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Two Chevrolet Corvette C8 engineering test cars impounded, drivers arrested for street racing

General Motors engineers busted big time during a late night blast: the cars got towed and the drivers were taken to jail.


Supercars are tested to extremes before they make it to showrooms, but this probably isn’t what General Motors had in mind when two engineers took a pair of yet-to-be-released Corvette C8s for a late night blast through the middle of the week.

Police in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA – where the new 2020 Chevrolet Corvette will be made – stopped two engineering test cars after they were allegedly street racing and exceeding the posted 45mph (72kmh) speed limit by more than 26mph (42kmh).

Under Kentucky law that’s deemed an excessive speed and leads to automatic confiscation of the car and a trip to jail to process the driver before being released.

According to reports by USA’s Automobile magazine and Kentucky TV station WNKY 40, one of the Corvette drivers was reportedly clocked at 120mph (193kmh) while there other was written up for travelling at 100mph (160kmh). A third Corvette in company with the other two cars was reportedly “not participating in the racing”.

US media reports say one of the drivers was an engineer who specialised in induction and exhaust systems while the other was an electrical engineer.

The two Corvettes accused of street racing were towed away following the incident last Wednesday night (8 January 2020) and reportedly recovered by General Motors the next day.

A photograph of one of the Corvettes alleged to have been impounded and put on the back of a tow truck can be viewed here.

A statement from General Motors to US media outlet Automobile said: “We are aware of an incident involving our test vehicles and are currently investigating. Safety remains our overriding priority at General Motors. We have no further comment at this time.”

It is unclear whether or not the drivers will lose their jobs, but the incident was seen as a major embarrassment to General Motors. 

In addition to Bowling Green, Kentucky, being the manufacturing home for the Corvette since 1981, it is also the location of the national Corvette museum.

Meantime, Holden appears to be getting ready to introduce the new generation Corvette in Australia some time next year.

In late December, Holden posted a photo on its official Instagram page of a Corvette that had arrived in Australia for testing.

Holden is yet to announce price and exactly which variant of the Corvette is coming to Australia, but it is likely to cost in excess of $100,000. It is the first time General Motors has made the Corvette available as a factory-built right-hand-drive.

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Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

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