C8 Corvette Drag Races 850 HP NASCAR Racer With Shocking Results

At a massive power and weight disadvantage, one would think the C8 Corvette would be the underdog here, but you’d be wrong.

By now, everyone is well aware of the fact that the C8 Corvette is an impressive performer, as well as one heck of a good value. Turns out, the car’s switch to a mid-engine layout also helps with its straight-line prowess – not just in the twisties – and that means it’s a solid drag racing weapon as well. That much is clearly evident in this most recent chapter of Hoonigan’s This vs That series, which pits two very different vehicles against each other in a series of drag races to see which comes out on top.

On one side of this fight, we have a familiar foe in the form of a C8 Corvette Stingray that has received little more than visual mods, which means that its 6.2-liter LT2 V8 cranks out just shy of 500 horsepower and weighs in at around 3.500 pounds. In the other lane is something a bit less conventional, however – a wild 2010 NASCAR racer that’s been fitted with a turbocharged 3.0-liter 2JZ I-6, which sends a whopping 850 horsepower to the wheels and has to move just 2,850 pounds.

On paper, one could safely assume that the C8 Corvette doesn’t stand a chance in this matchup, but it does have one particular thing working in its favor – a quick-shifting dual-clutch transmission, versus the cup car’s four-speed manual. Regardless, with a far superior power to weight ratio, would that be enough to compensate for one seemingly minor disadvantage?

The answer is, well, no – the C8 Corvette makes easy work of the 2JZ-swapped racer, leaping off the line, putting a gap on it, and never looking back. Thus, in round two, the Hoonigan team gives the NASCAR machine a one car jump start, but once again, the Corvette simply rockets past its opponent and takes yet another win, though the race car does wind up getting some measure of revenge by beating the C8 in a roll race. Regardless, it’s pretty clear that the C8 is once again punching above its weight here, out-accelerating a much more powerful – and far lighter – vehicle.

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