First Look At The Chevrolet Corvette C8.R

Just over a week ago, Chevrolet sprung a surprise on the sports car racing world when they unveiled the new Corvette C8.R race car at the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida.

Today, the world’s automotive and motor racing press were able to get their first look at the C8.R Thursday afternoon in a special event at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. And it gave us a chance to get a look into the racing edition of the most radical evolution of the Corvette in its 60-year history.

It is the first clean sheet design for a Corvette race car since the launch of the C5.R in 1999, where no common structural components carry over from the previous C7.R.

Conversely, a plethora of parts carry over from the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the road-going version of the C8. In total, the C8.R has over 100 parts in common with the road-going C8, including 80 structural parts right down to the monocoque, built in the Corvette’s spiritual home in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The C8.R is a culmination of six years of simultaneous development that started alongside the production C8, and represents the “closest link between the production model and the racing model that we’ve ever developed,” according to General Motors Racing director, Mark Kent.

I think we have something really special on our hands

“It was important for us to develop the new racecar alongside the production car, so that each product could properly take advantage of the new architecture,” said Ed Piatek, Chief Engineer of the Chevrolet Corvette C8 and C8.R.

“The benefits of this mid-engine supercar, including its incredible balance and connected-to-the-road feel, will be obvious on the street and the track.”

There are a few neat tricks involved in converting the C8 Corvette into a racing machine. The C8.R’s front bonnet, for instance, doesn’t need to carry cargo or luggage – so they used that cargo space for a high-capacity radiator, while installing high-visibility headlights where the radiator would go in the road car.

The driver is seated sixteen inches further forward in the cockpit in the C8.R compared to the C7.R – and seated behind that cockpit is Chevrolet’s new, naturally-aspirated, 5.5 litre flat-plane crank V8 engine, producing 500 horsepower, and 480 ft/lb of torque, with direct injection providing improved throttle response. The straight-line performance remains the same, and remains subject to the ebbs and flows of Balance of Performance. But the traction out of the corners will be significantly improved.

And for that 5.5 litre V8 to meet homologation requirements, there’s a chance you may see that 5.5 litre V8 appearing in a future General Motors performance road car sooner rather than later – specifically, the newest Chevrolet Corvette Z06.

The power is fed through a new, compact six-speed X-Trac sequential gearbox, designed specifically for the C8.R to take advantage of its improved weight distribution, and packaged to allow for further expanse in the C8.R’s massive rear diffuser, and allow this car to truly take advantage of the FIA and ACO’s new aerodynamic regulations for GTE class vehicles introduced in 2016 – but without drastically breaking the character of its production counterpart.

“In my testing of this vehicle, I think we have something really special on our hands,” said Corvette Racing driver Tommy Milner, who along with Corvette Racing’s senior racing driver Oliver Gavin were instrumental in the development of the C8.R.

“With the car, the driver sits more centrally located in the car, which allows us as drivers as we’re just finding understeer and oversteer in the car, we get that feedback from the car just that much faster. The car rotates around us, and that makes our job as racecar drivers just a little bit easier, which we of course love.”

Corvette Engineering Group Manager Ed Moss told DSC about some of the unique challenges of designing a brand new race car with zero common structural components from its predecessor. “When you’re designing a car on a clean sheet of paper like this one, you have to rely more on your analytical and mapping tools up front that kind of predict what you’re going to do,” said Moss.

“And when you do something like this, a clean slate – you really have to rely on your mapping and analytical tools up front to kind of guide you.”

“We’ve had our regular share of surprises, various testing situations, that were pretty typical when you design a car from a clean slate like this. You may fail a test and just go back to the drawing board, look at your analysis, and try and re-correlate.” No major dramas were reported in the six-year testing phase, though.

The most obvious aesthetic change is in the livery, but only for one half of the Corvette Racing fleet. The predominantly silver livery of the number 4 Corvette will pay homage to the 1973 Chevrolet AeroVette Concept Car, the first attempt at a mid-engined Corvette, and the 1959 Corvette Stingray XP-76 race car.

But an illustration from General Motors does show that the number 3 Corvette C8.R will run the traditional Corvette Racing Yellow livery, much to the delight of the hardcore Corvette Racing loyalists.

And the public will get to see the car run at speed for the first time, this Sunday, prior to the start of the 22nd running of Motul Petit Le Mans, this Saturday at 12:05 PM EDT (local time).

Images courtesy of Corvette Racing & RJ O’Connell