The 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 was unveiled earlier in the week and promises to be unlike any other ‘Vette before it, largely thanks to its engine.
We have known that the C8 Z06 would feature a 5.5-liter naturally-aspirated V8 ever since the Corvette C8.R race car was unveiled with this same basic engine in October 2019. Recent rumors suggested the engine would be tuned to around the 617 hp mark for the Z06, so you can imagine our surprise when the car was announced with no less than 670 hp and 460 lb-ft (623 Nm).
Read More: 2023 Corvette Z06 Is The Ultimate C8 With A Furious Sounding 670HP Flat-Plane Crank V8
That horsepower figure makes this 5.5-liter flat-plane crank engine the most powerful naturally-aspirated V8 ever used by a production car. It also gives the new car a 20 hp advantage over the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 used by the C7 Z06. Just how was Chevy able to extract so much power from this smaller-capacity engine without relying on forced induction?
To show how this was achieved, Engineering Explained has released an intriguing video that details all of the technology packed into this engine.
A key reason why the engine is so powerful is that it revs to 8,600 rpm and achieves peak power at 8,400 rpm, 2,000 rpm higher than the C7’s 6.2-liter V8. The car’s high-revving nature has been achieved through the use of a flat-plane crankshaft and the use of a short stroke.
Chevrolet has also engineered the engine with double-overhead cams and four valves per cylinder. It also featured dual valve springs, solid lifts, titanium intake valves, and sodium-filled steel exhaust valves. A complex intake manifold has also been designed with dual throttle bodies, dual plenums, three center valves, and four trumpets on each side.