C8 Z06 Beats the Dodge Demon at Its Own Game in a Drag Race

The Dodge Demon was built to win a drag race and has a huge horsepower advantage, but the C8 Z06 obliterates it on its home turf.

The new C8 Corvette Z06 was built to take on the worlds best sportscars on the racetrack. And sometimes those tracks require the car to turn left and right. In other words, the C8 Z06 was not built to own the drag strip. However, the Dodge Demon was. Much was made about the Demon when it was released because it was said that it was a 9 second car. It was so quick it was “banned” by the NHRA from running at the drag strip without extra safety equipment. The whole reason the Demon exists is to dominate the quarter mile. The new Z06 is indeed a fast car with the LT6 providing a stout 670 horsepower. The most ever from a naturally aspirated production V8. But the supercharged Hemi in the Demon makes a whopping 840 horsepower. And came from the factory with Nitto drag tires.

Can the Z06 best the mighty Dodge Demon in a quarter mile race that the Demon was optimized for? The short answer is yes. In fact, the Z06 destroys the Demon in a drag race. And from a roll the Corvette edges out the Demon there as well. We have the proof in the form of a video recently uploaded to the Throttle House YouTube channel. The contest was at Willow Springs Raceway in California. Willow Springs is a great track that has a quarte mile straight. But it is not a drag strip with a fully prepped surface. So even with drag tires the Demon struggles to take advantage of the extra 170 horsepower.

Drag Results

The Z06 may be down on power but it is also down on weight. Nearly 850 pounds of weight. It is as if one of the 840 horsepower in the Demon is provided by a real horse sitting in the car. The other Corvette advantage is how it distributes its weight. That LT6 sits over the rear wheels which helps them hook up off the line. The Corvette can more easily use the power that it has, and it simply walks the Demon in a drag race. By the end of the quarter mile the Z06 is over three car lengths ahead of the Demon.

Roll Results

OK, let’s give the Mopar crowd at least a shot here. Next up is a roll race. It covers the same quarter mile distance but by starting from a roll the traction advantage the Z06 has at launch is eliminated. Now the extra power of the Demon should carry it to victory. Well, not quite. The race is much closer this time around. The Z06 wins by a nose. If the race was another 50 feet, the Demon may have edged it out. But the race was not another 50 feet, so the Demon is a loser here as well.

Z06 Impresses

Z06 buyers that intend on tracking the car will likely take it to more road courses than drag strips. And that makes sense as a road course is where this car can truly shine. However, it is impressive to see just how quick this car is in a straight line. Especially considering it is all motor and the Z06 engineers did not have quarter mile times as a top priority when developing the car. But when you build something this well balanced and powerful it should not come as a surprise that it can more than hold its own in any contest of speed.

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