Do you think this is an impressive time?
While the new C8 Corvette Z06 certainly is an impressive machine, what with its flat plane-crank V8 situated midship and all, a drag racer it most certainly isn’t. That’s been true of the C8 platform in general, with these newer Corvettes struggling to churn out impressive numbers on quarter mile runs. That’s not us hating on the C8, just admitting these cars are designed for sticking tight turns, not ripping down the dragstrip.
Watch a twin-turbo C8 Corvette and Shelby GT500 race each other here.
The Z06 is definitely quicker than its other C8 brethren, what with its claimed 0-60 time of 2.6 seconds. But on a drag strip your car has to pull hard all the way past 100 mph to turn out an impressive performance. This is where a video recently shared by Jesse Iwuji, current NASCAR driver and former college football player, comes in.
Iwuji was pretty pumped to share how his C8 Z06 was able to pull off a 6.8-second eighth mile run. We know, we know, that elapsed time would be so much more impressive if it were for the quarter mile, actually it would be absolutely fantastic and definitely unrealistic. However, these new Z06s are rather untested as they’re just making their way into customers’ hands and many are still going through the break-in period.
To test his out, Iwuji took the Corvette to Irwindale Speedway in California. Before taking to the dragstrip there, he smartly swapped out the factory 21-inch rear wheels for 20-inchers with 305 drag radials wrapped around them.
Even with that big change, Iwuji found it hard to hook up off the line on his first run. The fact that doing a burnout in the C8Z is difficult adds to the challenge of using one in drag races. After four runs, he’s able to achieve a best 6.86 seconds at 108 mph – not too shabby. The man believes he can push the car to 6.6 seconds in the eighth mile, so just imagine what someone who starts really modifying one might be able to do.
Check out Iwuji’s video of his runs for yourself.
Images via YouTube
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