The deception of Corvette C7 Stingray LT1 horsepower rating

+Tadge Juechter  and the rest of +General Motors  marketing department love to claim the 455 hp rating of LT1 engine or even better, 460 with NPP option.  Obviously nobody would argue these numbers since this is after all, SAE certified power rating.

Is this really the case?  Well, not exactly.   Tadge Juechter is a considerably better spin master and bullshit artist than an actual engineer and like with everything else on the Stingray, the matter of horsepower rating is at the minimum, deceptive.

What Juechter never seem to point out is the fact that Stingray uses two grades of oil, one being 5W30, for the street use and 15W50 for "high performance driving".   Now, here is the problem and advertising rub: the oil with higher viscosity is the one used during SAE testing and certification and this apparently led to the power ratings.  However, GM makes it clear that for racing or any high performance driving, the higher viscosity and full synthetic oil type are required. 

The reason?  Higher RPM oil temperature and pressure problems that thinner oil would cause.  The cost of doing racing business?  LESS HORSEPOWER.  Typically, the horsepower loss ranges between 5-8 hp, just for switching to heavier grade oil.

So is the real horsepower rating, at the time when this power should count most, on the track the same as the advertised for the coffee and cars and waxing crowds?  Nope, it is less, at the most, maybe 450, if lucky.  So why exactly would Juechter claim the higher horsepower if the car cannot be used to utilize this power?  A very simple answer: more marketing bullshit from the chief mouthpiece who apparently loves to spend his time misleading the buying public.

If there was any integrity and honesty on Juechter's part, the power rating of the Stingray would include a little note, explaining the oil weight limitation.  Surprise surprise, there is none...

The horsepower loss with heavier oil is not very significant but makes the claimed horsepower gain over previous generation even more laughable and GM marketing department would certainly not appreciate this part.