C8 ZR1 LT7 Possibly Confirmed by Crate Engine at National Corvette Museum
The existence of the long-rumored C8 ZR1 LT7 may have been confirmed by an eagle-eyed Corvette Forum member.
For years, rumors of the C8 Corvette ZR1 have swirled, with most pointing toward the fact that the forthcoming king of the hill variant will be powered by a twin-turbocharged version of the Z06’s LT6 dubbed the LT7. However, there hasn’t really been any concrete proof that this will actually happen, though Corvette Forum member Andybump recently spotted something truly interesting at the National Corvette Museum – an LT6 “crate” engine sitting around that looks like it could actually foreshadow the C8 ZR1 LT7 powerplant.
The possible C8 ZR1 LT7 engine is sitting directly in view of those that pass through the museum to check out the portion where they restore cars there, and at casual glance, appears to be nothing more than a regular old LT6. However, at the 28th Anniversary Celebration at the National Corvette Museum in September, Brian Baker challenged enthusiasts to discover all of the “Easter eggs” present on the powerplant, according to Corvette Blogger.
Some of these Easter eggs are quite easy to spot – namely, on the front side of the pallet that’s holding it, there’s a stencil that reads “LT6 Gamma, LT7 Beta, Front,” signaling that this particular pallet was designed to hold both engines. This engine was assembled at GM’s Performance Build Center, shipped to an off-site dyno, and run for 20 minutes as part of its final validation.
This certainly seems like a pretty cool hint that the C8 ZR1 LT7 is in fact in development, though all we have to go by otherwise are rumors. At least those have been consistent to date, revealing that the LT7 will displace 5.5 liters, generating around 850 horsepower thanks to the addition of a pair of turbochargers. An even more capable Zora variant with the same powerplant, paired with the E-Ray’s electric motors, is also believed to be in development with around 1,000 horsepower of total output.
This is all pure speculation, of course, but it certainly seems as if it provides us with some confirmation that the LT7 does, in fact, exist, and beta units are perhaps even being built and tested at the Performance Build Center as we speak.
Photos: Corvette Forum
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