Eureka! Hear The C8 Corvette Zora’s DOHC V8 For The First Time

There has been a lot of speculation as to which engine the rumored C8 Corvette Zora will receive—especially from us. While there is the possibility that the car could retain the same in-block-cam architecture as the Gen V LT, the fact of the matter is that there is a lot of compelling evidence that suggests the new flagship will get a clean-sheet designed dual overhead camshaft V8.

In our last article on the subject, we pointed out that the CAD renderings of a new V8—which Chevrolet quickly and forcefully had removed from everywhere it could—showed that while the engine appeared to be similar to the 4.2-liter Cadillac V8, it has some striking difference that shows it is its own beast. The primary difference being the lack of a “hot V” design that Cadillac is so proud of.

The rendering, which was entitled LT7 when it first leaked, clearly shows two turbos tucked against the exterior of the block in standard configuration. The rest of the suspension and cradle, however, are clearly Corvette in nature. With that said, we are relatively sure that the new C8 with have an all-new powerplant managed by four bumpsticks.

And if the previous evidence wasn’t enough to convince you, we now have this video giving us a more detailed idea of the burble the mid-engine vehicle emits. We previously brought you a similar video but it was hard to hear the car over the video maker’s incessant yapping. This video, on the other hand, gives us a very clear understanding of what noises the car emits.

You’ll see that the crew from GM are aware that they are being filmed and are trying to escape their pursuers, but they don’t. Or at least not until the video makers give us a pretty good idea of what the car sounds like. As you can hear in the video, the idle is very solid and mellow, and while the driver does a good job of keeping the RPM down to prevent us from hearing the car, it still isn’t good enough.

To us, the car definitely sounds as if it has a DOHC engine. Especially in the sections where the drivers gets on it a little bit to evade the auto paparazzi. The car emits a much higher-pitched tone than we are used to hearing from the LT1, LT4, and even the LT5. Obviously, this is simply conjecture on our part and it has been theorized that the car could see the use of both the 6.2-liter LT and a theoretical DOHC V8. But considering the size and shape of the car, a proprietary drivetrain seems much more likely.

Another facet worth noting is that the ‘Vette can be heard shifting quite a bit. This suggests to us that the General has squeezed the 10L90 10-speed automatic transmission into the car in, no doubt, a transaxle configuration. The car is still pretty well covered in camouflage, so we don’t get much in the way of new visuals but there are still a lot of clues here.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case, a sound recording is worth even more. Only time will tell if we are right about our conjecture and, unlike many other automotive news sites, we won’t present them to you as if they are solid facts until they’re just that. If you have any ideas or theories about what is going on with the car, or if you caught something we didn’t, please leave them in the comments below or email contact@lsxmag.com.

About the author

Chase Christensen

Chase Christensen hails from Salt Lake City, and grew up around high-performance GM vehicles. He took possession of his very first F-body— an ’86 Trans Am— at the age of 13 and has been wrenching ever since.
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