It seems to be an unwritten law of the universe that higher-horsepower variants of America’s sportscar will have wider haunches to help contain all the additional performance. The modern-day example being the already-legendary Z06 or Grand Sport Corvette variant that GM has teased us with for months. It is all-but cemented in stone, that this super-performing variant of the mid-engine Corvette will have wider tires and the accompanying body panels to match.
But what are those who want all the performance, traction, and awesome appearance to do if they are found with the “lowly” 495-horsepower version? Competition Carbon is working on a solution for that, and the answer could be as great as the C8 itself.
Competition Carbon has recently released illustrations showing their recent upgrades planned for the C8 Corvette. The company has been manufacturing upgrades for the C7 Corvettes, as well as the Lamborghini Huracan. More than lickem-stick ’em upgrades, Competition Carbon re-skins the car with their designed kits utilizing various carbon fiber weaves, carbon Kevlar, and fiber-reinforced plastics.
Wild Widebody Options
As extreme as the elements may sound, they’ve got nothing on the designs, of which there are three reportedly in the works. Competition Carbon is calling their creation C8RR, the most radical example of Competition Carbon’s effort is dubbed the Speedster, while the other two are fashioned with a complete lid assembly, thanks to the C8 convertible as a base.
The speedster is obviously the most radical and requires some pretty serious effort to pull off such a transformation. For starters, the requisite body panels need to come off of the foundational car, but also the windshield and headlights! An initial render by Competition Carbon shows two smaller windscreens jutting up from the front of the dash, but if you don’t want the wind in your hair, you’ll likely opt for one of the other two variants.
As mentioned, the rest of the CC offerings reportedly will have a ceiling, as a starter. With a roof included in the compound, the car then gets treated to various panels to turn the C8 Corvette onto the wide track, thanks to wider fenders which allow for massive tires and wheels. From there, even wilder touches flow out from the new body panels, such as a centrally-located air intake protruding from the top of the vehicle and the headlights relocated forward and lower on the car’s front fascia. There is reportedly, also a variant in the works which doesn’t include headlights for those who, like the Speedster fans, feel that less is more.
When design becomes the focus, there are also some concessions to be made, such as the dual vents through the hood, which are said to render the “frunk” unusable. Other touches tend to carry the C8RR further into “Supercar” territory, which has been the playground for cars costing two- to five times as much as the base model C8’s starting price. The recent renderings show a pair of triangulated exhausts exiting up through the rear deck, and those air intakes on each side of the vehicle get distinct treatment by the hand of Competition Carbon’s designer.
It can be said that the C8 Corvette is already exotic looking, and with the addition of Competition Carbon’s C8RR treatment, there is no doubting the fact. The question is, when will it be available? Competition Carbon is currently working on prototype parts and plans on entering production in the summer of 2021. It intends to have a living, breathing C8RR at next year’s SEMA (2021) event in Las Vegas. That is, if pandemics, global warming, Tsetse fly infestations, or raging meteor strikes allow it.
While GM is selling every C8 they can produce right now, understandably, not everyone will get the C8RR treatment. In fact, the C8RR will build upon the car’s exclusivity, even among other C8s, as the company plans on building only a hand-full (or two) of the topped C8RRs, while the Speedster variant will likely be a fraction of that number.
Competition Carbon’s website doesn’t list any information about the C8RR offerings as of this writing, but you can check out Competition Carbon’s Instagram account to see all the latest as the car’s transformation comes into focus. We think a wide-body C8 is a great idea and who doesn’t love squeezing wider tires under their ride. It’s a proven way to improve performance. Perhaps that’s why GM is also apparently planning to do that very thing on the next great Corvette to come rolling down the assembly line soon. Like the Competition Carbon C8RR, we’ll have to wait and see!