We spent most of Wednesday at GM’s Performance and Racing Center in Pontiac, MI as Chevrolet hosted what they termed a “Powertrain Briefing” for us media types. The event itself offered a (very) deep dive into all the dirty details of the LT2 engine, the 8-speed DCT, and other components that propel the 2020 Corvette Stingray.
The first half of the day centered around the LT2, its design, and significant features. After that, we were treated to a tour of GM’s dyno facilities, lunch, and a presentation on the dual-clutch transmission (DCT). Small block Chief Engineer Jordan Lee kicked off the LT2 portion where he and various members of his team presented various functions and features on the engine. Transmission Chief Engineer Terri Schulke and her team followed suit on the DCT portion.
While nothing earth-shatteringly new came out of the presentations it was quite interesting to hear about all of the studies, theories, and hard work that went into the design of each component. One overall takeaway from the event was the passion each engineer showed while talking about their specific component. You could clearly see and hear how enthusiastic they were to tell us about Chevy’s latest Corvette.
A copy of the full presentation is attached below for your perusal so we won’t go into too much detail, but before you get there we’ll share a few anecdotes the team threw in.
- Jordan Lee talked about how closely they had worked with Tom Peters and his design team since the engine was now visible. It was referred to as the “jewel” of the car. Peters consulted on essentially all visible items on the engine right down the fasteners and the color of the rocker covers.
- Those rocker covers sport a color called Venthan Red which is the last name of the engineer who came up with that specific hue. It’s also the same red that can be found on the C8’s brake calipers.
- GM blew up many LT1 engines during its development cycle for the C7. The LT2 program saw just one engine failure during its development.
- The rocker covers will also get a Tonawanda Pride sticker on them just like the old school big blocks of the C2 and C3 era.
- Both the LT2 and DCT took about 6 years to develop
- The Pontiac, MI Propulsion lab has 100 dyno cells and 165 mobile engine stands to support testing of any GM engine. Engines are built offline and setups are proven out before moving into the dyno cell for actual testing.
- The DCT consists of 5 housings, 3 valve bodies, 2 filters, and 2 control modules.
Wednesday’s Powertrain Briefing was a fantastic look inside the 2020 Corvette’s LT2 engine and DCT. The information presented was over-the-top in detail and quite fascinating. Check out the full presentation below and then keep it tuned into CorvetteBlogger for the latest and greatest on the C8 Corvette.
Source:
Chevrolet.com
Related:
OFFICIAL: The 2020 Corvette Stingray Goes 0-60 MPH in 2.9 Seconds; Runs Quarter Mile in 11.2 @ 121 MPH
UNOFFICIAL: C8 Corvette Performance Specs Leaked
OFFICIAL: The 2020 Corvette Will Start at $59,995 and Has a Top Speed of 194 MPH
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Assuming you’ll never race your C8 on a track, why pay $5,000 for the Z51 option since it only gives you one-tenth of a second faster to 60mph and 2mph faster in the quarter mile? A giant waste of money IMHO.
George C., because its a SPORTS CAR, not a DRAG RACER. See all the other things that come with Z51- suspension, eLSD, etc.
Is there such a ppt presentation for the C7?
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