Rear-wheel drive versus all-wheel drive. Small-block V8 versus turbo inline-five motor. A longitudinal mid-engine layout versus a transverse powerplant. The C8 Corvette Stingray Z51 and the Audi RS 3 Sedan couldn’t be more different, but that doesn’t mean they can’t duke it out on the blacktop.
The performance package enables the ‘Vette to shoot to 60 mph (96 mph) in 2.9 seconds while the German interloper can hit that in 3.9 seconds, all stock. Car & Driver managed to post 2.8 seconds, though, as well as 11.2 seconds at 122 mph (196 kph) on the quarter-mile. Switch the rear tires to drag radials and you can expect 10.922 seconds at 124.95 mph (201 kph).
A modded RS 3 is a totally different adversary for the American sports car, and as you can tell from the following drag race, the Stage 1+ Unitronic tune on E70 is too much for the bone-stock Corvette to handle. “My buddy ran his C8 approximately 15 times on two different track days and his best run was 11.2 at 119,” said highflysugar on YouTube. The mid-engine brawler has also clocked 2.6 seconds at 60 miles per hour and “several 2.8-second runs.”
Having mentioned Car & Driver earlier, the motoring publication has also tested a factory-spec RS 3 at 3.5 seconds to 60 mph and 11.9 seconds at 117 mph (188 kph) on the drag strip. Remarkable numbers for a compact sedan, but despite its footprint, the Audi tips the scales at 3,593 pounds. That’s 54 pounds (24.5 kilograms) shy of the heavier Corvette, and both of them come standard with dual-clutch transmissions with seven and eight speeds.
Speaking of the RS 3, the four-ringed automaker is hard at work developing the next generation of the five-cylinder super sedan and hatchback. Recently spied with the five-door body style at the Nurburgring, the redesigned model appears to be ready to enter production any moment now.
Team Corvette will take a different approach to the first performance-oriented model of the eighth-generation platform, namely the Z06. As opposed to a supercharged small-block V8, the newcomer will transition to a flat-plane crankshaft V8 derived from the LT5 that powers the C8.R racing car.
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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