Official: Corvette Z06 is most powerful GM ever

It's official: the Corvette Z06 wants to tear your face off. Chevrolet has today revealed that the new supercharged ‘Vette produces a nice, round, terrifying 650bhp.

A bit of context. The Z06 was officially unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show earlier this year, with Chevy announcing only that it would have "at least" 625bhp.

But today's news that said "at least" meant "25bhp more" confirms the Z06 as the most powerful production Corvette to date, and in fact the most powerful production car General Motors has ever built.

That 650bhp is matched by a monster 650lb ft of torque, too - 457lb ft of which is produced just off idle. Imagine the traffic-light burnouts. Chevrolet references the Ferrari F12, saying that while the Ferrari offers more horsepower, the Chevy offers more torque.

"Torque is the pulling power of an engine," explains Jordan Lee, Chevy's small block chief engineer, "and the LT4's abundance of it at every rpm in the engine's speed range helps the 2015 Corvette Z06 accelerate quicker and respond nearly instantaneously."

Where have they found all that power? Stronger aluminium cylinder heads that can handle heat better than other aluminium heads, lightweight titanium intake valves, machined, forged steel connecting rods, forged aluminium pistons, a stainless steel exhaust manifolds and a dry sump. Sounds tasty.

The supercharger also spins to a mad 20,000rpm - 5,000rpm more than the last ZR1 - with boost achieved more efficiently, we're told.

There's still no acceleration data, but if it doesn't eclipse the old Z06's 0-62mph time of 3.9s, we'll eat our cowboy hats.

And while the Z06 will unquestionably be very fast, it might just be very good to drive as well. Read what happened when Tom Ford tested the 'base' C7 Vette again Porsche's 911, and now imagine that car stuffed with another couple of hundred horsepower. Sheesh.