Emelia Hartford has been making a name for herself on her YouTube channel for some time now. While she has had several projects over the years, her newest addition has received a lot of attention and for a good reason. The latest build is the new mid-engine 2020 C8 Corvette. Not much is known about the new sports car from Chevrolet. Sure, we know the usual things like track times, horsepower, and torque, but we don’t know how well the new LT2 engine or drivetrain will react to added power from the aftermarket.

Emelia was one of the first to hit the dragstrip with the new C8 Corvette, having added a nitrous system. While the car did pick up mph and e.t. at the track, only so much could be done with the nitrous system. The problem… tuning. To our knowledge, no one has cracked to code on the new powerplant at this point, and we know that companies are desperately working on it. But until this situation is sorted out, the C8 is definitely limited to making big power.

The tuning problem has not slowed down the aftermarket and its quest to produce new parts for the America mid-engine car. Companies like ProCharger, Late Model Racecraft, and Peitz Performance are already blazing a path for a forced-induction solution for these cars. In fact, Emelia already has a Peitz Performance twin-turbo system on her C8 that was running and driving despite the lack of tuning. However, things have gone awry.

The Peitz Performance team had Emelia’s C8 lined out after several dyno pulls in Texas and deemed it safe. The car was turned down on power and sent back to California so that Emelia could participate in a car rally. In preparation for this event, she decided to take the car out and make sure everything was good to go. After a hard launch and a half throttle pass, the Corvette developed a ticking noise. Concerned, Emilia and her co-pilot headed back to the shop to find out that the mid-engine sports car was out of commission. In the video, the team thinks a piston was damaged during the short blast. Emilia states that the only change they made was the use of 93-octane instead of race fuel, which might have been the culprit due to detonation.

According to Emilia, the engine was dropped off with the gang over at Texas Speed & Performance. They have already accessed the damage and have started rebuilding the engine. Stay tuned as the hunt for a 9-second pass continues.