Chevy Engineers Spent $25K to Buy a Ferrari 458 Engine in Poland For Research and Development

As the 2023 Corvette Z06s continue to be tested on the public streets in advance of their public launch this spring, the Corvette engineering team has often been seen with a number of exotic cars during the Z06s development. These exotic benchmark vehicles have included Porsche, McLaren, and Ferrari, and it was the Italian sports car that the engineering team looked for inspiration to create their own flat-plane crank engine for the C8 Z06.

One of the best stories to come out of the development of the 670-hp LT6 flat-plane crank engine for the 2023 Corvette Z06 has to do with the team sourcing a Ferrari 458 engine for engineers to break down. Unfortunately, buying a whole 458 at the time was out of the question, so a team member hit eBay Motors where they were able to buy one out of a wrecked Ferrari in Poland.

Jordan Lee, chief engineer for Small Block Engines talked about sourcing the Ferri engine during the LT6 Deep Dive seminar with automotive journalists a few weeks ago. At the time, the team “didn’t know how legitimate” the transaction for the engine-buying process would be, and says “we sent them a check for something like $25,000, and we were all pretty pleased and thrilled that the engine actually did show up.”

Chevrolet Performance PR executive Trevor Thompkins further added that the motor was strapped to a pallet and was sent directly to GM’s engineering facility in Pontiac, which makes us wonder what the Polish seller was thinking as the engine was boxed, addressed to GM, and shipped to Pontiac, Michigan, USA.

Photo Credit:RM Sotheby’s

Engineers then disassembled Ferrari’s F136 motor with one of the comments from Corvette Executive Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter being on the small size of the bearings while also looking at the production methods for handing the inherent vibrations associated with flat-plane crankshafts. This motor breakdown and analysis opened the door for ideas on how the small-block engineers were going to address certain design and development aspects for the LT6.

“One thing Jordan and team took a closer look at was Ferrari’s techniques for ignition coil isolation and securing electrical connectors to avoid fretting problems,” Tompkins told The Drive. “We came to our own solutions but examining engines like the [F136] was beneficial.”

There is one other addendum to the Ferrari 458 story in the development of the C8 Corvette Z06. As the Z06 mules were finally being tested, GM did add a Ferrari 458 to drive and benchmark against the new Corvette. That Ferrari was eventually sold and replaced with the newer Ferrari 488. However, as Thompkins explains, the team found the newer 3.9-liter twin-turbo-powered Ferrari to be lacking in “soul” when compared to the naturally-aspirated FPC found in the older 458, and so GM wranglers bought another pre-owned 458 for the team and the 488 was let go.

Since the reveal of the new 2023 Corvette Z06, we’ve featured a couple of comparisons of the LT6’s sound to that of the Ferrari 458 and we think that Corvette owners are going to love that high-revving 8600 RPM soundtrack that was developed in part due to some inspiration from the prancing horses of Maranello, Italy.

Source:
TheDrive.com

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