The Corvette is often described as America’s supercar, especially after Chevrolet switched to a mid-engine layout for the eighth generation. The flat-plane crankshaft V8 engine of the 2023 model year Z06 makes the Corvette a proper alternative to the likes of the Ferrari F8 and Lamborghini Huracan. Speaking of which, Jason Cammisa is much obliged to show us if the Corvette is quicker than both Italian exotics in the quarter mile.
The C8 in the featured clip isn’t the high-revving Z06, though, but the 2024 model year E-Ray. It sounds reassuringly American thanks to a small-block V8 shared with the Stingray. The E- prefix stands for electrified, and due to the front-mounted electric motor, the ‘Vette is the only all-wheel-drive car in this esteemed trio.
AWD isn’t good only in bad weather, but also insanely useful when launching hard off the line. e-AWD is better still due to the quasi-instant torque produced by the front-mounted electric drive unit. Chevy quotes 2.5 seconds to 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) and a quarter-mile time of 10.5 seconds. The driver of this particular E-Ray managed 10.4 seconds at 129 miles per hour (207.6 kilometers per hour), thus exceeding the manufacturer’s claim, and thus beating the Italians.
Did you expect a different conclusion? The wide-bodied Corvette E-Ray may be the heaviest car of the lot (3,924 pounds or kilograms), but it’s also the torquiest, at 595 pound-feet (807 Nm) including the electric drive unit.
It also beats the F8 and Huracan to 60 miles per hour, clocking a remarkable 2.4 seconds. The F8 came in second, powered by a twin-turbocharged V8 whose resources are channeled to the rear wheels by a dual-clutch transmission. The most powerful car of the bunch (710 hp) is the lightest as well (3,650 pounds or 1,656 kilograms), and to be frank, nothing beats the specialness of the Cavallino Rampante adorning the front fenders.
One could also make a case for the snobbery of the typical Ferrari owner and Ferrari corporate themselves, but Lamborghini also likes to play that game. According to Cammisa, both the Prancing Horse of Maranello and Raging Bull of Sant’Agata Bolognese declined to participate in this drag race. Lamborghini had the audacity to explain their refusal by telling the host that “our customers don’t care about straight-line speed.”
In a similar fashion to Ferrari, the bull-branded rival appears to be living in a world of its own. The Huracan EVO RWD Spyder may be the least powerful and least torquey car of the three, but it also sounds like heaven thanks to a high-revving V10 that Lamborghini will replace with a high-revving V8 for the heir apparent.
The rear-drive Huracan finished dead last, clocking a Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT-matching 11.1 seconds. The F8 Spider finished between the E-Ray and Huracan in a respectable 10.6 seconds at 137 mph (220.5 kph).
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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