Unsheathed: The Corvette Grand Sport is back, badder than ever
Posted by Talbot Payne on March 27, 2026

GM, GM
The mid-engine Corvette didn’t forget about the Grand Sport.
Chevrolet’s eighth-generation supercar has broken the mold since the sheets were taken off the 2020 model year Stingray. First ‘Vette with the engine amidships. First electrified Corvette. First with all-wheel-drive. First 8,000-RPM, screaming, overhead-cam V-8 derived from the Z06 GT3.R race car. First $200,000-plus ZR1X hypercar with over 1,000 horsepower, a sub-2.0-second 0-60 mph run with U.S. production record 233 mph top speed.
Good lord. But in all the ferment, the hot-selling Corvette C8 didn’t forget its roots dating back to the early 1960s. Chevy introduced the Corvette Grand Sport model this week, the supercar’s entry-level, performance model harking back to the five original, 1963 race cars based on the second-generation Corvette (C2) and campaigned by legendary names like Roger Penske and AJ Foyt. Penske gave a sneak peak of the new Grand Sport (next to the first C2 race car) at the 12 Hours of Sebring last weekend.


