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GRINDING GEARS: Corvette finally gets mid-engine muscle

Well, it’s finally happened. The Chevrolet Corvette has gone mid-engined. It took forever – the change has been promised on the cover of magazines for at least 30 years – but now it’s finally here.
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Well, it’s finally happened.

The Chevrolet Corvette has gone mid-engined. It took forever – the change has been promised on the cover of magazines for at least 30 years – but now it’s finally here.

Revealed last week, America’s premier sports car now finally has the horses in the back. Some bits of the formula are the same – power still comes from a pushrod 6.2-litre V-8 – but some are different. There will be no manual available.

And, to be blunt, there’s something a little awkward about the way the new Corvette looks. In the press photos it looks amazing, but the handful of pictures snapped on the street show the car’s proportions seem a little off, and the wheel gaps are a little high.

Yet the reason for some of these quibbles, which perhaps come from getting the wrong wheel and suspension package, are part of what’s going to make the new Corvette so great. Unlike other mid-engined rivals, the ‘Vette is intended to be the aspirational car you can actually afford and live with.

Base price in the U.S. for the C8 Corvette is going to be under US$60,000. Based on the current difference between U.S. and Canadian pricing, I’d expect ours will be several thousand dollars more expensive. You’ll probably also want the Z51 package that firms things up a little, so call it $70,000.

Which is a lot of money compared to a Camaro or Mustang, but those aren’t the Corvette’s rivals. By going mid-engined, the Corvette takes aim at cars like the McLaren 570S or the Lamborghini Huracan. Yes, the Chevy’s down on power a bit compared to these high dollar rides, starting out with 490 horsepower, but if previous models are anything to go by, the Corvette will firmly punch upward.

There are those Corvette enthusiasts who will be disappointed by the change, but don’t count me among them. Plenty of attention has been paid to making ingress and egress easy in the new mid-engined model, and it’ll still carry a decent luggage load. If you want to cross-country tour in your Corvette, you still can.

Further, moving the engine to the middle results in all kinds of performance benefits. With weight over the rear wheels, you can get the power down more effectively. Moving the engine inboard also improves handling. All top-level racing cars are mid-engined, and the Corvette will undoubtedly go racing again.

It’s hard to believe the Corvette started out as a lovely little six-cylinder convertible with a face like something Mickey Mouse would drive. But along the way, it changed, thanks to the efforts of people like Zora Arkus-Duntov and Larry Shinoda.

Duntov brought V-8 power to the Corvette and made it hustle. Shinoda penned the shark-like Sting Ray (with considerable inspiration from Pete Brock’s earlier work). By the 1960s, the Corvette was America’s flag-bearing sports car.

Conveniently, this month also sees us celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landings. We all know the line. It was one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. But before Neil Armstrong took that step, his right foot was resting on the accelerator of a Corvette.

All the Apollo astronauts drove Corvettes. When Alan Shepard became the first American in space, Chevrolet gave him a new 1962 Corvette as a gift. Later, a canny GM dealer named Jim Rathman leased Corvettes to the Mercury astronauts. Out in the desert, while training, Gus Grissom and Shepard would duel in their Corvettes, basically flying low. The ‘Vette had the right stuff.

This new C8 Corvette has that same feeling, or at least it will. It’s fully modernized, a fighter plane with wheels. Taking a good look at the front packaging area, it’s very likely that later models will get some kind of hybridization, in the manner of America’s other supercar, the Acura NSX (which is built in Ohio).

That’s the kind of machine a current-day astronaut might drive. In the meantime, the standard Corvette has a delightful simplicity that the NSX lacks. For half the price, you can get established V-8 thunder in a chassis that’s been honed to a razor edge on the world’s most challenging racetracks.

Compared to what you’ll pay for a four-cylinder Porsche Cayman or Boxster these days, the new Corvette is a bargain. However, the bargains do get better. Much better.

The overall effect of this new mid-engined Corvette will be to push down the prices of front-engined Corvettes. There will be exceptions, principally manual-transmission versions of the seventh-generation ZR1 and Z06. With no manual in the new car, these will be last-of-breed specials, and hold their value very well. However, if you were considering a “normal” C7 Corvette, they’re about to slide down into genuine affordability. Go for a Grand Sport.

Or, even better, you could look at one of my favourite Corvettes in the range: the sixth-generation Z06. They’ve aged beautifully, and still represent an incredible level of performance for the money. Be sure to sign up for the local Corvette club too, as they do a number of track days, which is the only real way to see what your Corvette is capable of.

Zora Arkus-Duntov always wanted the Corvette to go mid-engined. He built several concepts over the years, but the timing never seemed right. Now, GM’s engineers have made the leap into the future, and guaranteed that the Corvette’s bloodline will continue. It’s a good time to be a Corvette fan. Or, if you aren’t already, there’s no better time to become one.

Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and automotive enthusiast. If you have a suggestion for a column, or would be interested in having your car club featured, please contact him at mcaleeronwheels@gmail.com. Follow Brendan on Twitter: @brendan_mcaleer.