One of the main draws of the 2023 Corvette Z06, in addition to its blistering performance and head-turning looks, is the exhaust note. With a new dual overhead camshaft, flat-plane crank 5.5L LT6 V8 engine, the latest iteration of the Corvette Z06 trades the traditional roar of a Small Block for a refined purr that sounds more like a high-priced foreign exotic.
Chevy recently released a video, appropriately titled ‘A Glorious Exhaust Note’, explaining how the Corvette Z06 engineering team worked hard to ensure the mid-engine performance car had the kind of exhaust note that was befitting of a world-beating mid-engine supercar such as this. The clip features commentary from one of the people responsible for this head-turning exhaust sound, Cindy Molnar, who serves as a vehicle performance engineer for the Chevrolet performance car division.
“One of the things with the Z06 is we wanted to make sure that the feel of the car from a vibration standpoint, and the sound that you’re hearing, just gives you the feeling of being in this exotic car, and the feeling of something you’ll never be able to forget,” Molnar said of the LT5’s high-pitched exhaust. “The sound of the Z06 is incredible. The first time I heard it with the production exhaust, I got goosebumps.”
As some Corvette fans will already know, the Corvette Z06 can adjust its exhaust sound on the fly thanks to its intake manifold valves and variable exhaust valves. The exhaust valves are particularly impressive, capable of adjusting at two-degree increments to make small, minute changes to the exhaust note. While previous Corvette models had exhaust valves, they only had two settings: open or closed. “We always had that mild to wild feel,” Molnar added. “Now we can tune it and finesse it and get the exact sound we want at every RPM and in every mode.”
Check out the video embedded below to learn more about the Corvette Z06’s exotic exhaust sound.
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Comments
Fine car with a lot of the video shot in a great city!!
Wondering how value will hold up once all-electric is here. Collector’s items?
When can we order???
The C8.R sounds good but sounds similar to the cars it is racing. The C6.R and C7.R had that deep baritone sound which made it distinct. Fans around the world loved it. It will be sorely missed.
Okay, we get it, the Z06 C8 Corvette has an amazing sound coming from it’s “Flat Plane Crank” 5.5 Liter DOHC Engine, and amazing handling, and incredible looks, ect. ect. Alright already…enough of the “coming attractions” stuff, could someone at GM/Chevrolet please show us something we have not seen a “gazillion times”! The suspense of actually seeing one of these beast in person or at least in an actual road where someone other than a sports figure has sat in it and gave his approval would certainly be appropriate at this time, don’t ‘ya think! Come on Chevy, quit with the staged theatrics, and bring on the actual showtime event we’ve all been waiting for. I know, how about doing this for all of America, how about doing this on The 4th. of July….wouldn’t that just be way cool, America’s Greatest Sports Car goes “wild and crazy” on America’s Birthday! Okay, maybe too crazy for conservative GM, but please do “something” soon, the wait is driving some of us (dare I say, all of us!) crazy, this car has to be unleashed to the public (I mean physically, not in a video) and no, having Jay Leno conservatively tooling around in a yellow Z06 months ago doesn’t count….we want to see this Beast getting out there and mixing it up with the competition, it’s time GM, you’ve waited long enough and so have we, just do it! Sheesh!
I bet it does sound sweet, but why are they always playing catch up? It lost it’s traditional Corvette look and they should have named it something different. They had a flat plane crank in the GT350 years ago…. now trying to catch up to the Ford GT / and exotics IMHO. I personally liked the traditional Corvette body style. To each his own.
I will add some external speakers to play the Z06 sound , from my plain old C8.
It is the closest I will come in my life to every hearing a Z06 on the street.
Meanwhile… at least $25,000,000 , sits in a bank account as “deposits” for a car that has no known price,
no known production date. Like an Elio or a Dale (look them up), unobtanium.
And that amount is just ONE of the dealers taking deposits. That is a lot of money for a single Chevy dealer
to be sitting on in deposits with no clear commitment to deliver. What is to prevent misuse of funds ?
Stop the hype and produce the car. This has gone on long enough and it’s pissing buyers. I’m seriously looking at an Audi R-8.
OK. So, synthesize the exhaust notes of the C8 Z06, then pipe that into the C8 Stingray cabin that you already own and you’ve got everything you’re wanting in the Z06 for a lot less money !
Tell us something we don’t know. Like MSRP.
I was trying to think of something funny to do with the letters MSRP like My Surely Ridiculous Purchase, but it has not hit me yet. With a Z06 as rare as Dragons, Mermaids, Unicorns, the MSRP is another mythical creature.
Sounds more European than American. Listen to a Pantera idle and you know how the rest sounds.
I’ve never been a Ford fan, but when they got serious about making a sports car, they sure did it right (e.g., orig Cobra, Pantera, RS200, 1st gen GT)…the Pantera did sound (and look) absolutely fantastic! Liked all of them but I lusted over the 80’s GT5S as a kid.
Wouldn’t it be great to see Ford surprise re-release a V8 Pantera with a similar sexy design to directly compete with the Z06…and maybe even a new Viper from Dodge too…having all 3 in the market at similar price-points at the same time…and with no EV/hybrid anything…I can dream.
Totally agree with you. I think you forget the Lamborghini Countach with wing, of course. I saw one in a magazine cover and it totally blew me away. Never seen a car like that SINCE. But my first love was a Pantera. 😉