Corvette C7 Z06 Challenges Evo X to a Time Attack Session, Can Only End One Way

Located about 80 miles (129 km) from Los Angeles, Willow Springs International Motorsports Park is the oldest permanent road course in the United States. They started building it in 1952, and the first official race was held there on November 23rd of 1953. There has been plenty of drifting going on here, and shows like Top Gear and Best Motoring International have used the venue as a location for their projects.

While I'm pretty up to date with lap records for tracks like Spa Francorchamps, the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and Tsukuba, I honestly had no idea what the fastest lap at Willow Springs looked like. And I'm talking about the main course, called Willow Springs Raceway, which is 2.5 miles (4.02 km) long, consisting of 9 turns. I must confess that I was shocked learning that the current record was set back in 1987, by Michael Andretti in a CART Indycar.

Driving at an average speed of 136 mph (218.87 kph), Andretti set a lap record of 1:06.050, which was just slightly faster than what Nigel Mansell had achieved in an F1 car back in 1982. The only man to even come close to that performance after the year 1997 was Chris Dyson, who ran a 1:08.733 in a Lola B12/66, back in 2013. So all of a sudden, I was even more curious to see how the two cars in today's video, were going to perform.

Christian Hudnell is the man behind the wheel of the 2019 Corvette Z06, a fairly capable machine, rated at 650 horsepower. From the moment you see this car for the first time, it becomes obvious that Christian is quite serious about driving, and it looks like it could fit in at any professional time attack event as well. This is his second track day with the car, so he is still getting used to it, but even so, I'm starting to doubt that Evo is going to stand a chance.

And that feeling only amplifies as you get to learn more about this Z06. Because a DSCsport Tractive package has been installed, and that's rated at slightly under $7,000 alone! The car's running Brembo Ceramic brakes, which probably never suffer any kind of fading. Weight figures have been improved also using a carbon hood and roof. There's also an AFE cat-back exhaust in place, to allow the 6.2-liter V8 to breathe more efficiently.

In the other corner, the 2008 Mitsubishi Evolution X may have AWD, but it certainly lacks in the horsepower department. The 2.0-liter engine has been upgraded with a Garrett GTX3576R turbo, so it should be capable of about 400 horsepower. Suspension-wise, it's running KW V3 coil overs, which I can personally attest to being quite awesome. There's only one bucket seat in here as opposed to the Chevrolet, but still, the list of mods just doesn't seem extensive enough to make up for the lower horsepower figures.

Both drivers have had all day to practice, in an attempt to set the fastest lap time. We get to see a direct comparison with onboard cameras on both cars, and you can't help but get the feeling that they should've brought out a more capable car to take on the Z06.

After discussing their runs, the results are revealed, and there's no shock there. The Evo X set a fast lap of 1:35.4, while the Z06 was considerably faster at 1:29.6. I don't know about you, but I'm all for more of these challenges, but I just feel that the cars should be more evenly matched in the future.