The 2023 Corvette Z06 is here, offering performance enthusiasts a heaping scoop of race-inspired awesomeness. The beating heart of the new go-faster C8 is the naturally aspirated 5.5L V8 LT6 gasoline engine, mounted just behind the cabin and spitting out 670 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. Now, we’re taking a deep dive into what makes this impressive powerplant work in the following video.
Coming to us from the Engineering Explained YouTube channel, the video is about 13-and-a-half minutes long, and goes into all the technical details of what makes the 2023 Corvette Z06’s LT6 V8 engine so special. The specs alone designate the LT6 as the most powerful atmospheric V8 engine ever fitted to a production car, but it goes a lot deeper than that.
As the video host points out, the new LT6 not only has less displacement than the 6.2L V8 LT4 engine equipped by the previous-generation Corvette Z06, but it also relies solely on atmospheric pressure to stuff the cylinders with air, whereas the LT4 was topped with a supercharger, which produces boost to fill the cylinders. The question then is this – how can the LT6 make more power than the LT4 with less displacement and no boost?
Part of the reason comes down to the rev limit, with the C8 Corvette Z06‘s LT6 making peak power at 8,400 rpm, and the LT4 making peak power at 6,400 rpm. It also has something to do with the heat generated by the supercharger, with the compressed air (boost) running at hotter temperatures than the cooler air feeding the naturally aspirated LT6.
The LT6 also has a higher a higher compression ratio of 12.5, versus the 10.0 of the LT4. Put it all together, and the new 2023 Corvette Z06 produces more peak power than the previous generation.
Indeed, this is just a slice of the technical info on offer in this video, which also dives into things like the flat-plane crank, the valvetrain and fuel injection system, and the intake manifold. Hit play to drink in all the tech goodies on offer:
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Comments
how many valves per cylinder?
four
Incredible engine!! GM can do incredible things when the wet blanket management will let them.
The internal combustion engine has reached its design peak. That is a waste of mechanical engineering and material science. The best way is with the electrical motor which can be scaled up to more HP and torque simply by supplying more electrical power .
Simply huh? Guess you simply will have to add a wagon full of batteries or a simple satelite beam delivery system.
Won’t even go over the symphony of nothing that an electric makes. May as well seek out a tire test video to experience the drama that is motoring a heavy golf cart.
Shouldn’t you be on the Prius page?
Raymond: You are confusing different concepts here… I have owned 6 evs and currently only drive 3 plug in evs, but an internal combustion engine is a PRIME MOVER, in that it is a heat engine… Solar Panels and Wind mills are only prime movers in the sense that their source of power is once removed from the ORIGINAL source.
Reached its design peak? Well perhaps – but in this case the ‘peak’ is pretty good. Internal Combustion Engines are used more and more often in Industrial Settings as their efficiency in Stationary Applications (Power Generation, Ocean going Ships) is OVER 50% before heat recovery jacking the efficiency up in a few cases to over 90%. For comparison, the Titanic’s Boilers and Steam Engine was about 6% efficient.
The BIG NEWS here is that there is such a valuable engine in a car with such a reasonable price.
This is meant to be a car for road courses, i.e., track work. The problem is that EVs, though very good as daily drivers and great the first few times down a dragstrip, are still not good at road courses at all. Too many energy changes and EVs are still too heavy. The LT6 is an awesome technical achievement that is the state of the art for the C8 Z06’s mission – wreck every road course it comes across, lap after lap after lap.
Are JET engines a waste of mechanical engineering and material science?
This video clearly explains that the internal combustion engine design has not reached its peak, it just took a leap forward.
Nobody wants electric junk! Have you heard this engine? OMG, it is a beautiful sound and no EV motor can do that, ever!
4
Can’t wait for the Zora. The C8 Z06 is a complete evolutionary machine. Hopefully GM will keep the base Z06 to @ 90k. I love it. Makes my C7 seem old.😎
Fantastic job detailing the new LT6 engine, I’ve always been impressed with GM engineering, unfortunately a lot of the engineering magic has never made it to the streets. The current management team is finally showcasing what they’re capable of by letting it out, the 4.2L TT V8 Blackwing in my ’19 Cadillac CT6-V is a marvel, the LT4 in my ’17 Z06 has really been a great engine for me and now this new LT6 has climbed to even loftier levels of great engineering. Could this LT6 engine be turbocharged without drastic changes for something like the rumored Zora Corvette?
Well sort of… They also canceled the blackwing right after they built a few of your cars..
Time will come when there will be only electric or Hydrogen (I am sure this will be the future fuel as there is not enough rare earth material on earth to keep making batteries).
For the time being lets enjoy what we are living: the Z06 Vette and its engineering that is teaching a lesson to many. Yes, fossil fuel user. Yes a lot better fuel economy than the L88 45 years ago. And by the factor which Europe marks its damage to the environment, much less grams of CO2 thrown to the atmosphere than engines made 20 years ago.
Nothing better than the sound of a atmospheric V8.
There are 17 rare earth elements and none of them are named lithium, cobalt, manganese, or any of the other key components of a lithium-ion battery.
Will all the electric car cheerleaders please go to your appropriate pages. We don’t care about your electric motor powered vehicles. Go and impress the people on the Prius and Tesla sites with your insight.
