mid engine corvette qtr panels leaked photo

quite a good article here... lots of interesting details and photos of how its screwed together

Yes...screwed together. Not much welding going on, which may explain how they got the cost down.

https://www.topspeed.com/cars/here-s-what-nobody-is-telling-you-about-the-2020-chevy-c8-corvette-stingray-ar186096.html

 

I pulled this off another forum but this is a recently weighed Mclaren 570S with half a tank of gas. This car can be had for about $150k used. McLarens carbon tub is a huge weight saving advantage.
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And as noted, a big reason why it’s so expensive.

I’d sacrifice weight for a lower priced car.

 

Plus low volume, high margin, dealer network.
Lets not forget the Alfa made a cf tub for way less. Also the more expensive vettes are going tpo push past 100k.
Lastly as both lotus and ferrari have shown Aluminum tubs weight marginaly more than CF.

I have some idea why the vette is so heavy. I assume its related to the total size of the car(larger than the rest), the luxuries added, and an aluminum structure that has to account for the roof off and the egres descison which created low side sills, so weighty reinforecement had to go somewhere probably that big centre tunnel..

That being said I dont believe this car is much heavier than the regular 992 porche, and they make a lightrweight Gt3.

Perhaps well see a version with the roof bolted in thats much stiffer, and can be lighter. I'm hopeful multiple iterations and possibilities were designed in.

As to the 0-60, the car is not much more powerful than a c7 Gs and its heavier, a lot of the better numbers then are probably atributable to the paddle transmision and maybe some me traction.

Cool car, some built in compromises, lets see where they can go with various iterations. Its clear that they thought a lot about weight and built in some low weight bits or it would have been really heavy. They probably have solutions for some performance versions, assuming that "performance" also means road course performance. Road course performance, ie more than 2 laps, they certainly realized that weight made the Gs suceed where the heavier z06 didnt. In other words the Gs, lighter with great suspension and the right track bits, even if it means less power was a sucessful template.

 

The weight of the entire Alfa 4c chassis including the aluminum front and rear subframes is just 236 lbs. The carbon fibre part is under 150 lbs. The Alfa and the Vette use the same SMC body material but the Alfa uses a lighter weight version and the body is about 3/4ths the volume or less of the C8. The Alfa even uses thinner glass.

Weight reduction is really hard when you're making a GT, which is what the C8 really is. Most people would never live with the sacrifices the Alfa had to make.

 

The Vette is using ancient engineering, so I'm classsing it with ancient cars. You want me to put it up against a 458 or 488 then? Is it exotic or not?

 

You understand the lack of respect I have for mid engined vette? It's on the level of a 355 or 360 modena with racing transmission clutch and suspension.

A Ferrari forum that's praising the Vette out of the factory... I'm starting to understand more and more why ferrari was trying to shut y'll down.
They're distancing themselves from y'all... Aren't you shamed?

 

I think it won't be that difficult for them to make Z06 lighter than the base model despite a heavier engine. Carbon ceramic breaks and some more exotic materials would go a long way. I'm assuming 100 pounds could easily be removed from the base vette.

 

Hopefully when school starts we won't have to put up with mindless drivel from pubescent trolls.
I will placing ChadR on ignore I highly highly recommend every single person here reading this does the same.
The only way you can get rid of such children is to completely ignore them, that is th eonly way they go away and bug other people.

 

Yes, school starts in August.

 

Exotic chassis but not motor. Yet. Compare it to 430 or 458

 

What I want to know is... Does this car have start-stop BS?!?

 

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/c8-corvette-digital-instrument-cluster-reveals-cylinder-deactivation-technology-135708.html?fbclid=IwAR07-Fz7L-u1T80Z37onxVo0dVPVobRO96_9G5_UXq5B9ubrQ4O8zaGS6OU

 

Yeah the poseur brand, selling $1800 plastic sheilds so everyone knows its a ferrari just in case someone miseed the faked exhaust or the red tan. cars designed so mom can drive it with so many nannies even a fool wont crash.

the reason we like the vette is we're drivers not snobs or brand fanbois, and the vette seems to have all the right bits, without the negative stigma or obscene cost for deviated stiching dildos which is ferrari today.

