[VIDEO] Time to Trade? Corvette E-Ray Races a Z06 on a Private Airport Runway

We’ve been collectively pining for someone, anyone, to do a full road, strip, and track comparison between the top dogs of the modern Corvette hierarchy – until the Sabretooth Tiger of a ZR1 is thrown into the kennel to upend everything we thought we knew about what’s possible – for going on two years now. Unfortunately for us, the folks in charge of GM’s press fleet have been painstakingly thorough about keeping its alphas with eerily similar bottom lines at different dog parks.

But Corvette Nation has finally had one-third of its E-Ray vs. Z06 dreams delivered, thanks to the magic of private ownership and the DragTimes YouTube channel! As you might have surmised from the name of the channel, it isn’t the third of the dream test that would have flat-plane fans feeling confident; DT is all about the straight-line action!

Now, the test isn’t perfect. The E-Ray is a hard-top convertible vs. the Z06 Coupe. The Z also has the added drag of the Z07 package but the base wheels, while the E-Ray was spec’d with the lighter Carbon Fiber wheel option. But that’s all pedantic hair-splitting that will have little to no effect on the outcome of a standing race of 1,320 feet. The real differences, and why this matchup is so compelling, is in the way the pair of Corvettes make their power and how they transfer that power to their respective tires.

The Z06 hasn’t changed since its debut as a 2023 model. It still features the world’s most powerful naturally aspirated V8, an 8,600 RPM Ferrari-style banshee that sends its 670 horses and 460 lb-ft exclusively to its massive 345×21 rear rubber through an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. It’s like checks in around 3,700 lbs. in Targa form, and the Blacked-out example on-screen carried an MSRP in the neighborhood of $150,000 when it was new.

The E-Ray is down 15 ponies. Its conventional Pushrod LT2 V8 teams up with a front-mounted 1.1 kWh battery-electric system for a total output of 655 to go with a Z-shaming 595 lb-ft of twist. In a Corvette first, this state-of-the-art solution allows it to power all four corners and shoot off the line with a rare urgency. With the addition of the folding top, the Hybrid does incur a significant weight penalty, with the scale reading 4,100 pounds, or “Z06 plus some 400.” Against traditional wisdom, the E-Ray also brings the greater sticker price into this sibling rivalry, with the striped Sea Wolf Gray (RIP) beauty raking up a total ask of $170,000.

We won’t spoil anything except so say that the battle is pretty one-sided until the hole-shot is relinquished in the third and final race. It would be very interesting to see the checkered flag moved back to the half or even one-mile mark, where our host notes the E-Ray was running out of steam during a debrief in his impressive five-car fantasy garage that, for those curious and loyal readers who are still with us after resisting the urge to mash “play” right away, features an eclectic multi-national and generational grouping.

In order of how they tripped our desirability meter, his Florida collection includes likes of a 2005 Ford GT (in Mark IV Red with three of the four options visible), a tough-to-identify “Super-Series” McLaren (it’s either a 720S, 750S, or, one suspects, a 765LT) in stunning Napier Green, a 992 Porsche 911 Turbo S that is already on-notice about vacating its parking space for a 2026 ZR1 if its owner gets good news from his Chevy store, the new hybrid Lamborghini Revuelto that looks like the best benchmark for said ZR1, and… a rotary-powered Mazda RX-7 from the third and final “FD” generation circa 1991-1997; just like the rest of the video, good stuff! Place your bets, and enjoy this one, ‘Vette fans!

Source:

DragTimes / YouTube

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