Are you ready for an engine swap? Well GM is going to offer the Corvette ZR1’s LT5 Monstrous 755-HP V8 as a crate engine. Yep, you read that right, Chevy will sell you a brand new LT5 small block 755-hp, 6.2-liter V8 engine, the same one that comes in the new 2019 Corvette ZR1.

Unfortunately, Chevy hasn’t released much information on the LT5 crate engine yet, like availability and pricing. We can only guess it will not be too much more than the Camaro ZL1’s LT4 (now available in E-ROD form) price of a little over $13,000.

Other unknown items are if it’ll be sold in one of Chevy’s Connect & Cruise packages, which pairs the engine with a suitable transmission, or in E-ROD form, which makes it emissions-legal in California.

All these questions will be answered [...]

Is it true that the C7 ZR1 lapped the Nürburgring in 6:57 and the C7 Z06 in 7:10? Well a photo, allegedly posted by Jim Mero’s wife Terri, on Facebook shows a collage of Jim allegedly driving several different Corvettes on various tracks. Since Jim just retired as the ride/handling engineer and test driver for the C7 Corvette team, this collage seems to be the perfect retirement gift. Interestingly, the numbers underneath the photos seem to be the lap times at Nürburgring; most of which have never been officially announced!! Clever Terri.

Here are the vehicles pictured on the bottom row of the collage and the time posted:
C7 Z51 7:33 (S)
C7 Grand Sport 7:27
2009 ZR1 7:26
2012 Z06/Z07 7:22
2012 ZR1 7:19

The Holley LS Fest (East) was held this past weekend at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. A festival for all things LS and LT, the event proved to the world that the small-block Chevy engine is far from antiquated. This video from 1320 Video shows some of the engine’s capability.

In full disclosure, records were broken, and so were a few parts. When pushing a car to the limit, sometimes that occurs before you reach the finish line, but if you’re lucky like the owner of this white Stingray Corvette, you may have enough in the bag to still carry home a record run.

The Late Model Racecraft-prepared C7

There have been a lot of spy photos published recently of the C8 mid-engine Corvette being test driven on the street, but not a lot of new information. Well now we have a video of it being tested on the Nürburgring.

The video shows the mid-engine C8 Corvette rounding the famous track; make sure to turn up your speakers. The people we have talked to say it sounds like a turbocharged 4.2-liter V8, just like the rumors say is one of the engine options. It is quieter than the current ZR1, leading us to agree with the turbo idea. Give it a close listen and let us know what you think.

We still know very little about the C8 and this is just one of the test mules we have seen, so there may be other engine optioned C8’s running around, as the rumor mill says there will be engine options at the release.

So you don’t think the 2019 ZR1 with 755hp is powerful enough for you? Chevrolet has you covered. You can now drop by your local Chevrolet dealer and order up a new 2019 Grand Sport with an even 1,000hp!

Yes, there are other aftermarket companies offering modifications for your new Corvette, some that even go higher than 1,000hp, but this is a factory ordered and warrantied Grand Sport. When you order this, or the lower powered 835hp version, the car goes from Chevy to Specialty Vehicle Engineering, and then back to the dealership for you to pick up completed.

The cost is not cheap for these extra horses though. First you have to buy a Grand Sport, make sure you check the box on option Z07 that bundles improved brakes, suspension and aerodynamic parts