The good folks over at the racing-focused ImportRace channel on YouTube are finally back to their preferred quarter-mile avenue - Island Dragway after going on the hunt for some cool rides at other dragstrips like Bradenton Motorsports Park, Orlando Speed World, or Pocono Raceway. Now, that's a very good thing.
Seriously, even the description for their latest video feature claims that we need to "gear up for multi-brand mayhem" at the track's Test & Tune event. They started the proceeds a couple of days ago with a big 13-minute compilation of the action, but luckily, now they're refining everything down to model level and focusing on some of the stand-out apparitions.
Initially, that meant a 'baby blue' BMW M5 Competition took the stage to show us how it rocks the world of an Audi R8, then made short work of a fellow Bimmer (X3) before giving a Ford Explorer a taste of the German power hidden under the hood. Anyway, if you want something 'local,' no worries. Now, the quarter mile's red carpet has switched the spotlight to a Chevy Corvette Z06.
Unfortunately for some fans, this isn't the mid-engine C8 with its record-breaking 670-horsepower FPC (flat plane crankshaft) V8 but a raw and fine-sounding C7 variation. We feel that its LT4 supercharged gasoline V8 has some aids to bring the count higher than 650 horsepower, judging by some of its performances. But let us not get ahead of ourselves and discuss them one by one.
First and foremost, the white knight in shiny C7 Chevy Corvette Z06 V8 armor met with a nasty Mercedes-Benz C-Class (probably a C 63 AMG). It was an older example from the W204 third generation (2007-2014), but it showed promise based on the vast amount of smoke produced during the initial burnout. Well, as it turns out, that was the best part of the executive sedan, as the driver had a poor reaction time, and the mighty Z06 stomped it with a flat 11-second victory (versus 12.63s).
Funny enough, the C-Class driver still called for a rematch, and they traditionally switched lanes to see if there was a different result. Indeed, the reaction time was much better, but it wasn't enough when the Z06's driver was flawless (0.11s) and nailed another massive 10.65 versus 12.52s victory. Some would say it's a fatality, but this isn't Mortal Kombat and folks attending these kinds of quarter-mile dragstrip events should always expect the unexpected.
As such, the third skirmish, which involved the 'Corvette with four doors' – aka Cadillac's third-generation CTS-V (packing the same supercharged LT4 but with 640 hp) should have brought the third victory of the day for the Z06. Alas, the win can be elusive at times, and this time around, the Corvette dropped to a disappointing 12.69s pass, allowing the bigger Caddy to take the laurels with a 12.16s elapsed time. Last but not least, there was also a BMW M4 and C6 Corvette on the premises, and both were looking to take a bite out of the Z06!
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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