Dyno-Might! C8 Corvette Z06 Makes Big Power on the Dyno

The C8 Corvette Z06 is now out in the wild and we finally get our first look at what kind of power they put down on a dyno.  

GM told us that the LT6 in the C8 Corvette Z06 would be good for 670 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. Impressive numbers from a naturally aspirated V8. But what kind of power does the C8 Corvette Z06 make in the real world? Was GM just trotting out these figures to hype up the latest high-performance Corvette? Or were they sandbagging a little bit? Well, it is tough to know for sure until actual production cars begin to make it into the hands of those that were lucky enough to actually get one. The good news is that is beginning to happen. And right here we see the results of a C8 Corvette Z06 strapped to a dyno. No more marketing hype and theoretical figures. It is time to see some real evidence.

On the Speed Phenom YouTube channel, a recent video has been posted showing a brand new C8 Z06 hooked up to a Dyno Jet. The car was driving to Dallas Performance and immediately got strapped down. It then was given a chance to cool down a bit and completed another pull. The numbers it put down were impressive. It seems to indicate that GM was not kidding when they said the car would make 670 horsepower. In fact, they may have been a bit conservative. But let’s take a look at what happened.

Dyno Basics

First of all, it is important to understand something about dyno runs. They are great tools for when you are tuning a car to see how much if any power a specific change made. But there are many factors that go into dyno numbers and rarely will two pulls be exactly alike even with the same car on the same day. Temperature plays a big role. The type of dyno plays a role. The software being used, and the calculation method chosen all make a big difference in the numbers. Some people believe that they should take whatever number they see on a dyno as gospel. We would caution against that. If you see a C8 Z06 put down say 650 horsepower at the wheels once don’t go running through the streets screaming that the car really makes 725 horsepower at the crank. You may end up looking silly.

The Numbers

That all being said, the dyno is more reliable than a driver just using their butt to determine how much power a car is making. In the case of this Z06 the first run yielded a 596 horsepower number. The next pull was 599 horsepower. After letting the car cool down it came out strong for pull number three and put down 610 horsepower at the wheels. If you assume a 10 to 15 percent drivetrain loss that 610 pull would indicate that the car may be making a little bit more than the stated 670 horsepower figure. But again, use caution here. This was one day with one car. Hardly enough of a sample size to confirm anything. But it is a good sign.

What We Can Confirm

We see the power figures and they are what they are. But there are a couple of other things to point out. The car showed a bit of a power dip around 6,200 RPM. It could be an anomaly, the team thought that perhaps the engine sensed knock and so had to pull timing. Not a huge concern but maybe something to look at more closely as we see more of these on dynos. What we do know for sure is that the Z06 is so damn wide it barely fits on the dyno rollers. It also makes one hell of a sound when being run at full chat. Speaking of full chat, the car was run in fifth gear and showed an indicated 190 mph on the speedo.

This was the first dyno run for a C8 Z06 so there is still much to learn. But nothing here indicates that the Z06 will be any less impressive than we all thought it would be.

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