The C8 Corvette Z06 is perhaps one of the best cars that America has ever built. For the fraction of the price of an equivalent mid-engined Ferrari, you get a supercar with the world's most powerful naturally-aspirated V-8 in an age where even the Prancing Horse brand has already embraced turbocharging and electrification. As these supercars finally trickle down to their owners, comparisons against other supercars are pretty much inevitable, and for today's YouTube video courtesy of DragTimes, the Corvette Z06 takes on the Ferrari 812 Superfast.
Z06 Vs 812 Superfast: Two Completely Different Approaches In Performance
The C8 Corvette Z06 and 812 Superfast are quite different in how they approach performance. The former is a rear mid-engined supercar while the latter has an engine at the front but being behind the front axle, it's still technically a mid-engined car--albeit more of a grand tourer.
They also significantly differ in power, with the C8 Corvette Z06's naturally-aspirated V-8 produces 670 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque, while the Ferrari's naturally-aspirated V-12 puts out a massive 789 horsepower and 530 pound-feet of torque. Both cars are rear-wheel drive, come with dual-clutch transmissions, and weigh similarly at around 3,900 pounds.
When giving both vehicles a rev, the C8 Corvette Z06 definitely sounds epic, especially since it has a Fabspeed exhaust, and it puts out quite a noise versus the Ferrari 812 Superfast. Compared to past Corvettes, the C8 Z06 sounds radically different, and in a good Ferrari sort of way. That's because the Z06's V-8 features a flat-plane crank as opposed to past models with a cross-plane crank. The former allows for a higher horsepower figure, a higher RPM redline, and a soundtrack that is unmatched by today's supercars that sound diluted in the age of electrification and turbocharging.
But Which One Ultimately Wins?
But the main reason why we're here, of course, is to find out which of the two brands has a better approach when it comes to performance. On paper, having the Ferrari 812 Superfast take on the C8 Corvette Z06 should be a walk in the park for the Italian supercar, right? Not quite.
In the first run, the C8 Corvette Z06 manages to start without drama, thanks to the car's launch control that has been calibrated to claw onto the road as soon as possible. It also helps that having the engine at the rear makes the tires hook up immediately to the ground, since the weight shifts towards the rear when accelerating hard. This lets the Z06 have the advantage when it comes to launching from a start.
At the end of the quarter mile though, the Ferrari 812 Superfast manages to shorten the gap with the Z06, but not enough to finish the race first. This is where the Ferrari's horsepower advantage becomes evident. By the time both supercars reach the quarter mile, the Corvette Z06 has set a time of 10.595 seconds at 128.9 mph, while the Ferrari wasn't behind at 10.846 seconds, but at a faster speed of 132.96 mph.
A driver change happened in the next run, with DragTimes' own Brooks Weisblat now behind the wheel. During this second pass, Weisblat manages to launch in a far more ferocious manner than the 812 which, again, is doing more effort to find traction.
Once hitting the quarter mile, the Z06 crosses the line in 10.648 seconds at 128.05 mph, while the Ferrari did the same job in 10.964 seconds at 132.70 mph. In another run, the Corvette Z06 once again took the lead, crossing the line in 10.525 seconds at 128.15 mph versus 10.865 seconds at 132.79 mph.
These results show how a supercar at a fraction of the Ferrari's price is able to outpace it in a quarter mile. From a standing start, things are even more impressive as the Z06 is able to hook up to the tarmac much more ferociously than the 812 Superfast, which had a harder time finding traction.