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Track Battle: Chevy Corvette Z06 Faces the Ford Mustang GT500 – Which One's Faster?

Some say American cars are not that fun to drive on twisty roads compared to their overseas rivals, but the modern establishment wants to change that perspective. There are several auto marques that have more track-ready versions of some of their models in their portfolios, and in this case, we’ll put the hypothetical spotlight on Chevrolet and Ford.
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vs. Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 6 photos
Photo: Screenshot Youtube | Speed Phenom
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vs. Ford Mustang Shelby GT500Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vs. Ford Mustang Shelby GT500Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vs. Ford Mustang Shelby GT500Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vs. Ford Mustang Shelby GT500Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vs. Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
The reason behind mentioning these two is simple, as it revolves around the video embedded at the bottom of the page. At almost 10 minutes long, the footage came from Speed Phenom on YouTube, and it shows the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 proving their mettle at the Buttonwillow Raceway Park in California.

For what it’s worth, the Youtuber owns both vehicles, and he is obviously not afraid of putting them through their paces. Another thing that should be mentioned is the fact that the bowtie brand’s car came fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires, whereas the Blue Oval’s had the less sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber on its feet, so we all know where the balance slightly tilts, don’t we?

Since we’ve inevitably moved on to the performance part, we might as well remind you that the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 from the C8 generation uses a flat-plane crank V8, with 5.5 liters in displacement, which came to life with indirect help from Ferrari. It has 670 hp (680 ps/500 kW) and 460 lb-ft (623 Nm) of torque via the loud pedal, for the 0 to 60 mph (0-97 kph) acceleration in 2.6 seconds. The quarter-mile is a 10.6-second affair, the GM-owned brand claims, which is about the same as its rival from Ford.

The Mustang Shelby GT500 is still the brand’s most powerful street-legal car ever made, and it is superior to the Z06 in terms of output and torque. At a hard push of the throttle, the supercharged 5.2-liter V8 develops 760 hp (771 ps/567 kW) and 625 lb-ft (847 Nm) of torque. Now, despite being way punchier than the mid-engine Chevy, the muscle car is a bit slower to 60 mph (97 kph), as it can deal with the sprint in roughly three seconds. Those numbers should be significantly improved in the upcoming Shelby GT500, assuming that the Dearborn auto marque still has one in the pipeline.

Now that we’ve reminded ourselves about the numbers that truly matter, it is time to move on to the actual video, which shows a difference of 3.5 seconds between the two at the aforementioned racetrack. One might argue that the result is irrelevant, as we’re not talking about a pro racing driver, but the Youtuber does seem to know his way around fast rides. So, think you can tell which of the two was quicker?

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About the author: Cristian Gnaticov
Cristian Gnaticov profile photo

After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s.
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