Aston Martin Vantage Drags Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Gets What's Coming to It

That's not to say that a Vantage is going to be slow. The Mercedes-AMG engine inside is the same one you would find in a C 63, for instance. The 4.0-liter V8 relies on two twin-scroll turbochargers to deliver 503 horsepower and 479 lb-ft (650 Nm) of torque.

Power is sent to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox, but there's one other important factor to consider here. The Vantage is not all about raw performance, as it's built to offer some degree of luxury and comfort as well.

And that means it weighs a hefty 3,800 lbs (1,723 kg), which is 700 lbs (317 kg) more than its opponent today. The Corvette also relies on the rear wheels to put the power down, but it uses a six-speed manual gearbox instead.

Now, a bone stock LS7 engine inside a Z06 is good enough for 505 horsepower and 470 lb-ft (637 Nm) of torque. Even at this level, the Corvette would have still had a good chance of winning. But the guys at Hoonigan have opted to install an Edelbrock supercharger on the 7.0-liter V8.

We haven't been given the official figures here, but according to Edelbrock, their Stage 1 street system should bump those numbers up to 657 hp and 582 lb-ft (789 Nm) of torque. If that's also the case here, it sounds like we have a winner already.

As always, the Santa Margarita Ranch finish line is set at 1,000 ft (304 meters), and drivers will have to win two out of three before the end of it all. Right off the bat, the Corvette hits the ball out of the park, and you might not have expected the Aston Martin to be so slow.

One small adjustment later, the British sports car now has a serious advantage going into the race. And it just barely manages to hold on to it, although the outcome would have been different if this was a quarter-mile run. But its dream of winning this battle is about to be shattered; twice in a row.

The Z06 is just faster, both from a dig and from a roll. Of course, the outcome might have been different if the Vantage would have had some upgrades of its own. But when was the last time you saw someone tuning an Aston Martin? And let's not forget about the price gap between these two cars.

You can get a Z06 for about $50,000, while the Vantage will cost at least double that amount. The moral of the story, an older Corvette can be a genuine supercar killer if you spend $10,000 to $15,000 on upgrades. But at the end of the day, these cars were built with different goals in mind.