Today we’re getting a better idea of just how much performance to expect out of the 2023 C8 Corvette Z06, as new top speed details were disclosed from the supercar’s head honcho.
During the 2022 Corvettes at Carlisle event, Corvette Executive Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter revealed that the top speed for the C8 Corvette Z06 would be 195 miles per hour. Meanwhile, Chief Engineer Josh Holder – Tadge’s right hand man – confirmed with CorvetteBlogger that the top speed of the 2023 Corvette Z06 with the high-downforce Z07 package will be 189 miles per hour.
The Z07 aero package add 650 pounds of downforce (which also counts as drag) and is the most aggressive aero package ever fitted to a production Corvette to-date, thanks to its two-post high wing, dive planes, and front splitter.
In Tadge’s own words:
This really is not a numbers car, we never intended to be…It was always intended to be the most pure expression of track and driver capability. That’s what we were thinking about, but the numbers are pretty good. You’ve got 670 horsepower, that’s very, very impressive. We published it before, but zero to 60 on this car is 2.6 seconds. So honestly, when we broke three seconds on the stingray, we were a little worried because this car isn’t a drag racer per se. We’re a little bit worried, but it pulls like crazy it, launches great, it’s got the big wide tire patches in the back so zero to 60 in 2.6 seconds. We haven’t really talked about it, in fact, we haven’t even done our testing at reveal, but the top speed of the car is 195 miles an hour which is pretty good.
It’s especially good given the downforce that we have on this car. The lift to drag ratio on this car is the best we’ve ever done, so you get pretty substantial downforce with reasonable drag and that lets you run to 195 miles an hour. Quarter mile 10.6 at over 130 miles an hour so even though it’s not a numbers car per se, it does vary respectively. But where it’s really going to shine, I believe, when we put the car out there is lap track times. That was its reason for being…all the decisions that went into it…we’re all focused on that, and so people who love to track their cars I think they’re gonna they’re probably set personal records at many tracks driving this car.
All that said, the numbers that Tadge and Josh quoted are still unofficial, as the team has yet to do a proper top speed test, which consists of two runs back to back and the recorded average being the final number. The same holding pattern can be said for an official C8 Corvette Z06 Nurburgring time.
Even if 200 mph isn’t possible out of the new Z06, which prioritizes grip, downforce, and cornering, the new supercar will be far from the top of the heap in the C8 Corvette family. It’s possible that Chevrolet will make its fastest Corvettes yet with incoming top-of-the-line trims such as the twin-turbo C8 Corvette ZR1, and the 1,000-horsepower Zora hybrid hypercar.
Image via Chevrolet
