Chevrolet News:2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Is The Most Powerful Production Corvette EVER!

[William Maley]

---

Five months after Chevrolet revealed to the world the 2015 Corvette Z06, the brand has announced the final performance numbers and they are impressive to say in the least. When the model was revealed at the Detroit Auto Show, Chevrolet said the Z06 was producing 'at least 625 horsepower', but they needed to do final testing to get the ratings. Well, the Z06's supercharged 6.2L V8 has been SAE-certified and is rated at 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. Not only is this the most powerful production Corvette, it also happens to be the most powerful production model ever built by GM.

To put those numbers in perspective, the Z06 is bested by models such as,

• Ferrari LaFerrari
  
• McLaren P1
  
• Porsche 918 Spyder
  
• Ferrari F12 Berlinetta
  
• Lamborghini Aventador
  
• Ferrari FF
  

More impressive is the stats for torque. At idle, Chevrolet claims that 457 pound-feet of torque is available, and that 96 percent of peak torque arrives by 2,800 rpm.

“The LT4 small block sets a new benchmark for power and torque at GM,” said Steve Kiefer, vice president, GM Powertrain Engineering. “The engine also puts the new Corvette Z06 on par with the most powerful supercars offered in America, while delivering performance with impeccable manners that make it suitable for daily driving.”

Source: Chevrolet

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected]or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

Press Release is on Page 2

---

2015 Corvette Z06 Rated at 650 Horsepower

Supercharged LT4 V-8 engine is the most powerful ever from Chevrolet

DETROIT – The all-new 2015 Corvette Z06 is the most powerful production car ever from General Motors and one of a few production cars available in the United States that delivers more than 600 horsepower.

The Z06's LT4 supercharged 6.2L V-8 engine is SAE-certified at 650 horsepower (485 kW) at 6,400 rpm and 650 lb-ft of torque (881 Nm) at 3,600 rpm.

"The LT4 Small Block sets a new benchmark for power and torque at GM," said Steve Kiefer, vice president, GM Powertrain Engineering. "The engine also puts the new Corvette Z06 on par with the most powerful supercars offered in America, while delivering performance with impeccable manners that make it suitable for daily driving."

Compared with other supercar engines, the LT4 is a veritable fountain of low-end torque, producing 457 lb-ft (619 Nm) just off idle and 625 lb-ft (847 Nm) by only 2,800 rpm. The V-12-powered Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, for example, produces about 28 percent less torque than the Z06, despite offering about 12 percent more horsepower – and its peak torque isn't achieved until 6,000 rpm. The LT4 maintains 90 percent of its peak torque, or 592 lb-ft (802 Nm), from 2,500 to 5,400 rpm.

The new LT4 engine eclipses the Porsche 911 Turbo S engine's peak power levels by 90 horsepower (67 kW) and 134 lb-ft of torque (182 Nm).

"Torque is the pulling power of an engine and the LT4's abundance of it at every rpm in the engine's speed range helps the 2015 Corvette Z06 accelerate quicker and respond nearly instantaneously," said Jordan Lee, chief engineer for Small Block engines. "It's the very definition of power on demand."

The new Z06 engine produces 40 percent more peak torque (180 lb-ft / 244 Nm) than the previous-generation's 7.0L LS7 engine – and 7.5 percent more than the supercharged 2013 Corvette ZR1's 604 lb-ft (819 Nm). At 3,200 rpm, the new LT4 surpasses the LS7 by 208 lb-ft of torque (252 Nm). On the horsepower side of the graph, the LT4's 650-hp rating is 29 percent greater than the LS7's 505 horsepower (376 kW), and 12 horses more than the ZR1's LS9 engine.

"The new LT4 engine builds on the design strengths of our previous supercharged engine and leverages the technologies introduced on the Corvette Stingray – direct injection, cylinder deactivation and continuously variable valve timing – to take Corvette performance to an all-new plateau," said Lee. "Our new, very compact supercharger also helps the engine make power more quickly, and perhaps more importantly, it helps produce more torque earlier in the rpm band."

"It's also worth mentioning that the LT4's supercar performance numbers are achieved with an engine that is nearly the same size as the very compact LT1 engine introduced in the 2014 Corvette Stingray," Lee said. "The power density of the LT4 makes it one of the smallest and lightest 650-hp engines in the industry."

LT4 details

The new LT4 engine is based on the same Gen 5 small block foundation as the Corvette Stingray's LT1 6.2L naturally aspirated engine, incorporating several unique features designed to support its higher output and the greater cylinder pressures created by forced induction, including:

• Rotocast A356T6 aluminum cylinder heads that are stronger and handle heat better than conventional aluminum heads

• Lightweight titanium intake valves

• Machined, forged powder metal steel connecting rods for reduced reciprocating mass

• High 10.0:1 compression ratio – for a forced-induction engine – enhances performance and efficiency and is enabled by direct injection

• Forged aluminum pistons with unique, stronger structure to ensure strength under high cylinder pressures

• Stainless steel exhaust manifolds and an aluminum balancer that are lighter than their LT1 counterparts

• Standard dry-sump oiling system with a dual-pressure-control oil pump.

