Was The Mid-Engine Zora Corvette Just Confirmed An By Obscure Website?

The rumor of a mid-engine Corvette has been in automotive journalist for what seems like a few centuries. In reality, the rumor started about 50 years ago and Chevrolet has yet to make the thing or even give us a whiff of a test mule, though things have been spotted before. The thought of a Corvette without a front-engine, rear wheel drive layout might cause some purists to cry foul, but with the C7 the Corvette to a major step towards being a legitimate supercar as opposed to just a sports car. The z06 version is absolutely a supercar as it beat both a Lamborghini Huracan and McLaren 650s in Car and Driver’s Lightning Lap in 2016.

Mid-engine cars are largely supercars with a few notable exceptions. The Zora Corvette would instantly put it in the same echelon and what was just spotted online might be confirmation that it’s about to happen. According to GM Inside News, Katech, who used to do all of GM’s corvette racing, just put a web page holder up on their site (it has since been taken down) for a “2018+ Zr1/Zora LT5” with LT5 of course being an engine designation. Here is the screen shot.

This is the closest thing we’ve seen to confirmation that this car is actually happening. Could it be that a former race developer just spilled the beans? There are other signs as well according to Motor Authority:

• We’ve spied what appeared to be the C8, and it definitely has mid-engine proportions.

• General Motors is dumping $290 million into the Corvette plant for upgrades. You can bet those upgrades aren’t for the current C7 Stingray.

• GM trademarked the ZR1 moniker, again.

• GM trademarked the Zora moniker.

Plus, we’ve heard GM engineers say they’ve reached the point where more power won’t make a better Corvette; it’s already fist-fighting physics to put its power down. Have you driven a Z06 lately? We may have reached the limit of what a front-engine rear-wheel-drive Corvette can do.

This is looking more and more like a reality with every bit of information we get. Only time will tell of course, but this could happen in the next 2 years. I hope Chevy does a mic drop like Ford did with the GT at a major auto show. Excitement is building.

(Source: GM Inside News and Motor Authority)