2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 tops out at 195 mph, chief engineer says

It has been almost a year since the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 was unveiled to the public, but new information about the car is still coming to light.

The latest information is that a top speed of 195 mph has been confirmed by Corvette Executive Chief Engineer Tadge Uechter.

Juechter made the announcement during a speech at last month's 2022 Corvettes at Carlisle, with the disclaimer that he and his team have not actually reached the car's official top speed, the Corvette Blogger reported.

There have been faster Corvettes before, like the 755-horsepower C7 ZR1 that hit 212 mph, and Jueter commented that the C8 Z06 is not a "numbers car" and that the development focus is to provide a car that is "the purest expression of the track and driver's abilities," which acknowledged that "the car is not a 'numbers car.'

Separately, Corvette chief engineer Josh Holder told Corvette bloggers at the same event that the Z06's top speed would drop to 189 mph when equipped with the Z07 high-downforce package, which adds a huge rear wing. That would result in 734 pounds of downforce at 186 mph and up to 1.22 g on the skidpad. If Chevrolet intends to set official lap times at popular race tracks like Germany's Nürburgring, it will probably add this package.

The Z06's 0-60-mph time is 2.6 seconds and its quarter-mile ET is 10.6 seconds at 130 mph.

The Z06 is powered by a proprietary 5.5-liter V-8 engine with a flat-plane crank design, dual overhead cams, dry-sump lubrication, 670 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. The engine is mated to the same 8-speed dual-clutch automatic as the Corvette Stingray, but with a shortened final drive ratio of 5.56 for improved acceleration. Power is supplied only to the rear wheels.

Ordering began in July, at which time prices were set at $106,395 for the coupe and $113,895 for the convertible; the Z07 package adds $8,995.