[PICS] The 2014 C7 Corvette LT1 Reveal Presentation

Oct 24, 2012

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We spent Wednesday morning at General Motors’ sprawling powertrain facility in Pontiac, Michigan. About 50 invited guests and media types were present for the 4 hour LT1 5th generation small block V8 presentation which included a tour of GM’s state of the art powertrain lab. Presenters included Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter, Small Block Chief Engineer and Program Manager Jordan Lee, and Assistant Small Block Chief Engineer John Rydzewski.

The day began at 7:30 with breakfast. Presentations by the gentlemen mentioned above followed at 8:30. From 11:00 until noonish we toured the GM Powertrain test lab. Our day wrapped up just before 1pm after a quick lunch and some mingling with our colleagues.

The GM Powertrain campus is occupied by roughly 3,000 engineers. The 450,000 square foot test lab has 120 flexible dynamometer test stands and 100 powertrain component test stands. It can pump 34 different types of fuels and reuses 15% of the power created by test engines to help run the campus.

The new 6.2L LT1 is the first engine to be released as part of the fifth generation of GM’s iconic small block V8. Expected horsepower and torque figures are estimated to be 450 each when the engine is officially certified next year. Some of the new technology in the LT1 includes: continuously variable valve timing (CVVT), active fuel management (AFM), direct fuel injection (DI), and an available dry sump oiling system. The LT1’s new combustion process will be featured in a (Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) paper and formally presented next spring at the 2013 SAE Congress in Detroit.

As has been mentioned, this is the 3rd time in Corvette history in which an LT1 engine was offered. RPO LT-1 was first used in 1970-1972 and RPO LT1 (no hyphen this time) last ran from 1992 – 1996.

The 7th generation Corvette will be officially unveiled in all its glory on January 13th, 2013 at a private reveal. The public will get its first glimpse in the C7 on January 14th at the North American International Auto Show.

Click here to download the LT1 Engine Presentation [PDF].

Below are some of the photos we took during the LT1 Gen 5 V8 reveal presentation.