LEFT: One of the biggest challenges facing automotive engineers is how to make cars safer and stronger without making them heavier. Corvette’s floor is constructed using two layers of an aircraft type composite sandwiched on either side of a balsa wood core, resulting in a floor that’s many times stiffer and many times lighter than a conventional sheet steel floor.

making the underlying structure as stiff and strong as possible. Through innovative design, materials, and manufacturing processes, most notably the huge yet lightweight hydroformed frame rails, they created a body structure that is approximately four times stiffer than that utilized in the C4, with no additional weight or cost penalties.
  As intended, the C5’s super stiff chassis contributes significantly to its active safety factor by dramatically enhancing ride and handling characteristics, and by helping to provide the driver with linearly progressive feedback.