It's Here! Inside The All New Mid-Engine Corvette

The mid-engine Corvette is here … and we’re in it

- Frank Markus

We’re none too pleased to have you here.”

Soul-crushing words from Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter. Chevy’s PR department, relenting to MotorTrend’s barrage of begging for early C8 Corvette access, has twisted Juechter’s arm into letting me ride shotgun for three rotations of a development drive in the latest C8 prototypes.

His team is loath to expose the press to anything less than a fully baked, buffed, and polished, production-ready, no-excuses Corvette—and this drive is a crucial step in that process. Upon solemnly swearing not to report on any quality lapses I may detect, I strap into the right seat of a 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51 with FE4 suspension.

“Cars are complicated,” Juechter deadpans, noting that writing, developing, and perfecting the software that controls the myriad microchips, solenoids, motors, features, and functions on a modern car takes vastly longer than any other aspect of bringing a car to market.

The process starts at vehicle inception, and final calibration tweaks are made right up to and sometimes past launch. On today’s drive, Juechter’s team is scrutinizing powertrain calibrations—especially concerning launch feel and the ability of the clutches in the Tremec eight-speed twin-clutch transmission to mask the 6.2-liter V-8’s transitions into and out of four-cylinder mode at various cruising speeds.

Developing a suitable transaxle has been a limiting factor to the concept of a mid-engine Corvette since the 1960s, when transaxles from the front-drive Oldsmobile Toronado and rear-drive Pontiac Tempest proved inadequate. My ride, precisely six weeks in advance of the press launch, reveals a pretty impressive state of tune.