Sonic –
I don’t think the Internal Combustion Engine will ever die off any time soon… It is doing too good a job at what it does.
And Gasoline has much in its favor:
1). It is lighter than water, yet each gallon produces around 115,000 BTU of heat.. That is why Hybrids like the VOLT (or other cars) can go 300 miles on a mere 8 gallons.
2). A certain amount of Gasoline must always be produced by refineries, as the cracking process from crude oil always produces at least 45% of Gasoline as a ‘Waste Product’. Since they used to dump it in rivers or lakes prior to the advent of the ICE, it is OBVIOUSLY much better to utilize it cleanly in modern engines.
3). Even though I drive plug-in vehicles – I HATE all this talk about Carbon Dioxide being a polutant. It is a BUILDING BLOCK OF LIFE. It is totally inaccurate to call it Carbon, as it is colorless and odorless, – it being far more proper to call it Oxygen since that is what you get when plants get done with it. The current Historically trivial percentage of CO2 in the air just makes plants grow better when there is more of it – PROVING THAT PLANT LIFE IS STARVING FOR MORE CO2 – THERE IS CURRENTLY A GREAT SHORTAGE OF IT.
4). The ev world is waiting for better batteries – which may or may not make a timely appearance. Hydrogen Cars are too complex and currently require too much maintenance to be viable… Why would anyone drive expensive Hydrogen powered cars when there is relatively inexpensive gasoline available everywhere?
You’re on the right track, “carbon taxes” and the anti-carbon movement is anti-human life. They want to reduce the amount of carbon based lifeforms and rip us off any way they can.
“Long live the ICE” engineering at its finest.
Up north we are waiting for the next major snow storm to cause all electric vehicles to run their batteries dead while waiting for the traffic to clear and then have to be towed to the nearest charging station before they can continue their drive to work.
Excellent video, would love to see more on the topic. I’m assuming the hollow cam shafts are also a result of all the work done with VVT, which was given little mention. I suspect there are many, many more features built into this new design that have not been exposed yet. To bad GM is not involved with the F1 supply of engines, we need some north American tech in that arena, now that interest has grown with it’s new found followers (thanks Netflix).
Bill H. You are correct.
Still the range anxiety of the pure EV will not go away soon. There has been some blogs of people that moved to EV for a 3 year lease and went back to ICE, hands down. Still wondering what it would take to replace the battery of a EV, man hours at the dealer. No thanks.
I have a 2015 Sonic RS, 6 speed manual, with only 7,000 on the clock. And I really enjoy the way it drives and handles specially on twisty roads.
On the other hand I have a daily commuter 3 cylinder Encore GX and it does the job outstandingly. It is not the fuel zipper that I expected but very decent.
And I own a 2021 Silverado RST with the 5.3L V8. I love the L84 engine. Small block marvel after 110 millionth made.
So if I had the money now, I would order a Z06 without question.
Unless God gives me an Enoc longevity I am sure that the ICEs will be around by the time I kick the bucket.
Lets enjoy the ride.
Now I’m on the C8 train. But for now my C7 Zo6 will have to do, can’t/won’t pay MSRP let alone a 10,20 K markup on a scooter let alone a Vette. don’t know how GM did it but the car looks nasty which is a good thing compared to the regular C8.
Jonathan Lopez, Can you please mention the creator’s name when citing a YouTube video? Jason Fenske assembles the excellent Engineering Explained content and needs to be on the subscription list of every gearhead.
Jason is awesome. A cool nerd…
Let’s hear more about VVT. Does this engine have it?
Yes it does, Doug.
The LT6 does not have a variable valve lift system, although its hollow camshafts are equipped with variable valve timing. The cams are phased by an electro-hydraulic system that allows for around 55 degrees of authority on the intake cam and about 25 degrees on the exhaust cam, according to Holder. This amount of cam phasing ability should help the engine be more drivable lower in the rev range.
and there must be some degree of overlap between exhaust and intake to provide a little cylinder scavenging when moving between the exhaust and intake stroke . . . and also needed to manage that 12.5 compression ratio, which I assume is not actually used through the complete RPM range, or other nasty things happen. All modern ICE engines today require some form of VVT is my understanding.
Doug418, how long have you suffered with that split personality . . . . :}
Huh? Static compression is static compression no matter what RPM, you can reduce cylinder pressure a bit with cam event timing, but this engine is direct injected, detonation is not a problem for direct injected engines, because the fuel comes in right on time.
I hear the engine wakes up and pulls well above 3000 RPM, Idles a bit high also.
I would have rather seen a return of the LT4, LT5 or the new forged crank frim the L8T 6.6L in those engines, a 6.6L aluminum or iron block with a twin turbo system or a bigger naturally aspirated engine with OHV possibibly with a plug in hybrid system that acts like a power adder and cheats CAFE with a decent all electric range for times when the car isn’t able to use it’s power inching through traffic or on a quick trip for errands. Why bother with another expensive DOHC engine program like the wasted Cadillac Blackwing program? Seems pointless and expensive. Sell an engine that is readily modifiable and easy for hot rodders to understand. Especially if they’re going to force all electric junk on us soon anyway. There is a place for a cheap EV commuter car but, it goes against all driving a Vette standa for.