C8 Chevy Corvette Z06 Solo 1/4 Mile Passes Aren’t Bad, Will the E-Ray Fare Better?

As it turns out, folks are even getting tired of icons such as the Camaro - judging by the lackluster sales when compared to the Mustang and Challenger foes, but also its Corvette sibling. Let alone bland crossovers using parts of the K5 Blazer nameplate to try and piggyback the hype, so no wonder most Chevy fans have just one goal in their life – somehow catch an allocation of the C8 Corvette.

Born in 1963, which is exactly 70 years ago (hence the anniversary special editions and the recent E-Ray introduction on the series’ birthday), the Chevrolet Corvette has gone through eight iterations, one major reinvention, and keeps on going strong as the blank sports car canvas for making it your own. No wonder that Chevy indulges in ever-higher MSRPs (sure, they blame them on constraints), and also offers a trio of C8 dream cars.

First came, back in the middle of 2019, the 6.2-liter LT2 cross-plane V8 Stingray, which was capable of 495 horsepower when equipped with the Z51 package in both coupe (Targa top, actually) and retractable hardtop convertible form. Then, after quite a long wait, along came the mighty 670-hp 5.5-liter flat-plane crankshaft (FPC) LT6 V8-equipped C8 Corvette Z06 (complete with its Z07 package, of course) in late 2021.

The wait was long and arduous, and the 2023 Z06 started deliveries more than a year later, just before Chevrolet also introduced the world to the first-ever C8 Corvette E-Ray with a hybrid eAWD powertrain and almost as much power (655 combined ponies) as the flagship Z06 homologation vehicle. Interestingly, these two not only represent a viable alternative to each other in terms of pricing ($104,295 starting MSRP for E-Ray versus $106,695 for Z06) but might also compete in terms of overall performance – on and off the track.

For example, although the E-Ray uses the same V8 as the Stingray, thanks to eAWD and electric assistance, it is capable of dropping a zero to 60 mph (96 kph) time of 2.5 seconds against the Z06’s 2.6s performance. Plus, the hybrid ‘Vette also trumps the Z06 at the quarter-mile dragstrip party, with the best-off result of 10.5s versus 10.6s for the ICE FPC monster. But, come on, these figures are too close for comfort, right?

So, let us put the Z06 into the proper, prepped track perspective, shall we? As such, here is the videographer behind the Drag Racing and Car Stuff channel on YouTube, who has a nice ‘solo wolf’ catch from the Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida. The white Z06 did a couple of runs and even though there were some wheel slips and Florida weather in February is not like Florida weather in July, the results were not too shabby (10.95s and 10.91s, respectively), at all! So, do you think the E-Ray will do better or not?