After a long wait, the C8 Corvette Stingray Z51 is out of the bag. With the embargo lifted, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that all the big motoring outlets rushed to present their assessments of the mid-engined ‘Vette with the performance package.
First thing’s first, let’s talk about how the eighth generation fares against the front-engined seventh. At the Grattan Raceway in Michigan, the C8 crossed the line in 1:26.1 while the C7 managed 1:27 in the hands of the same test driver. As for the quarter-mile run, the newcomer is faster at 11.2 seconds and 122 mph.
Braking from 70 miles per hour to naught took 149 feet, and on the skidpad, expect “1.03 g with quite a bit more understeer than we were expecting.” The funny thing is, the C7 Corvette Stingray Z51 managed 139 feet and 1.06 g, results which are somewhat understandable given the weight of the eighth generation.
Road & Track took the C8 for a hot lap at Thunderhill Raceway with Travis Okulski behind the wheel, a licensed club racer who lapped the racing circuit in almost a minute and 23 seconds. The by-wire braking system needs some getting used to, and if you were wondering, this technology is an implicit acknowledgment of the Corvette E-Ray hybridized powertrain option.
At the end of the long sweeper at Thunderhill Raceway, Matt Farah from The Smoking Tire is amazed by how much grip the front end has in such a high-speed yet difficult corner. “The turn-in is really sharp” as well, and the track video further reveals the kind of ride quality you simply wouldn’t expect from a ‘Vette.
If you were wondering, the cars in all the following videos were equipped with the FE4 magnetorheological dampers that add $1,895 to the $5,000 price of the Z51 Performance Package. The FE4 also comes with Performance Traction Management, designed to fine-tune the mid-engined sports car’s stability for track use with the help of a dial on the center console.
The big question is, how does the C8 Corvette Stingray Z51 fare on public roads and motorways? Karl Brauer from Kelley Blue Book says the newcomer is “on par with exotics costing ten times as much,” and from the looks of it, ride quality is stellar in the real world as well when optioned with the FE4.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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