Put the displacement volume of this pair's engines together and you get enough liters to have a nice shower. They're the pinnacle of performance for each of the two manufacturers, the culmination of years of development and testing.
They are America's finest, only missing a Dodge Hellcat to make the classic Detroit triumvirate complete - and also turn that shower into a full bath. But don't linger too much on that thought because a 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and a 2019 Chevrolet Corvette C7 ZR1 are more than enough to handle without the need of any FCA rivals making an appearance.
Despite both sitting at the top of their range, these two are pretty different from one another. One of the guys testing them even jokes about it after switching from the Vette into the Mustang saying he feels like he's driving a pickup truck now. Indeed, the ZR1 is the real sports car here, while the Mustang is just a very high-performance pony car.
That's not to say the GT500 can't handle itself on the track if needed, but just by looking at them, you can tell which is the nimbler of the two. What you can't tell is which is the quicker or the most powerful because each has a lot going for it in that sense.
Even though the video comes courtesy of Hennessey Performance, both cars in the clip are bone-dry stock. They are in line to get a 1,000 hp tune, but what you're about to see is part of preliminary testing to see how they handle and perform in their natural state.
So, what will the team have to work with? Well, the 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 comes with a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 pumping out 755 hp and an astronomical maximum torque of 715 lb-ft (969 Nm). It sends its power to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic with torque convertor. It also generates 950 pounds of downforce, a testament to its track-focused nature that won't come particularly handy in this drag race against the GT500.
Speaking of the Mustang, it is the quickest and most powerful model to wear this moniker, and with 760 hp and a 3.1-seconds 0-60 mph acceleration, that doesn't necessarily put the other Mustangs in a bad light. Like the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, the GT500 also gets an automatic, only it's a seven-speed dual-clutch quick-shifting unit.
This contest seems pretty evenly matched on paper, so maybe it's time to check out the video and see how it pans out. Be warned, though, that it can get extremely loud. Wonderfully obnoxiously so.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News