Chevrolet has announced that it is developing an earth-shattering Corvette, known as the “Blue Devil”, to take on Ford’s new generation GT.
Chevrolet has announced that it is developing an earth-shaking Corvette, known as the “Blue Devil”, to take on Ford’s new generation GT.
Chief designer Dave Hill has said that Corvette’s newest Z06 posed some problems since they were initially unsure as to how they could produce that kind of horsepower. But by boring and stroking the new-generation Chevy V8 engine to a capacity of seven-litres and fitting a supercharger, engineers have extracted 460 kW from the powerplant.
The most important thing for Chevrolet, though, seemed to be the creation of an ultra-performance Corvette designed to battle its rival, the mid-engined Ford GT, and other contenders. Launched at the 2002 Detroit Motor Show, the GT was an attempt by Ford to build a production version of its iconic Le Man’s winner of the ‘Sixties – the GT40.
According to a report, the Blue Devil’s weight has been greatly reduced by the use of carbon fibre body parts. In the interim, the price has been set at R660 000, which will probably change before it goes into production (hopefully) in 2006.