2020 Shelby GT500 Sinks Fangs into C7 Z06 at Strip
C7 Z06 may have more motor and C8 may have exotic mid-engine layout, but neither has GT500’s superior power and winning speed.
What’s the first thing you need to do to get ready to drag race against the mighty Chevrolet C7 Corvette Z06 and the cool new mid-engine C8 Stingray? Is it envisioning crossing the finish line first? Burning off the top layer of rubber on your rear tires?
Both of those are good ideas, but popular YouTuber StangMode, aka Kundan L. Nasir, had to start at an entirely different point. He’s the proud owner of a stock Grabber Lime 2020 Shelby GT500 Mustang he nicknamed “The Hulk.” Let’s just say he’s had a little too much fun driving it. Nasir says, “You’re supposed to change the oil after 500 miles. Ummm…the car has close to 4,000.”
Twelve quarts of 5W-50 later and he’s ready to head to the Atco Dragway in Atco, New Jersey.
Nasir makes his first pass down the strip with a full tank of gas and his front passenger seat in place. He lays down a hell of a baseline. According to his standalone instrumentation, The Hulk can leap 60 feet in 1.78 seconds, charge to 60 mph in 3.07 seconds and put a quarter mile behind it in 10.72 seconds at 132.24 mph. Nasir improves his speed and time with his second 1,320-foot blast: 10.713 seconds at 133 mph. Not bad for a car that Nasir himself calls “a little bit slow off the line.”
Nasir’s in good company – and competition. A man with a stock 2015 Corvette Z06 is also at the Atco Dragway. Although the supercharged ‘Vette has 110 fewer ponies than the GT500 (650 vs. 760), it has more torque (650 lb-ft vs. 625) and less weight to move (3,524 pounds vs. 4,000+). Those on-paper stats translate to a real-world quarter mile time of 10.734 seconds at 130.12 mph.
There’s only one way to find out which of the two closely matched cars will come in first. Nasir and the Z06 driver line up and go head to head. Neither man is happy with their run, but Nasir comes away with at least one reason to smile. He clocks a time of 10.79 seconds, beating the Z06 by 0.13.
The Z06 driver is in good company, too. Someone brought a gleaming red 2020 C8 Stingray coupe to the track. With only 495 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque (when equipped with the available performance exhaust), the mid-engine Corvette is seriously outgunned by the ultimate Mustang. It does have two things on its side, though. One is the fact that it has a dry weight of 3,366 pounds. The other is that, according to GM Authority, it distributes its weight 40/60 front/rear, which helps traction. In the end, the raw numbers – and Nasir’s impressive reaction time – prevail. After he launches, he trips the sensors 10.751 seconds later going 132.74 mph; the C8 driver gets a slip for a 11.689-second run and a final speed of 119.71 seconds.
The Hulk isn’t the only nickname for Nasir’s GT500. While he was getting his oil changed, one of the guys at the shop called it a “race car with a warranty.” Thank goodness for that because Nasir has already done roughly 40 passes in his Shelby. We know the perfect car for him to take on in his next drag race: the 755-horsepower C7 Corvette ZR1.
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