This sounds like the flat-plane crank V8 Chevy Corvette

We have heard that the C8 Corvette will be getting a flat-plane crank double-overhead cam V8 in its lifetime. A 5.5-liter naturally aspirated V8 is confirmed for the C8.R racecar Corvette, but we’re talking about a production car here.

Chevy hasn’t come out and said it, but our best guess is that this Corvette caught on video is a Z06 test car. Road & Track found the video on a public Corvette Facebook page, posted by a user named Jim Lill. Click through to see the video, and make sure you turn the volume way up — the camouflaged Corvette enters the frame at the seven-second mark, and you only have a few seconds to actually listen to it round the corner.

The engine note is unlike any Corvette we’ve ever heard, besides the C8.R’s wonderful noise. We completely agree with R&T’s analysis of this car sounding much more like a Ferrari than a small block GM V8. There’s a quick downshift as the driver enters the corner that lets us listen to the exotic overrun. Even when the driver isn’t on the gas pedal, this prototype is damn loud. We love it. Right as the video is ending, it sounds like the driver prods the gas pedal hard up the hill, which lets forth a high-pitched bark that shakes our souls. Talk about democratizing the supercar. This Corvette is going to sound like a freaking Lamborghini and go nearly as fast if the base Stingray acceleration numbers are anything to go by.

In the C8.R, Chevy says the 5.5-liter V8 makes 500 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque. We don’t have any hard numbers to predict the production version’s output, but Ford is able to get just over 100 horsepower per liter out of its 5.2-liter flat-plane crank V8 in the GT350 (526 horsepower). If the Z06 is in the 550 horsepower neighborhood and sounds this glorious, it’s no wonder that Chevy is keeping its mouth shut about the car. There’s absolutely no demand problem for the regular Stingray so far, but waiting on this one is already a tempting proposition.

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