2023 Corvette Z06 Was Co-Developed With IMSA Champion Driver
Corvette Z06 takes the old ‘race on Sunday, sell on Monday’ philosophy to an entirely new level.
By now, we know just about everything there is to know about the 2023 Corvette Z06, whether that be horsepower or even its lofty asking price. But the Corvette team continues to roll out interesting tidbits about the most powerful naturally-aspirated V8 production car in history, many of them via its Corvette Academy series on YouTube. That’s precisely where we recently learned that the 2023 Corvette Z06 was actually co-developed with IMSA champion driver Tommy Milner, who – along with the entire Corvette Racing team – helped ensure that this track-focused machine performed much like its racing counterpart in that regard.
Milner notes that the Z06 is “the closest that I’ve ever seen a real street car get to a race car,” which is high praise, indeed. As chief Corvette engineer Josh Holder points out, the production team and the Corvette Racing team shared parts, knowledge, and test facilities together, working hand-in-hand to develop both cars. Of course, the old saying of “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” applies here, as automakers have long used the race track as a way to perfect their road-going vehicles.
As such, the 2023 Corvette Z06 development team pulled a ton of data from the C8.R over the years, then used that information to fine-tune the street version. This type of data is obviously much easier to generate from the track than the street, as the car can be pushed to its absolute limits in that sort of venue. This is especially true of the C8.R’s powerplant, which has been in use for a full two years now, giving engineers everything they need to tune the production LT6 to perfection.
Interestingly, GM notes in this video that race cars are actually sometimes simpler to develop than road-going vehicles, as production cars must hold up in harsh weather conditions and meet all sorts of federal crash and emissions requirements, whereas race cars don’t. But while GM has always used its racing efforts to enhance its on-road products, they certain seem to have taken the ages-old process to a new level with the latest Z06.
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