After driving the C8 Corvette Stingray Z51 for 1,400 miles from Kentucky to Texas, the one and only John Hennessey proceeded to dyno the mid-engine sports car. 466 horsepower and 451 pound-feet of torque at the rear wheels is pretty good, but care to guess how the newcomer fares on the blacktop?
Without any sort of prepping under the skin or on the track, the C8 hits 60 mph from a standstill in 4.14 seconds instead of 2.9 seconds as Chevrolet promises on paper. The quarter-mile run is over in 11.98 seconds at 116 miles per hour, and before the driver ran out of track, the C8 topped 182 mph.
As you can tell from the digital instrument cluster, the tranny didn’t shift higher than sixth gear. It should be highlighted that Tremec developed the TR 9080 with an mSLD in the Stingray and eLSD in the Stingray Z51. This difference also translates to different axle ratios of 4.89:1 for the Stingray and 5.17:1 for the Stingray Z51. In other words, the Z51 boasts quicker acceleration to the detriment of top speed (184 mph; 194 for the non-Z51).
The acceleration and top speed clip of the C8 from Hennessey also proves that the sports exhaust is worth the price of the Z51 Performance Package, which adds $5,000 to the starting price of $59,995 including destination charge. The Stingray relies on a 6.2-liter V8 from the small-block family, but there are a few interesting changes over the LT1 in the previous-gen C7.
More efficient intake and exhaust manifolds, dry-sump lubrication, a large liquid-to-liquid oil cooler, and a shorter distance between the throttle body and intake valves are only a few of the highlights. Better still, the 495-horsepower and 470-lb.ft. blunderbuss doesn’t require engine-out service.
On a related note, have you heard you can no longer order the 2020 model year? Chevrolet took this decision as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, confirming that 2021 model year orders will start on May 21st.
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
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News