The World's First Twin-Turbo C8 Corvette Makes 643whp, And That's Just The Start

Although there are some significantly faster versions of the already brisk mid-engined ‘C8’ Corvette on the way, aftermarket alternatives are already being worked on for the especially impatient among us. And of course, some of those involve turbochargers.

Hennessey says it’s first to have strapped a couple of snails to the C8’s new ‘LT2’ naturally-aspirated push-rod V8, a claim which looks to hold up. The car’s already been on the dyno with the turbos running at 5psi, resulting in 643hp and 570lb ft of torque at the wheels, improvements of 177whp and 119lb ft respectively.

We can’t imagine the 2.9-second 0-60mph of the standard car will drop much with the extra poke, because, y’know, traction, but once off the line, this thing will be able to gather speed at a rather terrifying rate.

It’s worth pointing out that this is just the start. Don’t forget, Hennessey has already pledged to make a quarter-mile-slaying 1200bhp twin-turbo C8 (rendered below). 650whp is about the safe limit on the stock internals though, the Texan tuner tells us. For the project progresses past this point, it’ll receive new forged aluminium pistons and forged steel con rods along with a strengthened version of the factory dual-clutch gearbox.

For anyone happy to wait for extra C8 performance from GM itself, we’re expecting a flat-plane, twin-turbo V8 Z06 to emerge soon, followed eventually by a shockingly powerful plug-in hybrid ZR1. Judging by recent spy shots, it’s also possible that Chevrolet is building a less pokey C8 PHEV to sit alongside or just above the base Stingray.