Little Red Corvette Part 3

For the last two weeks, we’ve talked about the history of the Chevrolet Corvette. It has always been America’s sports car, but it wasn’t until the last few decades that the Corvette truly started competing at an international level in terms of performance and racing.

Starting with the fifth generation C5 in 1994, Chevrolet introduce the LS V8 that would become the modern gold standard for Corvette power. The 345hp LS1 and the upgrade 385hp LS6 from the Z06 performance model became synonymous with Corvette performance. The remarkable 2001 race-engineered C5-R produced eight wins in 11 races, including a win at 24 Hours of Daytona and a one-two victory in the GTS class at Le Mans. Chevy defended their Le Mans win in 2002 with another one-two finish, and after a loss to Ferrari in 2003, the C5-R crushed the competition again in 2004.

From 2005 to 2013, Chevrolet continued its winning formula with the redesigned C6, this time offering four different variations of the LS V8, with the supercharged 6.2L LS7 producing 638hp and 604 lb/ft of torque in the ZR1. The LS7 was so popular that it became the foundation for the LSA in the Cadillac CTS-V and Chevrolet Camaro ZR1. Racing variants include the C6.R, an American Le Mans Series GT1 championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE-Pro winner.

Most recently, Chevrolet has continued to blow the doors off the competition with the C7 Corvette Stingray, the first model to use that moniker since 1968. The current generation Corvette was introduced in 2014 as a bold redesign in the increasingly competitive modern performance market. The 2019 LT5 will produce a whopping 755hp from its 6.2L V8, and with a slew of rumored upgrades, could ensure the dominance of the Corvette as the premier American sports car for years to come.

-Trey Fennell

Corvette C6 Coco #54 Black and Taupe