Chevy Corvette Grand Sport Returns With A Brand New V8 And Big Fat Tires

Chevrolet is changing the Corvette formula once again with the C8 generation. During last weekend's 12 Hours of Sebring race, the Corvette team unveiled the coming 2027 Grand Sport model, but remains tight lipped about what exactly the car will entail. The main clues we get are visual, which indicate the Grand Sport will carry a similar widebody treatment as the E-Ray, Z06, and ZR1. The car sat in the Sebring paddock all weekend, and ran some demonstration laps with the other four generations of Grand Sport in tow. In proper Grand Sport fashion, it wore matching Admiral Blue paint with white stripes and red hashmark highlights. 

The Grand Sport, particularly for the C6 and C7 generation, have really been the sweet spot of performance driving enthusiast specification. While the more-powerful Z06 and ZR1 get the headlines with track records and supercar speed, the Grand Sport gets all of the same suspension treatment without the giant power (and pricetag) that make its siblings less enjoyable in street driving. There is a level at which the power becomes overwhelming. It's not fun to drive a fast car slowly, amirite? That's not to say the Corvette Grand Sport will be slow-car-fast, as the base Corvette is already no performance slouch. 

With wider bodywork, huge grippy tires, sportier suspension, track-focused options, and a little weight loss, the C8-generation Grand Sport seems like it will once again be the perfect Corvette for drivers. You know, the kind of Corvette owners who don't care about impressing people with numbers and just want to have the most fun for the least money. This is for that kind of Corvette owner. There's something about this recipe that just perfects the flavor of Corvette and distills it down to the essentials. Even without all of the details about drivetrain or performance, Corvette Grand Sport seems like the Corvette to get. 

There is one tiny clue about what might lie underneath that wide-hipped bodywork, however, in the closing sentence of the unveiling's attached press release. "Featuring the next generation of GM V8 technology, the C8 Grand Sport is built by and for enthusiasts." Those words, next generation, get me all hot under the collar. This indicates yet another world-beating machine from GM, and it will carry a brand new V8, perhaps not at all related to the current LT2 V8 found in the current base Stingray Corvette that makes 490 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque.

The sixth-generation Chevrolet small block V8 is coming, and it seems the Corvette Grand Sport will get it first. The current fifth-gen small block was introduced back in 2013 and powers everything from pickups to sports cars and Cadillac's CT5-V Blackwing super sedan. GM has recently invested hundreds of millions of dollars updating and improving its Flint Engine Operations facility to build this new-gen V8. The company indicated that the new engine will not only be more powerful across all platforms, but more efficient as well. 

Does this mean Chevrolet is finally doing away with the old-style cam-in-block two-valves-per-cylinder valvetrain and switching to a modern overhead cam-style engine for the small block? Die hard fans of the existing LS-based engines will probably cry foul, but there's certainly efficiency to be found there with an update to modern design. 

Rumors indicate the Corvette Grand Sport will get a 6.7-liter version of the sixth-generation small block. If I were interested in placing a bet on such a thing, I would wager the Grand Sport will see at least 550 horsepower, if not a massive jump to 600. There's plenty of room in the Corvette lineup to make that leap possible, as the Z06 makes an impressive 670 ponies. There is talk of a hybrid all-wheel-drive Grand Sport X model that will replace the existing E-Ray, as well. 

The Grand Sport name is special to Chevrolet and the history of Corvette. The legendary name made its debut in the Corvette range as a pure racing car in 1963 for the car's second generation. Lightweight and with big power, the C2 Corvette Grand Sport was designed to take on the Ford-powered Cobra in international motorsport competition. The car was a massive success, finding a class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring with Jim Hall and Roger Penske sharing duty at the wheel. Only a handful of these cars were built, but they helped secure Corvette's motorsport legacy early on. 

The next Grand Sport didn't arrive for 33 more years, giving the 1996 C4 Corvette a performance kick in the pants. That car paired the chassis upgrades from the ZR1 model with a tuned up 5.7-liter LT4 V8. Limited to 1000 units, the C4 Grand Sport is considered one of the best-driving cars of its era. After the C4, the Grand Sport went dormant again until the C6 Corvette picked up the mantle again in 2010. This time the car was basically a Z06 but with a smaller engine than its 7.0-liter LS7, pairing the base Corvette's 6.2-liter LS3 with a widebody, larger brakes, and aero downforce. This was the perfect balance of chassis tuning and power, providing prodigious speed without feeling overwhelming. 

The C7 Corvette followed basically the same recipe of putting the base model engine in the Z06 chassis, and with it Chevrolet found driving perfection. This remains my favorite driving Corvette in history, and should be showered with praise for its incredible blend of speed and connectivity. Hopefully the C8 Grand Sport will be able to imbue this level of driver confidence when it debuts. Chevrolet will give more details about the car when it is officially unveiled on March 26th.