General Motors’ V8 Tasmania Takeover

There’s a school of thought that electric vehicles will turn internal combustion vehicles into 21st-century horses. When cars became the primary mode of transport more than a century ago, people didn’t stop riding horses, they just did it for fun. For everyday driving, EVs make a lot of sense for a lot of people, but when it comes to recreation – on or off-road – the soundtrack of eight cylinders burning fuel takes a lot of beating.

To celebrate this, General Motors Special Vehicles invited carsales on a tour of Tasmania, from beach to Baskerville Raceway, in its exclusively V8-powered range: the Chevrolet Silverado ZR2, GMC Yukon Denali, and Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and Z06.

As a child, I used to sit on a piece of cardboard and go sailing down sand dunes, usually resulting in an inelegant tumble at the bottom. We’re about to find out if 6 metres and 2600kg of Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 is an effective substitute, though hopefully without the same ending.

Sitting atop a 30-metre-tall sand dune, the view in the distance is incredible, but the slope ahead is so steep that it appears there is nothing in front of the Silverado’s long bonnet.

I am advised to step gently off the brakes and keep the steering straight under all circumstances. It’s a very similar feeling to when a rollercoaster crests a rise but, in this case, the giant Chevy seems to sail down the dune, the deep sand keeping its speed remarkably stable.

The beach run between Bridport and Bellingham in Tasmania’s north-east is a must-visit for any 4WD fans. We approach from Barnbougle in the east, the gravel road giving way to sand that gets increasingly softer as you cross the headland, broken up with the occasional patch of mud and a surprisingly deep water crossing.

It’s certainly not an easy route, but with almost 300mm of ground clearance and the 33-inch mud-terrain tyres lowered to around 20psi, it doesn’t overly trouble the Silverado ZR2. The factory front and rear lockers aren’t required and, while a 313kW/624Nm 6.2-litre V8 isn’t strictly necessary, it does make gaining and maintaining momentum a piece of cake.

After a couple of kilometres, you pop out onto a giant, crescent-shaped beach. At high tide, its width is reduced to little more than that of a typical highway, white waves rolling in from the sparkling turquoise ocean on your right, with the vegetation-covered dunes curving around into the distance. It is a truly breathtaking sight.

The Double Sandy Point Dunes are an incredible playground. Mounds of sand ranging from moderate to massive have the Silverado bellowing like a Bigfoot monster truck as it claws for traction, the race-derived Multimatic Dynamic Suspension Spool dampers doing their best to keep the big rig in the ruts.

It feels a bit hedonistic, but it’s remarkable how quickly nature quite literally covers our tracks, the strong winds filling in the ruts within minutes. It’s one of the most enjoyable afternoons of driving I’ve ever experienced: the scenery, the freedom, and a car constantly sliding around beneath you. A Silverado with 20psi in the tyres has lovely ride comfort, too.

There are four Corvettes lined up outside the hotel – a pair of Stingrays and a pair of Z06s – but it’s not my turn to drive them yet, which is a bit like being told you can’t open your presents until after breakfast on Christmas Day.

Instead, my first stint on the run from Launceston to Baskerville Raceway on the outskirts of Hobart is in the GMC Yukon Denali, a supersized slab of SUV that’s as subtle as a Super Bowl halftime show.

GMC appears to have had a competition to see whether it could think of every possible feature, as evidenced by the fact the side steps extend electrically to make it easier to clamber aboard – just don’t stand too close or your shins will get a whack.

This is in addition to eight seats across three rows, triple-zone climate control, a panoramic sunroof, heated and ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, a 14-speaker Bose stereo, and dual 12.6-inch touchscreens for the rear passengers with HDMI input and wireless headphones. I didn’t see a kitchen sink, but I can’t be sure it wasn’t there somewhere.

Everything about the Yukon Denali is enormous. Like the Silverado, the engine is a 313kW/624Nm 6.2-litre V8, but the wheels are 24 inches in diameter, the central portrait infotainment screen measures 16.8 inches, there’s up to 3480 litres of luggage space with the rear rows folded away and, the GMC’s trump card, a maximum braked towing capacity of 3628kg.

