Yahoo Autos Chevy's Corvette Team Has Talked About a "Safari" Off-Road 'Vette
In the last several years, so-called "safari" mods have become increasingly popular amongst sports car owners — to the point that automakers like Porsche and Lamborghini have made them into official factory options, in the forms of the 911 Dakar and Huracan Sterrato. But while Corvette is keeping an eye on the competition, the team responsible for Chevrolet's sports car haven’t responded to consumer excitement around a hypothetical safari 'Vette with enthusiasm.
“It comes up from time to time,” Corvette development driver Aaron Link told Road & Track. “There’s one guy on the team who’s always pitching it. Obviously we’ve looked at what Porsche and others are doing.”
Named for the WRC Safari Rally Kenya, safari builds add a lift, all-terrain tires, suspension travel, and rally-ready features to transform sports cars, sedans — really, anything other than an ordinary off-roader — into a past-the-pavement beast. The 911 is the preeminent choice, leading to the creation of the official 911 Dakar — but you can safari anything, and people have. So why not a Corvette?
It’s not like Corvettes are unfamiliar with going off the beaten path. In 1976, automotive journalist Brock Yates undertook an epic trek along 1,138 miles of the unforgiving, inhospitable Alaska Highway. Back then, the Corvette was nothing like today’s beastly 1,064-horsepower ZR1, but Yates saw something resembling potential in its elementary days. 31 years later, Car & Driver paid homage to the Corvette and Yates’ journey with a trip along the Dempster Highway, a suitably nasty substitute for Yates’s now-paved Alaska Highway. The idea of a Corvette taking on the Yukon may be laughable — but both made it back.
In the absence of an official off-road-ready Corvette, brave enthusiasts have undertaken the noble task. Take the Snowvette, decked out in Christmas lights and ambitious modifications for snow day fun, this rallycross-ready C3, or this safari C4 listed on Facebook Marketplace in 2022 (with a disclaimer: “I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of feedback on why did I do this. It doesn’t matter it’s done”) as evidence. If there’s a will, there’s a way.
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