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Why A Retired Corvette Engineer Worries About The Mid-Engine C8 Corvette


silvrsvt

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This guy is a typical GM engineer - but it's faster on the track so it's better!

Absolute speed is not the attraction of a Ferrari 458 or a Porsche 911 GT3 or Audi R8.  It's about styling and the entire driving experience.  Ford understands that, too which is why the Mustang GT350 and GT500 are designed for all around performance and everyday driveability.

The problem with C8 is that they're trying to stuff 1000 HP under the hood just so they can say they have the most HP.  That's really stupid and we've already seen the problems it's causing. 

Typical GM.

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Another interesting tidbit from the recent interview Automotive News had worth Bob Lutz.  Lutz worries that the new mid-engine Corvette will be a day late and a dollar short.  He doubts it will bring in new customers (Porsche owners won't be selling their Porsches to buy a Corvette).  He thinks the styling will be dated too.  

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9 minutes ago, mackinaw said:

Another interesting tidbit from the recent interview Automotive News had worth Bob Lutz.  Lutz worries that the new mid-engine Corvette will be a day late and a dollar short.  He doubts it will bring in new customers (Porsche owners won't be selling their Porsches to buy a Corvette).  He thinks the styling will be dated too.  

I want the C8 to do well. It's stories like this however, that make me think this on/off again project will have so so results. I have heard rumors of a base lt5 model with 500 plus hp that will be in the 70's. Also a turbo FPC v8 and hybrid. I'll withhold my judgement till it comes out but I am starting to wonder if it will be a sales or performance success.

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1 hour ago, mackinaw said:

Another interesting tidbit from the recent interview Automotive News had worth Bob Lutz.  Lutz worries that the new mid-engine Corvette will be a day late and a dollar short.  He doubts it will bring in new customers (Porsche owners won't be selling their Porsches to buy a Corvette).  He thinks the styling will be dated too.  

Wasn't he primary reason why GM had a BMW/Lexus/etc fighter divisions?

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3 hours ago, mackinaw said:

Another interesting tidbit from the recent interview Automotive News had worth Bob Lutz.  Lutz worries that the new mid-engine Corvette will be a day late and a dollar short.  He doubts it will bring in new customers (Porsche owners won't be selling their Porsches to buy a Corvette).  He thinks the styling will be dated too.  

I will hopefully disagree.  They styling - if they do it right - will bring in more and younger customers.  I expect the base price to be only a little more than the C7.  The base will be around 500 hp.  Several years down the road there are rumors of a hybrid super car that would be pricey.  We will know the looks in  3 weeks.

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"Mero hasn’t been a part of the team for years now, but he said the C8 engineers will need to “reinvent the wheel” to try and perfect the car’s formula. He noted the mid-engine car will not offer a perfect weight distribution (50/50) and understeer will be a big problem to overcome."

Good thing Mero isn't part of the C8 team anymore. His concerns about 50/50 weight distribution and understeer make no sense. The whole point of using a mid engine layout is to reduce polar moment of inertia. This means weight is closer to the CG. Result is improved steering response and handling. Mid engined Porsche 982 and 992 have weight distribution around 45/55.

polar_moment.jpg

Additional benefit of mid engine layout is that the rear biased weight distribution makes for better launch when accelerating from a stop.

 

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13 hours ago, msm859 said:

I will hopefully disagree.  They styling - if they do it right - will bring in more and younger customers.  I expect the base price to be only a little more than the C7.  The base will be around 500 hp.  Several years down the road there are rumors of a hybrid super car that would be pricey.  We will know the looks in  3 weeks.

I'll obviously wait until it's revealed, but from the spy shots, I'm not impressed by what I've seen style wise.  I get the vibe that they just took the C7 design and tried to plaster it onto a mid engine body.

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