Then there’s the price tag of $174,990 plus on-road costs. Loaded with kit it may be, but the Yukon Denali’s interior quality and presentation don’t feel like those of a near-$200K vehicle. Its luxury pretensions also quickly disappear on the road thanks to an unsettled ride that grows tiresome, the giant wheels and ladder-frame construction winning the battle against the air springs and magnetic ride control dampers. Put simply, the Silverado rides better.

As does the Corvette. It may be a potent mid-engined sports car, but the Stingray has the compliance and luggage space to make a fine daily driver. The new interior for Model Year 2026 is a big improvement, with larger screens, faster processing, better quality, wireless phone charging and improved ergonomics. Cup holders might not be as sexy as 0-100km/h times – a claimed 3.4sec, if you were wondering – but they’re a lot more useful, as anyone with a BMW CS model will attest.

Like its more utilitarian siblings, the Corvette Stingray uses a 6.2-litre V8, but here it produces 369kW/637Nm. It still does its best work in the mid-range, with a redline of 6500rpm, but it makes for one very fast car, especially connected to the quick-shifting eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

Starting at $193,990 plus on-road costs, the C8 Corvette isn’t exactly the blue-collar muscle car it once was, but it remains a lot of car for the money.

Despite Baskerville Raceway being called Australian motorsport’s best-kept secret for years, it remains, well, Australian motorsport’s best-kept secret. It’s a wonderful track, its compact dimensions and substantial elevation change making it a challenge for drivers and a treat for spectators.

This is also why the Corvette went mid-engined, to offer a level of performance and handling that could match the European supercar elite. It’s not such a priority at Stingray level, but when you consider that the flagship ZR1X ’Vette is now a 930kW all-wheel-drive hybrid monster, a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive layout was never going to cut it.

We’re not wearing helmets, so the pace is relatively moderate and the stability systems are fully active, so it’s not a situation where we can get intimately familiar with the Corvette’s outer limits, but it’s still an impressive package.

The mid-engined layout gives it a lovely balance, the steering is accurate – though the squarish wheel is a bit odd – the brakes feel resolutely firm underfoot and the torque from the large-capacity V8 means the C8 will happily pull out of Baskerville’s tight turns in third gear.

It might be the lowest rung on the Corvette ladder, but the Stingray still feels track-capable, helped by Aussie examples having the Z51 Performance Package as standard, which includes larger Brembo brakes, performance suspension, sports exhaust, a shorter diff ratio, an electronic limited-slip diff, an aero kit, Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres and a heavy-duty cooling system.

The opportunity to do a couple of launch-control starts makes me wonder whether the software has been updated for MY26, too. Having previously performance-tested the C8 Corvette, the car was faster when launched manually, but unless Baskerville has particularly grippy tarmac, it seems to put its power down in a cleaner fashion.

When it comes to track performance, though, few production cars are more potent than a Corvette Z06. Its V8 is smaller at 5.5 litres, but the flat-plane crank allows it to spin to 8600rpm and produce 475kW on its way there.

A shorter final drive than the Stingray makes even better use of this power, while the tyres are 30mm wider at the front and 40mm at the rear, for a huge amount of rubber on the road.

There’s also more cooling and bigger brakes, but the Z07 Performance Package really brings out the best in the Z06 with even larger carbon-ceramic brakes, a unique calibration for the adaptive suspension and more aero that doubles the amount of downforce at 300km/h.

Customer cars also receive ultra-grippy Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, but their replacement cost means we’re using the same – albeit wider – rubber as the Stingray today. At $50,000, it’s a mega-expensive pack, but honestly it is a must-tick option. The $23,000 carbon-fibre wheels are less necessary, though they look very cool.

Again, we’re not really stretching the limits of the Z06 here, but having driven it on track previously, it’s an awesome machine. The engine has a completely different character – much more manic – and there’s greater communication and agility.

It’s the perfect machine for anyone who wants to stand out from the plethora of 911 GT3s at a track day and it’ll match them for pace in the right hands, too. The Z06 really does feel like an American Ferrari 458, and if being compared to a 15-year-old Italian sounds like an insult, then it’s actually a huge compliment, as that’s one of the greatest driver’s cars there’s ever been.

General Motors Special Vehicles isn’t ignoring electrification, as it’ll happily sell you a range of electric Cadillac SUVs, but these two days in the Apple Isle have demonstrated that when it comes to putting a smile on your dial, it’s tough to beat a V8.

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