The First-Ever 8.1L Big Block C8 Corvette Has Hit The Streets For Speed Testing

For three and a half years, an engineer named Larry Hofer has been working to drop a huge V8 into a car never built to hold one. In early June 2026, he pulled it off, with the world's first 8.1-liter big block C8 Corvette finally turning a wheel in public.

In a YouTube video, Hofer, of Raylar Engineering, is seen taking the car out on the highway at everyday speeds, with the drive serving as a gauge of how the whole package holds up. You'd think such a big achievement would warrant a more attention-grabbing stunt, but you could tell that he was babying his creation. One of the most surprising things about the video, however, is how quiet the car sounds despite that massive engine.

Despite the ease with which the vehicle seems to be operating, getting this 8.1-liter unit to behave like a stock engine was no easy feat. That's in part because the car comes with an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. Sure, the car did experience a few misfires under light throttle and sensors onboard did have some misreadings along the way, but none of these things kept the car from chugging along. The main remaining challenge is that the car's torque management hasn't yet adapted to the wave of low-RPM power the big block throws at it, as Autoblog notes.

Big block engines, which are heavy units with large displacement, are relatively hard to find in 2026. Even the largest engine the C8 models actually ship with is the 6.2-liter LT2 V8. To overcome this limitation, Hofer chose the GM Vortec 496 for the job, which is actually the last big block Chevy ever built before the brand moved on to smaller engines. This is a cast-iron lump that lugged trucks and SUVs around until it was retired in 2009. While the GM Vortec 496 put down around 340 horses in stock form, the LT2 makes 490. Hofer seems to have seen untapped headroom in the C8 application, even if topping the factory car was never the point.

Clearly, a lot of work went into making it all happen. For starters, Hofer built a set of custom cylinder heads that bring direct injection and variable valve timing to an engine that originally had neither. But it didn't end there. Getting all of that to sit inside the bay turned into its own puzzle. The clearances were so fine that a hose for the oil pump had to be made from scratch, since the existing one landed ¼-inch too long. Worse, all this sat on top of larger fabrication work, including a dry-sump setup along with one-off accessory drives and headers.

With all of this now done, Hofer says the whole build is "approximately 95% complete." One of the remaining tasks includes replacing the current intake with a custom unit. This one would be topped with eight individual throttle bodies, which Hofer reckons should sharpen up how the engine responds.