Kentucky C8 Mini-Caravan Video and Article

[John]

We thank Andrew Biesemeier for capturing the video, taking the pictures, and also really appreciate CorvetteBlogger for bringing it to our attention and its insightful article!

Caravan of C8 Corvette Prototypes Headed North in Kentucky

By Keith Cornett
-
Apr 13, 2019


Photo Credit: Andrew Biesemeier

Some friends have been telling us that another 30 or so C8 Corvette prototypes have recently been completed in Bowling Green and now we see that camouflaged prototypes are rolling out of Corvette City.

Our friend Andrew Biesemeier of Southern Integrity Auto Transport was making a run on Thursday in Kentucky when this caravan of C8 Corvette prototypes passed him by. He was able to grab both pics and video of the encounter.

Andrew says this happened on I75 northbound just North of Lexington, KY:

Happy Thursday…three running together with an Escalade chase vehicle just North of Lexington, KY on 75N. One had sequential turn signals the others did not.

It’s interesting that the lead C8 Corvette prototype in the video is wrapped in only vinyl camoflauge while the others behind it are wearing the heavy black cladding. Here’s a couple more pics:

*Thanks Andrew!


Source:
Southern Integrity Auto Transport

https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2019...h-in-kentucky/

[meyerweb]

One with just the black and white camo, and two with heavy cladding. Makes me suspect that GM is testing the Z06 equivalent, too, and covering up the different bodywork on those with the heavy black camo.

[John]

Good thinking meyerweb, a very plausible supposition.

[JB]

Cool find....not that i could see much of anything ....

good to know the c8 s are out and about...

testing and more testing...

fwiw gm has the best validation process in the industry of any sports car maker..

one of the main reasons i drive corvettes
...
nothings perfect but gm spends an inordinate amount of time and energy to validate its products and if something goes wrong during the ownership process the technicians who know how to access and utilize the gm database have procedures tofollow given the symtoms of the issue...

the germans for all their supposed engineering excellence can not compete with GM s 300k mile validation process...

[Meldoon]

Sure hope they continue with a wide body configuration. If not, there’s always aftermarket.....

[Fasttoys]

Cool find....not that i could see much of anything ....

good to know the c8 s are out and about...

testing and more testing...

fwiw gm has the best validation process in the industry of any sports car maker..

one of the main reasons i drive corvettes
...
nothings perfect but gm spends an inordinate amount of time and energy to validate its products and if something goes wrong during the ownership process the technicians who know how to access and utilize the gm database have procedures tofollow given the symtoms of the issue...

the germans for all their supposed engineering excellence can not compete with GM s 300k mile validation process...

I am a car fan and love engineering. I do think Germans have a tendency to over complicate and engineer their products which tend to cost more to fix. Remember most modern day manufacturers put their cars through rigorous testing. Porsche when it comes to their new 911 tested like crazy no different than Corvette. From a published article it said the new 911 by the time testing is complete, the cars have been driven around three million kilometres in total.

https://newsroom.porsche.com/fallbac...ess-16377.html

[John]

As Fasttoys and JB noted, OEMs all have such a program. GM’s is super rigorous. For example, they test the top of IP material to their 100,000 hour “in direct Arizona sunlight” color fade test (simulated in their environmental testing lab). BTW the Tension Blue in the 2017 GS Collector Edition, was doing great at the 90,000 hour mark, but then started to show a very small amount of fading. They rejected it, told the supplier to come up with a better quality color fade resistance material or coating or whatever — which the supplier did, then it was re-tested and succeeded that second time. This was why that Edition was delayed several months.

Do we know for sure that GM has opened and closed the C8’s door with its protruding door handle some massive amount of times to ensure durability? We do, for they do a door open and close test on all their new vehicles. Might they have done this a year or more ago, with that door testing machine being programmed to do that process 25,000 times (or was it 50,000)?

We shall ask Harlan at the reveal, how many testing miles did the C8’s go through?

[John]

Sure hope they continue with a wide body configuration. If not, there’s always aftermarket.....

Smiles ahead for you and many. One question that might effect this, and that is while many ME’s do have a wider body version (so successful on the Porsche that all 992’s will now be wide bodied), that wider body might not include the front fenders — for not just aero reasons, but in the tire comparison analysis I did for a large number of ME exotics, there were 95% running the same front tire width regardless of whether it is their wide bodied sports car or not.

The 711 HP Ferrari Pista for example runs the same width front tire as the 488; the Porsche GT3 runs the same tire width as the regular 911. Both are 245’s, which BTW is exactly what the entry 2020 ME Corvette is running.

https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...ire-generation\

Here’s the 2020 Corvette’s tires:

[brad66]

It would be great to see some of these cruising around at the Bash.

Standing there admiring the C7s on display when a C8 (in camo) slowly drives through the parking lot.

[John]

Brad, that is exactly what happened at the BASH in April, 2013. Here came a camo’d C7 through NCM’s\ parking lot. Thanks for that memory. We all hope it is repeated in the next two weeks.

[MidEngine]

I am glad we are starting to get more sightings.

[Fasttoys]

Smiles ahead for you and many. One question that might effect this, and that is while many ME’s do have a wider body version (so successful on the Porsche that all 992’s will now be wide bodied), that wider body might not include the front fenders — for not just aero reasons, but in the tire comparison analysis I did for a large number of ME exotics, there were 95% running the same front tire width regardless of whether it is their wide bodied sports car or not.

The 711 HP Ferrari Pista for example runs the same width front tire as the 488; the Porsche GT3 runs the same tire width as the regular 911. Both are 245’s, which BTW is exactly what the entry 2020 ME Corvette is running.

https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...ire-generation\

Here’s the 2020 Corvette’s tires:

Good points on tire size when compared to other ME”s. We know Michelin is designing this tire along with the car. I truly believe when engineers design these cars they use the final test data that creates the best setup for all around usability and performance.
When looking back at many Mid-engine cars I have owned the front ends seam to be lighter. Having a sticky wider tire in front could cause the car to Oversteer and then your spinning. Since ME have the engine sitting over the rear tires you wont have traction issues like you would with a FE/C7. Plus to much tire can cause the car to be unstable and slower. I remember messing with tire sizes back in the day when I was racing and sometimes larger tires slowed us down compared to smaller width tires.

[Bikerjulio]

The lead car is a convertible. (hint, it's the roof seam and camera location). The other 2 coupes. It's encouraging to me to see both being tested.

[bobbytinvab]

Also interesting is that the lead car (convertible maybe) has the spoiler the others don't