In A Surprise Twist, This Off-Roading C8 Chevrolet Corvette Proves The C8 Is Built To Last
A team of YouTubers try to take a C8 Chevrolet Corvette off-road to see how much it can take and the places they can go in the mid-engined sports car.
The Chevrolet Corvette is in the news seemingly constantly, from the inflated prices of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 to the arrival of the Corvette E-Ray and more, it is a sports car that certainly likes to stay in the limelight.
With prices and markups so high for the C8 Corvette – and it’s special status as one of the greatest modern performance cars period – you might think that anyone lucky enough to get hold of one would treat it with care.
However, automotive YouTube channel Street Speed 717 know that entertainment is entertainment, and in a new stunt, they decide to buy a new Corvette and take it off-road.
The Off-Road C8 Chevrolet Corvette Is A Bad Idea In Theory And In Practice
Off-roading or ‘rugged’ sports cars and supercars are a new fad linked to the unstoppable rise of the SUV and crossover; cars like the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato and Porsche 911 Dakar offer a raised ride height to increase the scope of their usability.
Street Speed 717’s host says that with all the range of different models like the 911 Dakar, Chevrolet might be willing to broaden the Corvette lineup even more with a rugged off-road version.
Once you get over the initial shock of this new project, you might be thinking that a raised, all-wheel-drive supercar with underfloor protection and the right kind of wheels isn’t the craziest idea ever for mild off-roading antics.
But the car in the video is rear-wheel drive, with normal wheels, and no modification made at all; what’s the worst that can happen – aside from a sizable repair bill, that is.
The newly-purchased C8 Corvette gets driven firstly on fields with mild hills but increasingly gets taken to areas with obstacles like fallen trees and a lake, to up the ante.
Taking The Street Speed 717 Corvette Off Road Results In Few Surprises
In one instance, the YouTuber drives the car onto some parts of a fallen tree and has to jack up the car to remove the debris and get the Corvette moving again.
It seems that the Corvette has surprisingly good traction off-road on the slippery forest floor – grounding the underside of the sports car on parts of a tree doesn’t seem to cause any obvious damage to its undercarriage or delicate lower sill, either.
At the end of the video the sports car predictably gets stuck – the driver was not avoiding a frozen bog but instead tried to drive through it – and eventually the car gets rescued with few issues.
The takeaway from the video – if there is one – is that the C8 Chevrolet Corvette is surprisingly willing to stand up to punishment on less-than-ideal surfaces and looks like its panels won’t simply fall off when they get subjected to small shocks and vibrations.
Maybe the C8-generation Corvette could make a base for an off-roading niche model, though as it is, the Street Speed Corvette would need some kind of modification to take it seriously.
Street Speed 717 makes his living as an automotive content creator on YouTube, and got his start with popular videos that soon enabled him to get noticed and continue with his new projects and stunts.
