The heart of the 2014 Stingray is the V8 engine, the first from the fifth generation of GM's small-block engine family.

Small-block chief engineer Jordan Lee says his group spent two years just working on the combustion chamber for the new engine, optimizing it to get the most out of each intake charge while minimizing emissions. GM will use variations of the new small-block, including a V6, in other products, including new full-size pickups and SUVs.

The new LT1 V8 will make the 2014 Corvette the fastest, most-powerful and most-fuel-efficient standard model ever, Chevy says. (Illustration: Chevrolet)

For the Corvette engine, an all-aluminum unit named LT1, power comes from:

• Direct fuel injection, which gives the Corvette more precise control over the amount of fuel used, delivering more power and better fuel economy.

• Continuously variable valve timing, which adjusts the opening and closing of cylinder valves for more power and lower emissions.

• And for the first time in a Corvette, cylinder cutoff technology that turns the 6.2-liter V8 into a gas-sipping 3.1-liter V4 during cruising speeds. Cylinder cutoff is used with both the automatic and manual transmissions.

The LT1 also uses a variable output oil pump that helps reduce the load on the engine, a plastic intake manifold with tuned runners, and cast aluminum exhaust manifolds designed to act like headers to reduce backpressure from exhaust flow.

Juechter and Lee say the LT1 delivers as much low-end torque as the 7-liter V8 in today's Z06. The Z51 performance package adds a dry-sump engine-oiling system, brake-cooling ducts and a taller rear spoiler.

Buyers will also have a choice of transmissions: a Tremec seven-speed manual with active rev matching for upshifts and downshifts or GM's Hydra-Matic 6L80 six-speed automatic with steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters

The C7 Corvette continues the classic long hood, short deck style, as well as the use of carbon fiber. (Photo: Chevrolet)

There's a lot of race car in the seventh-generation street-going Stingray. Aerodynamics software from the Pratt & Miller Corvette race team shaped the C7's body, including a new hood vent that boosts front downforce, and rear quarter-panel ducts that channel air to coolers for the automatic transmission and electronic limited-slip differential. That air exits along the edges of the taillights and rear fascia, which is a natural low-aerodynamic pressure point on the car.

Hauling the Stingray to a stop are Brembo brakes with four-piston fixed calipers. Brakes on the base car measure 12.6 inches in front and 13.3 inches in back, providing 35 percent more swept area than the C6. The Z51 adds dual-cast ventilated rotors measuring 13.6 inches in front and 13.3 inches in back.

The base Stingray is fitted with 18-inch wheels up front and 19-inch wheels in back, while the Z51 rolls with 19-inch forged wheels in front and 20-inch units in back. All 2014 Corvettes get tires from run-flat Pilot Super Sport tires from Michelin, which won a shootout with Goodyear.

GM conducted a global design competition from within its ranks to craft the C7's rakish look. Juechter says the team considered more than 300 design proposals. Much of the new Stingray's final shape is traced to a 2009 Stingray concept that played a role in two of the Transformers movies.

The C7 retails the classic Corvette proportions of a long hood and cockpit that sits against the rear axle. But there are several subtle surface features easy to miss at first:

• A flat surface along the front fender's edge marks a transition from fenders to hood.

• Four character lines flow from its nose to the hood's rear edge. They are not parallel, and this helps define the hood's raised center section.

• This Stingray has rear-quarter windows, a feature not seen on a Corvette since the 1962 model. The change was needed to make room for the air vents above its rear wheels, while improving rearward visibility for the driver.

High-intensity discharge headlamps light the way, framed by LED daytime driving lights.

And in one of the biggest breaks from Corvette history, there are not four round taillights, until now seen on every Vette since 1961. The Stingray's taillights are a hexagonal shape (not Camaro square as some had predicted) and use indirect LED lighting for a futuristic look. The taillight housings also incorporate exhausts for the rear cooling ducts.