This looks like a C8 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 steering wheel

A picture of eight steering wheels allegedly appeared on Facebook, made its way to Reddit, and was discovered by The Drive. These steering wheels sit face up on a table, bereft of their airbags and centers, some of them clearly marked with the phrase “Destruct Test” in red. What makes these tillers special is that they belong to the C8-generation Chevrolet Corvette, but they’re unlike any wheel currently available on that car. Captured somewhere on the way to some sort of crash test, the wheels differ from the entry-level Stingray wheel with carbon fiber inserts top and bottom, a red center-line marked at the top, and a badge inset at the bottom. Glare makes it impossible to make out every letter on that badge, but darkening the picture shows a “Z” and a “0” on the unit at the lower left. We could be looking at the future property of the C8 Corvette Z06. 

A “Z06” badge also adorned the base of the C7 Corvette Z06 steering wheel. However, on the C7, buyers needed to option carbon fiber inserts for the steering wheel. The C8 order guide doesn’t show any option to swap the standard leather for a carbon fiber wheel; sueded microfiber is the sole option for the wheel, the only CF package available at the moment dressing up the instrument panel, door card, and center tunnel. As far as we can tell, the only way to get a wheel like the one in the photo is to order the car it comes in, whatever that car might be.

The pictured, partially-assembled steerers have similarities to the wheel in the interior sketch Roadshow recently came into possession of, which Chevy explained as “an early render of a potential interior” for the coming Z06. The drawing placed a different material with a red center-line at the top of the wheel, and the Z06 badge at the bottom.

The steering wheel isn’t the only mystery the go-faster coupe’s arrival will solve; speculation on the powerplant won’t quit, consensus of late settling on a road-legal derivation of the naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V8 in the C8.R. GM confirmed the engine would go into a street version, and ACO/IMSA rules demand at least 100 cars be built for homologation in the GTLM category. That engine has ‘just’ 500 hp in race trim due to regulations, with some observers suggesting a bump to 600 hp in a Z06 — 50 hp fewer than the last-gen Z06 — while others believe power could run up to 800 hp. We have a couple of years to wait for resolutions, as the Z06 isn’t expected until 2021.