On a post over at the CorvetteForum website, a poster named Firebirdfan proves to be remarkably prescient when they predict that “Give it 2 hours, this will be all over Jalopnik...” because, holy crap, look what’s happening. The reason this post is being referenced here is because it’s full of allegedly leaked CAD images of the new C8 mid-engined Corvette. And that’s exciting.
The original poster also includes a list of astute observations of these CAD images:
-Coil springs (FINALLY).
-Magshocks (or spool valve, either way, fancy shocks).
-Upper front arms look to be similar to C5/6/7 with trunions.
-Lower front arms look to be similar to C5/6/7 with camber eccentrics.
-Rear subframe is HUGE and is a very strange mix of cast parts and welded tube. Can’t tell if it’s welded or bolted together in the middle.
-Engine is an LT1.
-Looks like factory shorty headers instead of cast manifolds.
-Engine has alternator relocated.
-Not sure what the upper-right accessory pulley is for. Upper left is water pump, lower right is AC.
-Oil filter looks easy to get to.
-Oil cooler clearly shown above filter.
-Half-shafts look to be the “bolt on flange” style (no draining trans to remove shafts).
-That transaxle is BEEFY. Like, dear god. Can’t tell if it’s auto or manual. If I had to wager, that’s the automatic (guessing from shape of bottom of trans and what looks to be coolershanging around it).
-Giant flat space above transaxle is more than likely for intake box/filter.
-No turbos shown.
-Frame looks to be similar to C5/6/7 with giant hydroformed rails (probably still aluminum). Disppappointing. I was hoping for proper unibody. Hopefully with a fixed roof it’ll be stiffer.
-Brake rotors are 1 piece. Calipers are MASSIVE.
-Side skirts are mechanically fastened just like C5/6/7. Still going to be horrendously expensive to fix if damaged.
-Brake ducts clearly shown on front.
While we cannot confirm that these images are absolutely genuine, shot-from-the-screen-of-GM-engineer, we can make some observations: they do appear to be shot off a screen, and they do appear to be CAD images, and the parts of the car they are showing do seem to be from a mid-engined car with a big V8.
We see images of the engine, rear subframe, and some suspension and brake details. If faked, these would be very complex images to make, and, again, while we have no conclusive proof, I do think these images at least look very plausible.
The images have been removed from the original post, and are now here.
I’m sure things are fun over at Chevrolet right now.
(Thanks, Erich!)