Tuned Acura NSX Drags Chevy Corvette Stingray, Someone Gets (Slightly) Hammered

That way, in a rear-mid-engine configuration plus rear-wheel-drive, traction will be facilitated by the additional weight placed on the rear axle. That also makes it jittery around the curves if you're not a skilled driver – or if the engineers don't know what they are doing. Luckily, only a few platforms are known as 'true widow makers.'

That nickname was attributed to the early Porsche 911 turbo builds, but the engineers quickly refined the recipe, and most other competitors followed suit. As such, many automakers decided to try and use the setup with different degrees of success – although some did it a lot later than others.

For example, Honda introduced the NSX series – sold under the Acura banner in North America – more than two decades ago, in 1990. The two-seater, mid-engine coupe was marketed under two generations, one for the 1991 to 2005 model years and another for the 2017 to 2022MY. Conversely, Chevrolet only reinvented the Corvette series after no less than seven generations of front-engine, RWD glory.

But why are we talking about a renowned Japanese sports car and 'America's sports car?' Well, sometimes, these two clash – either on the street or, even better, at the local racetrack. On this occasion, a second-gen Acura NSX brawled with a fresh 2023 C8 Chevy Corvette Stingray Z51 to see who's boss at the local dragstrip.

The videographer behind the SSDracer channel on YouTube has prepared some quick action of the 1/8th mile variety at Barona Dragstrip in Lakeside, California, and reverted to his latest acquisition – the crimson Stingray Z51. By the way, this Youtuber loves cars and races all of them – his garage also includes stuff like a 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP with a 3.8-liter V6, an eleventh generation 2022 Honda Accord Sport (2.0L turbo) sedan, and previously owned an older Accord plus a 2018 Chevy Camaro SS muscle car.

On this particular occasion, though, with the mild sun setting in their faces (and impairing both the race starter and our ability to read the ETs properly), the Chevy Corvette brawled with an Acura NSX. However, the latter was also tuned, so we cannot be entirely sure of its OEM rating of 573 horsepower. Meanwhile, the Z51 is stock and packs precisely 495 horsepower. Thus, barring an unexpected incident, we already know the winner of the race. Alas, the Corvette held tight and only got 'slightly' hammered, given the 7.02s versus 7.15s result!