The Mid-engined Corvette Is Here. This Is What We Know.

Anticipation can be the best thing about a new toy.

- John Pearley Huffman, Josh Jacquot, and Daniel Pund

Handling that shiny object still in its blister pack. Goosebumps ripple across your skin, your pupils dilate. The toy comes out and the serious business of fun begins. Now that Chevrolet has revealed the mid-engined 2020 Corvette Stingray, will playing with it live up to the 60 or so years of anticipation? Or will it be buried in the sandbox next week?

Any all-new Corvette is significant. The big fuss with this one, the eighth generation (C8), is that the engine sits behind the seats for the first time in Corvette history [see “Middle School,” page 40]. So now it’s mid-engined, like a Ferrari F8 Tributo or a McLaren 720S. But while that change is the most obvious, Chevy did other things with the car that are nearly as heretical.

First off, there’s no manual. It’s not even an option. Historians will note that this isn’t a first for the Corvette. A manual transmission didn’t appear until 1955; the very first Vette, back in 1953, offered only an automatic. The same is true of the 1982 model. But for C8, the automatic isn’t a two-speed like that ’53 model’s; it’s an eight-speed dual-clutch made by Tremec. Removing the linkage between shifter and tranny— and the hole in the tunnel that came with it—allowed Chevy to fully optimize the aluminum tunnel to increase the car’s structural strength.