 

You honestly think this can go up against a 458? Nimble wise?

 

And yet the Alfa is at least 500lbs heavier than an aluminum tubbed elise. So if we're extrapolating that a CF tubbed Mclren can weight 3100lbs then an aluminum tubbed vette can weight 3200lbs.

 

No the 458 is more compact, and ill bet its a tighter drive, its also has artificial overboosted steering but yeah the motor sounds great. Hardley anyone is using a 458 on track(ive seen it once) which is the only place the difference is really aparent, and a few years in we will see lighter better developed me vettes on track. Going further a vette is disposable in away a 458 is not, mostly due to cost/depreciation etc. Parts to upgrade the vette to track status will be readily and relatively inexpensively available. Meanwhile a speciale is a collector car sitting in a walter mitty investor garage.

if you really like to use a car, what counts is what works, and given none of these cars is really able to be maxed on road what works is what works on track, this vette looks to be a machine that will work just fine.

For the backroad road the Vette 458 etc are all bloated whales compared to a lotus, and nimbleness with complaint suspension is how you cover backroads fast.

A 458 is really cool, its somehtign special, and has a sense of ocasion the vete wont, but as a tool, the vette appears to be right up there.

Now if ferrari had made car using the 4c tub, great supension(which the 4c lacks) and something like the alfa TTv6, that woudl be one seriosu machine no one else makes, and somehtign I woudl respect.. But ferrari woudnt make a less expensive car that is a better tool than their more expesive handbag cars, theyre a buiness sellign their brand, the vehicle for which happens to be cars.

Time was when ferrari was something really special, there was nothign else like it. Today their current formula is not unique(besides the options and branding part), their cars are arresting to look at but not harmoniously beautiful(the 458 was a modern ferrari anomoly in being classicaly beautiful style wise) and ferrari performance is still in a top sphere but there are others there as well as will be the vette. Yeah they still have exclusivity, but so what.

 

I don't know what kind of finances Chevy has, but they should have created another name for the mid engine and saved the Vette. It's a gamble.

I know how these cars handle. I understand the physics. They are very twitchy and it takes years to get the handling right with a lot of power.
Ferrari is smart to have all those features, and not only Ferrari. Mclaren and Lamborghini etc.

I don't mind being a fanboy to great cars. I'm not asking to be liked by any manufacturer, but i'm going to give you the truth no matter how it will make you feel.

 

Well lest see, I own and seriously drive the twichiest ferrari ever, the boxer. Ive driven the newer ferraris on and off track. Its also absolutely true that the front engined vettes have been way to unpredicatble at the limit, due to imo a bendy frame and simply too much pwer for the layout.

But the me vette is a different animal, and in todays educated computer world chassis dynamics are not a secret. in fact if you look what the vette team acomplished with the limitations inherrant in the c5-c7 its clearly a group of people who know exactly what theyre doing.

Vettes have lacked tactile things like steering and braking precision, the scalpel effect, but Im assuming they got those parts right here simply because kia has that now.
As much as I will fault the fe vette if you wnat to try a truly horrid car especialy on track try a 599, a car that wouldnt turn or brake.

Yeah i think the 458 is great a classic, and the F8 looks to be great too. Are they better than the me vette will be once its in ver2.0 4 years from now, maybe maybe not, but the difference will be marginal. Ferrari doesent build sportscars, it builds really fast luxury Gt cars, as do most of the others.

Fearrai customers couldnt handle a F40 or F50 today and thats not ferraris customer base anymore. There are many of us who love ferrari for whgat it was, the type of viceral car they used to make. Some of that is forver gone becaise its the 21st century and some of that is just where ferrari is at. Turns out others can now play that game arguably as well, be they lambo(the perfromante is currently the italian exotic drivers choice over even a pista) Maclren,Porce and now vette. Thats alla far cry from the type of car ferrari sued to be. In fact when was the last time ferrari made a true drivers car you could actualy buy without being a investor hedge fund guy, It was the F40.

