[PIC] TopSpeed Renders the Mid Engine C8 Corvette ZORA ZR1

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[PIC] Top Speed Renders the Mid Engine Corvette ZORA ZR1
Photo Credit: TopSpeed.com

Chevrolet has yet to start retail production of the 650 horsepower C7 Corvette Z06 but that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate about future Corvettes. In case you’ve been living under a rock or were quarantined with some type of communicable disease, the latest rumor is that Chevrolet is working on a mid-engine Corvette named after its first chief Engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov.

Zora was a huge proponent of taking the Corvette to a mid-engine platform and over the years a number of interesting prototypes were built, ranging from 1960’s CERV I to 1990’s CERV III.

As far as the latest round of the “next Corvette will be mid-engine” rumors goes, you can blame General Motors. In June of this year we learned that General Motors submitted a trademark application for “ZORA” for use as “motor land vehicles, namely automobiles”. And since Zora is known for championing mid-engine Corvette prototypes, it’s the reason we are writing about this today.

Both Motor Trend and Car and Driver were first to jump on the “mid-engine C8 Corvette ZORA ZR1” rumor and each has provided in-depth articles on how they think the Corvette team will pull it off.

So what might a mid-engine Corvette look like? Our friends at TopSpeed have put together a new rendering to help answer that question.

Top Speed Renders the Mid Engine Corvette ZORA ZR1
Photo Credit: TopSpeed.com

TopSpeed goes on to discuss how the C8 Corvette ZORA ZR1 may be spec’d. The LT4 engine in the upcoming Z06 may be a good place to start but the ZORA ZR1 will need some additional horsepower to keep its title as the King of the Hill. TS believes horsepower and torque will be around 740 hp and 700 lb-ft. They also believe the ZORA ZR1 to be rear wheel drive with the possibility for a potential hybrid model utilizing electric motors on the front wheels to create an AWD car similar to the Porsche 918.

There’s some good stuff in the article worth reading so check out the full report from TopSpeed.com and their photo gallery showing the all their C8 Corvette ZORA ZR1 renders.

We do believe there is interest from the Corvette engineering team in developing a Corvette with a mid-engine platform and the time to do so has never been better. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a lot of fun to try to get into the minds of Tadge Juechter and the other engineers behind America’s favorite sports car, but its important to remember that all this is purely speculation at this point.


Source:
TopSpeed.com

Related:
[PIC] TopSpeed Renders the 2016 Corvette Z07
[PIC] TopSpeed Renders the 2014 C7 Corvette in Black
Inside Line Renders the C7 Corvette Convertible in Yellow

 



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