. Only time will tell what Chevy has decided to do.