A new 1.7L supercharger spins at up to 20,000 rpm – 5,000 rpm more than the supercharger on the Corvette ZR1's engine. The rotors are smaller in diameter, which contributes to their higher-rpm capability – and enables them to produce power-enhancing boost earlier in the rpm band. That boost is achieved more efficiently via a more direct discharge port that creates less turbulence, reducing heat and speeding airflow into the engine.

"The Small Block's cam-in-block design heritage has always enabled very high performance and responsiveness in a small, compact package – an attribute amplified by the performance of our new supercharger's design," said Lee.

The LT4 is assembled at the new Performance Build Center at GM's Bowling Green Assembly Plant and at GM's Tonawanda engine plant in New York. It is matched with a standard seven-speed manual transmission or an all-new, paddle-shift eight-speed automatic transmission built in Toledo, Ohio.

Designed to deliver shift responses on par with the world's best dual-clutch transmissions, it is the first automatic offered in a Z06. It also makes the Z06 one of the few cars this powerful to offer the choice of a conventional manual transmission or an eight-speed automatic.

The 2015 Corvette Z06 goes on sale in early 2015.

View full article

[A Horse With No Name]

Very impressive.

[G. David Felt]

Awesome Rock on GM! Love to have that engine in an Escalade ESV V edition!

[A Horse With No Name]

Awesome Rock on GM! Love to have that engine in an Escalade ESV V edition!

Yes!

[2QuickZ's]

I would love to have this engine in a new CTS-V sedan. I can't wait to read everybody's write up's after the car mags, newspapers and car websites get to drive it.

[ocnblu]

One crazy automobile!

[aurora97]

I would love to have this engine in a new CTS-V sedan. I can't wait to read everybody's write up's after the car mags, newspapers and car websites get to drive it.

That is the idea. Hopefully, with a 7-speed manual.

[yougojay]

"Impeccable manners that make it suitable for daily driving." - Cool, as long as they say I can use it for a grocery getter, that's good, OK, I will get one then. Cool, just wanted to make sure...OK, whew...! OK, that's good....How much are these anyways?

[G. David Felt]

I wonder how much over the 100K mark these new corvettes will push the price with this new engine and all the new technology?

[Z-06]

It's a given the top of the line car will be above $100,000 as C6 Z06 LZ3 with Z07 package rang $103,000.

[Drew Dowdell]

and I bet that isn't even what the engine is fully capable of if GM unleashed more.

[G. David Felt]

Just wait till Hennessey gets his hands on this corvette. I wonder how much HP / Torque he can get out of it.

[smk4565]

A ton of power to be sure, but you have to put it on the ground also.

The McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 are truly different animals, those cars can lap the Nurburgring in under 7 minutes with ease.

[A Horse With No Name]

One crazy automobile!

Yep..

and I bet that isn't even what the engine is fully capable of if GM unleashed more.

True...they have more coming.

[balthazar]

According to nurburinglaptimes, the '12 Corvette ZR1 posted a 7:19.63, and the '13 nissan GTR (AWD) posted a 7:19.10.

It's getting the power down totally on par with AWD (which is I assume your implication). No worries.

[G. David Felt]

With only 3 cars ever going below 7 min on the tack and the rest all bunched up by just a few seconds, most people will never know the difference and just say WOW what an awesome ride.

Top 100 Track times.

http://nurburgringlaptimes.com/lap-times/lap-times-top-100/

#1 Radical SR*LM 6:48 Model yr 2009

#4 Nissan GT-R Nismo 7:08.68 Model yr 2015

#12 Corvette ZR1 7:19.63 Model yr 2012

#100 Bugattii EB 110 SS 8:01 Model yr 1995

Truly amazing times.

[balthazar]

Further, the last time an F1 car ran the track, in 1976, it posted a time of 7:10.8.

No doubt he was slowed down worrying about 'putting the power down' in his RWD-only car.

[smk4565]

The Corvette gets its power down, the ZR-1 seemed to just fine, but at some point you reach a bit of a limit for a rear drive road car. Unless you create a car with a ton of down force like a Formula 1 car has. That is why the 700-900 hp hyper cars are mostly AWD. Although the Koenigsegg is RWD.

On a side note, I'd like to know what kind of time the Mercedes Formula 1 car sound run the ring at now, because their car is tearing up F1.

[A Horse With No Name]

IIRC F1 stopped using the ring in 76 due to safety reasons.

[ZL-1]

Kick ass car

[G. David Felt]

GM's Video is freakin awesome as they talk about all the features and details. The new 2015 Z06 is equal to the old Z01 or so they say but the new supercharged v8 has no connection to the old LS9 Supercharged V8. So does this make this an LS10 engine?

 

[Z-06]

It's LT4.

[A Horse With No Name]

Its awesome!