Chevrolet clearly likes a challenge. The last Chevrolet Corvette Z06 used a supercharged version of GM’s long-lived pushrod ‘small block’ V8, and there’s no obvious reason to an outsider why the track-focused version of the current, C8 generation couldn’t have taken the same route to increased performance. Instead, the new Z06 gets an all-new, naturally aspirated 5.5-litre V8, one that uses both a flat-plane crank and twin-cam cylinder heads to produce a very impressive peak of 670bhp.
While there are plenty of other changes over the regular Chevrolet Corvette C8, the new engine is the transformational one, radically altering the character of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06. While the basic Corvette has a burbling idle and is curtailed by a lowly 6500rpm redline, the Z06 fires up like a race car and snarls its way to 8500rpm before the limiter calls time, sounding more like a Ferrari than a traditional ’Vette as it does so.
Low-down torque is limited but the new engine is tractable at low speeds, and the same eight-speed dual-clutch transmission as the regular C8 can be both smooth and punchy according to which dynamic mode the car is in. Beyond 4000rpm, it starts to come alive, and well before it gets to the red part of the digital rev counter, it is pulling with a vigour that seems more supercar than sports car. Chevrolet claims a 2.9sec 0-60mph time, a figure that feels, if anything, pessimistic.
