The Corvette Grand Sport is an absolute icon; from the original of 1963, to the more modern iterations of recent generations, it’s right up there with Z06 and ZR1 when it comes to Corvette notoriety. Designed as a street-friendly, but track-inspired sports car its latest iteration, it brings with it not only an available iconic livery, but a unique engine with a memorable RPO attached to it — LS6.
With 6.7L of displacement (409 cubic inches — another throwback), it offers the driver 535hp of raw, but sophisticated performance that provides a balanced machine that’s right at home on a circuit, as it is on the street. Being a Corvette, with a brand new engine, it’s no surprise that some thing shops are getting their hands on one to test, tune, tear apart, and develop speed parts for. One of those is Florida’s own Erik Bentley, of Florida High Performance.
Avoiding the iconic livery that is typically associated with the GS, Erik elected to deck his car out in a subtle silver, which gives it a low-key vibe while navigating that South Florida traffic — away from the law enforcement eye and most in other high-end cars. It’s smart. But you’d be nuts if you think that FLHP is just going to leave it stock and thump their chest as peak accomplishment.
Oh no, this car will serve as a rolling testbed and development mule for all of their C8 LS6 components that the have planned. Because let’s face it, Ince when have Corvette owners left their cars completely stock? Maybe some do, but most won’t. Whether it’s performance or stying upgrades, these cars are ripe for the picking. Erik will be working with several companies over the next few months, developing this car into the ultimate GS — pushing it to its limits, breaking it, repairing it, improving it, and generating data every step of the way. We look forward to covering this build with each chapter, right here at GM-EFI.com
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of GMEFI Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the brand’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next modifications for his own cars.
