The best thing about being an uber-successful, dyed-in-the-wool car guy like Jay Leno, besides the massive bank account and car collection, is the fact that when new cars come out, automakers want him to drive them. To be honest, he's not a hard interview, being just a huge fan of the overall hobby, so you know you're probably going to get a good review.

Now, in the case of the 2023 Chevy Corvette Z06, we know Leno's going to like it, because there's nothing not to like. It's an American made, lightweight, midengine wonder, and we know the comedian has hot rod in his blood. Leno brings in Aaron Link, the lead development engineer, to get the scoop.

Leno and Link talk about what it takes to not just produce this car, but to get it passed the businessmen in suits. GM and Chevy could have easily throw in an engine off the shelf, but they decided to build the new 5.5-liter flat-plane crank, naturally aspirated V8 and make it bespoke to this vehicle.

They go into the weight, without fluids its about 3,400 pounds, and the carbon fiber wheels. Leno talks about his previous experiences with the material, noting a Porsche that felt a lot quicker, but also reminds Link that for the price of those wheels, you used to be able to get a whole Corvette.

In the drive portion of the program, Leno hits on the fact that old cars used to take some effort to go fast. You had to sidestep the clutch or wait for perfect conditions. With the Z06 you just stomp the gas pedal and go. During this portion, we also get some great audio of the new V8, which gets the Corvette to 60 mph in just 2.6 seconds. And we just found out the Z06's quarter-mile time.

Finally, the two gentlemen touch on the quality of the interior, which really is miles ahead of anything Chevy's produced previously. Link notes that even the one they're driving is a pre-production model. He wouldn't let the price slip, nor any other details that we didn't know yet, but it's good to see it driven with some urgency by someone outside GM. It goes on sale next year.