New Super-Vette Challenges Ferrari and McLaren
Zora Arkus-Duntov, the legendary engineer who saved the Corvette program from Chevrolet’s corporate ax in its 1950s infancy and steered it to success for two decades, would no doubt be pleased to read Car and Driver’s headline: “2023 Corvette Z06 Is an American Ferrari and Then Some.”
Automotive Hall of Famer Duntov had always wanted to put the Corvette on equal footing with Europe’s best on road and track, at a much lower price, of course. He had hoped to get a mid-engine Corvette into production by around 1970, and all-wheel drive was tested, too. That was probably a pipe dream, considering the budget constraints and bureaucratic labyrinth he always navigated within Chevy and GM.
Flash forward 48 years after Duntov’s 1975 retirement (he died in 1996), and we see his ultimate vision for the Corvette began to play out with the C8-generation mid-engine Corvette Stingray that arrived for 2020. The new Z06 builds on that base to plays in the same realm as top European models, and the upcoming 2024 Corvette E-Ray hybrid will have all-wheel drive. Pricing for the 2023 Z06 coupe starts at about $110,000 and $118,000 for the convertible (including Gas Guzzler tax and delivery charge) and can zoom toward $180,000 with all options.
Which one might Duntov have preferred? We’ll look at the Z06 here and the E-Ray in an upcoming blog and let you know what we think.
Magic Number
An homage to the ordering code for a chassis race-prep option package on the 1963 Corvette, “Z06” has been back in the Corvette fold as a performance upgrade model since 2001. With each new Corvette generation, the Z06 continued to evolve. Yet, as fast as previous Z06 models were, Corvette engineers felt the car’s front-engine placement held it back from truly matching the track prowess of mid-engine Europeans in the hands of skilled drivers. The Z06 version of the C8 that debuted for 2023 seems to have put that argument to rest.
The new Corvette Z06 is a streetable track special, pure and simple. It debuts an all-new, naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V8 that is exclusive to this model and shares nothing with the Stingray’s 6.2-liter pushrod V8. Dubbed LT6, it uses double overhead cams and four valves per cylinder, a configuration used on just one previous Corvette, the 1990-1995 ZR1. The new engine is a Corvette game changer.
The Z06 gets a beefier version of the Stingray’s eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transaxle. Using the basic Stingray’s chassis, the Z06 gets higher-rate springs, retuned MagneRide shock absorbers, and huge Michelin Pilot Sport 4S ZP tires (275/30ZR-20 in front and 345/25ZR-21 in back). Covering the wider tires required the front and rear fenders to be widened by 3.6 inches. The huge brakes use six-piston front calipers and four-piston rear calipers.
Supercar Soundtrack
With 670 horsepower at a super-high 8,400 rpm, the Z06 engine makes a 175-hp jump over the Stingray. That is down 40 hp from the current Ferrari F8 Tributo and an equal amount above a Lamborghini Huracán, both of which cost more than twice as much as a Z06 Corvette.
Key to the LT6 engine’s rowdy character and high-revving nature is a “flat plane” crankshaft. The latter is what gives Ferrari and McLaren V8s an angry buzz sound (like two Japanese four-cylinder superbikes running side-by-side), rather than the traditional muscle car “burble” of the far more common cross-plane type V8.
As Car and Driver poetically put it, the Z06 emits “a soundtrack that was equal parts Gatling gun and circular saw. Yep, the Z06 sounds like a race car, too.” The multimode exhaust system allows the driver to tailor the tone and intensity, right up to “a brain-scrambling scream. The Z06’s engine makes a bit less peak torque than the Stingray, and at higher rpm (460 lb-ft at 6,300 rpm vs. 470 lb-ft at 5,150 rpm), so enjoy that scream as you keep the revs up around a track.
Supercar Chassis
The Z06 gets a beefier version of the Stingray’s eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transaxle. Using the basic Stingray’s chassis, the Z06 gets higher-rate springs, retuned MagneRide shock absorbers, and huge Michelin Pilot Sport 4S ZP tires (275/30ZR-20 in front and 345/25ZR-21 in back). Covering the wider tires required the front and rear fenders to be widened by 3.6 inches. The huge brakes use six-piston front calipers and four-piston rear calipers.
Chevy says the Z06 is track-ready, but for those who plan to use it more on the track than the street, the optional $9,000 Z07 package kicks it up a few notches with yet stiffer springs, track-oriented Pilot Sport Cup 2 R ZP tires, carbon-ceramic brake rotors, and other tweaks. Choosing the Z07 option also requires adding the $8,500 Aero package, while another $2,000 makes those added parts exposed carbon fiber.
From there, you can add carbon-fiber wheels for $10,000 or get them in exposed carbon fiber for another two grand above that. These cut 41 pounds and make the steering even sharper. They also show that Chevy has learned a thing or two from Ferrari and Porsche about high-profit option package strategy.
So, How Fast?
In Car and Driver’s hands, the 2023 Corvette Z06 screamed from 0-60 in 2.6 seconds and blazed the quarter mile in 10.5 seconds. That’s in league with the Ferrari F8 Tributo’s 2.8-second and 10.2-second times and the rear-drive Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica’s 2.8-second/10.8-second performance.
More important for this Vette’s stated track mission, though, is the 2:38.6 lap time that a Z06 (with the Z07 option) set in Car and Driver’s 2023 “Lightning Lap” comparison test at Virginia International Raceway. That was nearly five seconds ahead of the Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica and made this Vette the fifth-fastest car around the circuit in the test’s 17-year history. (The 2023 Z06 was just two-tenths of a second behind the McLaren 765LT from the 2021 test.)
Getting Even Hotter
The Corvette Z06 will appeal to track mavens, as well as those who simply like to acquire track cars just for the pleasure of ownership. The Corvette E-Ray hybrid will serve as a better road car, but get ready, because it’s slightly quicker than the Z06. It’ll get hotter soon. Later this year, combining and expanding on the Z06 and E-Ray fundamentals will yield a 1,000-horsepower monster Vette slated to be named, appropriately, “Zora.”