 

Heres some food for thought. I was over at my favorite race shop today dropping off some wheels. They have been racing and developing the Mac factory built 570GT4 race car. Its a beutiful thing to look at, and has CF everywhere, even the radiator shroud.

I mentioned the Me vette and thought I would get a viceral response. Turns out they love the car, have looked at the specs suspension etc. The shop owner who is no vette fan said "whats not to like"

As many of you know I have been highly critical of vettes over the years, I never saw to make excuses for thgem like bang for the buck etc. I dont think well have to make excues for this car. Sure it will have some cheap interior bits, its american and Gm, but as a machine, the oily bits whats not to like.

 

On another note, one of the articles linked above ends with this (and I'm paraphrasing) quote, "GM is going to sell so many hats and polo shirts!" I think that is the biggest story of all. This C8 has generated an unbelievable amount of excitement and positive press so far. Clearly, Chevy hoped for this, but I can't imagine even they could have expected the outpouring of enthusiasm it is already generating, even amongst car lovers that have up till now turned their noses up at the Corvette. The goal of igniting a new love for the brand and for bringing new fans into the fold already seems to be working. I think this will especially ring true for that elusive younger generation that has typically strayed from Corvette. I am truly excited for Chevrolet and for this car which is already proving to be a resounding marketing success. Yeah, they'll be selling Vette shirts and hats for sure. I want a hat in black with that new steeply raked logo. I'm a fan (and a new one at that).

 

Exactly my point. The elise is even more spartan and simplified than the Alfa, which was criticized for its lack of comfort. And I'm guessing that many more people bought Alfa's than elise's in the last 3 years.

The point is that the C8 is not a sports car. Its a GT. Its full of all kinds of stuff that a sports car doesn't need. If they took it out no one would even look at it twice.

So you have to add weight just to get people to like it so you can sell it. Saying you want less weight is really a lie. By in large, people want fast 0-60 times, a sexy body, and a price they can afford.

If you want a real sports car, get an Ariel Atom. But how many do? Is there some kind of clamoring for one? I don't see it.

 

This Corvette? Or Corvette in general?

Show me a 458 that has beaten a C7 ZR1 or Z06 in laptimes.

Even a mildly prepped C5 Z06 will keep up with a 458, don't kid yourself.

 

The C7 wasn't unpredictable.

A C7. So what was so wrong with the FR corvette? Of course it's a good car
I have said before that I personally know of a C7 that has more than 800 to the wheels and it's drivable with no hiccups.

I was talking about the C8.

Ariel Atom too much for me. It's nice but not my style.

I if I Buy a Mid engined rear wheel drive, I'm prepping for race or track car. I'm thinking Elise/Exige or NSX.
The Elise had a Toyota engine which was an amazing feature. Nice accessibility to parts and maintenance. You can't knock that.

For a grocery getter, I have a vehicle with cargo room and I'm not redlining it of course...

 

Ok I put my money where my mouth is and own two lotus, each cost more than a Vette.
The Alfa dosent sell well at all because it’s underdeveloped. The Renault alpine by contrast is a 2500lbs carvthat cost 75k is not even sold here but is sold out for the next two years. Light cars properly executed sell.

But I am not advocating a light car, just one light enough. Ie if others can do it in the 3000-3200 weight range so can Vette.

To your main point. Mclaren is a gt car with all the mod cons it’s just 4-500lbs lighter than the Vette. I do t believe this is because of the cf tub, and aluminum tub is really not a hole lot heavier than cf, it’s just - little more flexy and a lot less expensive plus easier to alter.

Yes the weight in the Vette comes from it being more of a gt than anything. But as a gt3 can be 300/400lbs lighter than another 911 so can this Vette I think.

And yes the lightweight versions are not huge sellers, but other make money at it because they can charge enough premium,l. In the end it’s the lightened track version that give the whole show cred.