Beautiful and Brutal: C2 Corvette Grand Sport With An Usual Engine

We know a lot of people have big respect for the old C2 Corvette Grand Sport racecars, of which there were only a handful. Some will have zero respect for a replica like this one built by Superformance, but we think cars like this have their place. After all, even Carroll Shelby got into the business of continuation cars, so that’s quite the endorsement of the practice.

See an old Porsche 917 K stretch its legs on a racetrack.

While nobody with any knowledge of the original Grand Sports will think for a second this is one of them, this ride would be plenty of fun to own. We love C2 Corvettes with their iconic Stingray styling, but the Grand Sport is just a cut above and unique.

But this thing isn’t just packing an LS or something mundane. Under the hood sits a naturally aspirated Mercury SB4 V8 with 750-horsepower on tap. Thanks to a nicely tuned exhaust with side pipes, the replica ‘Vette sounds amazing and moves like a champion.

Most people wouldn’t think of putting a boat engine in a sports car, but this setup seems to work just fine. It apparently has an 8,000 rpm redline and sounds ethereal at high revs.

Thanks to some geometric reconfiguration of the factory original stock used on Grand Sports by GM back in the 60s, this car can turn a tight radius. The racecars apparently couldn’t, making them unusable on the street. That worked fine for motorsports, but this replica is a weekend pleasure vehicle.

Other changes have been made, like power disc Wilwood brakes. A touring interior was added to this specific car, but Superformance does do race interiors in case you like discomfort or want to track your ride.

Superformance also added a trunk, so the owner could technically take this Grand Sport on a road trip.

The details of this build are beautiful, and that’s what makes any car. Check out the video review to see them up close, hear this marine engine roar, and see this continuation car come to life.