Exclusive! C8.R Corvette 5.5L DOHC V-8 Pics and How the Flat-Plane Crank Alters Its Iconic Sound



There’s A New Engine In The C8.R Corvette, And It Sounds Nothing Like Its Predecessor.
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and although that’s true, it can also be in the ear of the listener.
Since the Corvette first hit the streets back in the 1950s, it was imbued with the beautiful and nearly magical sound of V-8 performance. It was a deep, bass-filled rumble that just oozed a feeling of power. Over the years, the sound emanating from Corvettes, both on the street and at the track, had a distinctive note that became synonymous with the car. When the Corvette moved to the LS1 in 1997, the firing order was tweaked a bit, and although the sound did change, it still had that deep rumble that we all love.

But the only thing constant in the world is change. For the C8.R, Chevrolet Racing really changed things up with its new mid-engine marvel, but it wasn’t the engine placement that ended the car’s iconic sound signature. It was the engine itself. Gone is the deep baritone exhaust note, replaced instead with a high-pitched Ferrari-like sound. Think puberty in reverse. And although we love the sound of a wound-out Ferrari or other Italian supercars, having that pitch emanate from the back of a Corvette is something that will be hard to get used to. We’re not saying the sound is bad—it’s actually pretty badass—but it’s not even close to the sound signature we’ve come to associate with Corvettes.

The real culprit here isn’t the new 5.5L DOHC V-8 that Chevrolet moved to. Instead, it was the choice to go with a high-revving flat-plane crank. This drastically changed the firing order of the engine and eliminated the classic American V-8 sound that’s typical with the firing sequence of a traditional cross-plane crank. But we know what you’re thinking: “Well, this is just the race car, so I’m going to be able to get my V-8 rumble fix from the production car!” Well, yeah, for now. You see, for Chevrolet Racing to run this new DOHC flat-plane crank mill in the C8.R, it has to, according to the rules, run a similar engine in at least 300 production cars. So does this mean that an eventual C8 Z06 variant will lose its iconic exhaust note?















This entry was posted on January 28, 2020 by carbonhans. It was filed under 1950s corvette, 1960s corvette, 1967 Corvette Stingray, 1970s corvette, 1980s corvette, 1990s corvette, 2014 olympic games, advance technology, American Race Cars, Antonio Garcia, Bowling Green, KY, burnout, C7, C7 Corvette, C8 Corvette ZR1, C8 Z06, C8 ZR1, C8R, C8Z06, car, car of the year, carbon fiber, carbon fiber composite, carbon fiber extreme, cars, Corvette, Corvette Assembly Plant, Corvette C7.R, Corvette C8, Corvette C8.R, Corvette GXE, Corvette Heros, Corvette Racing, corvette z51, CorvetteZ06, Daytona Beach, debotech inc, deBotech, Inc, Detroit, drivers, F1, F1 champ, Florida, Ford Shelby, Formula 1, freeway, funny, General Motors, Hans deBot, Hennessey, Henry Ford, Henry Ford Museum, highway, hybrid system, IBSF, IMSA, interstate, Iredell County, Jay Leno, Lake Norman, Lake Norman, NC, Los Angeles, Manufacturing Jobs, Marcel Fassler, Mark Reuss, Mary Barra, Michigan, mid-engine, Mooresville, NC, National Corvette Museum, North Carolina, Rick Hendrick, Roar Before the 24, Rolex 24, SEMA, semashow, semashow2019, Shelby, Shelby vs C8, Silver No. 4, Sports, sportscar, supercar, Tadge Juechter, Team USA, Thank you, United States Armed Forces, USA, z06, z51, ZR1 and was tagged with 2020corvetteC8Stingray, c8, C8 Corvette ZR1, c8 reveal, C8.R, C8R, car, carbon, carbon 65, carbon accessories, carbon fiber, carbon fiber extreme, carbon fiber products, carbonfiber, carbonfiberextreme, carbonhans, cars, carshow, corvette, corvette assembly plant, Corvette C8, corvette c8 Z06, Corvette C8.R, Corvette GXE, Corvette Racing, corvette reveal, Corvette Stingray, Corvette Stingray C8, CORVETTEC7, corvettez06, corvettez51, deBotech, detroit, Hans deBot, Iredell County, MAE Department, mark reuss, mary barra, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Mooresville NC, new c8, North Carolina, Sportscar, supercar, Tadge Juechter.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Leave a Reply