Wicked 2,000 HP C6 Corvette Keeps It Old School With Manual Gearbox
Wicked 2,000 HP C6 Corvette Keeps It Old School With Manual Gearbox
Instead of going the easy route, the owner of this C6 Corvette rows his own gears in this violent launching machine.
These days, as hard as it may be to believe, four-digit horsepower figures are pretty common. It wasn’t that long ago when we fawned over cars that churned out over 1,000 horsepower, but these days, we can waltz on down to a local car dealer and buy something with 700-800 ponies right off the showroom floor. Regardless, doubling that figure in a C6 Corvette – one also equipped with a proper manual transmission – is going to get our attention, even in these horsepower-heavy times, and that’s precisely what we get to see in action in this video from That Racing Channel.
Nicknamed “Betty White,” this C6 Corvette rolled right off the trailer at the drag strip and ripped off a 7.90-second pass, which it achieves with ease courtesy of its copious amounts of power and a laundry list of other mods. The former comes from an LSX-based 388 cubic-inch V8 that’s mated to a real manual transmission – a T56 six-speed with a trans brake for lightning quick launches – though it’s also an unconventional choice for a 2,000 hp ride.
Much of that power comes from a massive 102 mm GT55 turbo, which propels the car to 180 mph passes on 20 pounds of boost. However, on this particular day at the track, the owner has it turned up to 38 psi with an eye toward 190 mph, and he admits that it should easily be capable of cracking the coveted 200 mph mark, too. Heck, he even notes that the powerplant can handle as much as 60 psi, and we can only imagine what kind of power it’ll be making at that those boost levels.
The owner notes that this wicked C6 Corvette “isn’t for the faint of heart,” and it’s pretty easy to see why. Watching it launch from inside the cabin reveals just how violent that process is, and at the same time, he also has to focus on banging through the gears at the perfect time to exact the best possible run. It’s certainly not something we see every day – particularly in times when quick-shifting automatics have taken over – but we’re certainly happy to know that there are still some out there that don’t mind shifting their own gears, even when they’re driving something with incredible amounts of power.
