The GM boys flew into Germany last week on a business trip. Or maybe we should say an “unfinished business trip”. Now there are at least three different 2022 Corvette Z06 prototypes flying around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and some possible windows for a laptime attempt arriving soon.
Stickers, Ts, Hoodies...
Luckily for us, Nick from Auto Addiction managed to capture over 4-minutes of microphone-rattling action, despite the awful weather that’s reduced dry, clear tracktime down to a scant few hours this week.
(I have no idea why, but whenever the Corvette team appears, so does some terrible weather. The laptime efforts of the C7 Z06/Z07 were plagued by summer rains!)
Those three different cars, identified by the coloured numbers (07, 08 and 78) stuck on them, all feature in the video above. One car has a rather aggressive wing, while the other two make use of a ‘ducktail’ spoiler*. But ALL THREE are definitely equipped with the new, Ferrari-esque flat-plane cranked V8.
We’ve already seen a version of this engine feature in the Corvette C8.R racecar, and it’s widely expected to offer a 9000rpm redline, and around 625hp.
For all the decades I’ve been into cars, the performance of the ‘hot’ Corvette models has been misunderstood by the European market, despite their regular Nürburgring visits (and lap records). But this is the most “Euro” Corvette I’ve ever seen – so will this be the model to win over a continent full of Porsche and Ferrari lovers?
I guess a ‘Ring laptime wouldn’t hurt, and with some unfinished sub-7 business still on the table, expect to see some more Corvette headlines on this site soon. Next week there is an official ‘timed’ testing session, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the team found an hour or two of private track time for the Z06…
* A spoiler simply prevents lift by ‘spoiling’ the laminar flow over the top of the car. A true wing generates actual downforce
