C7 Corvette ZR1 Takes Down 2020 Shelby GT500 in Series of Roll Races

The newer, much-hyped GT500 finds a formidable opponent in the mighty, last-gen C7 Corvette ZR1.

It’s fair to say that the C7 Corvette ZR1, introduced for the 2019 model year, didn’t really get a fair run. After just one model year, the mid-engine C8 came along, and pretty much everyone immediately forgot about what was the ultimate Corvette to date. But the C7 Corvette ZR1 is no slouch by any stretch of the imagination, and it’s quite capable of hanging with just about anything out there – including the newest Mustang Shelby GT500.

That fact is clearly on display in this video from Hennessey Performance. The stars aligned at the Texas tuner recently as two different customers had sent in their 2020 Shelby GT500 and C7 Corvette ZR1 for 1,000 horsepower upgrades, which presented a rare opportunity. Thus, before wrenching on these rides, Hennessey decided to take them both out to its test track and see which was the quickest in stock form.

On paper, this is an intriguing matchup. The C7 ZR1 utilizes Chevy’s supercharged 6.2-liter LT5 V8, which produces 755 horsepower and 715 pound-feet of torque. On the other side, we have the new GT500, which packs Ford’s supercharged 5.2-liter Predator V8 producing 760 horsepower and 625 pound-feet of torque.

Each car has one distinctive advantage over the other as well. The GT500’s is its quick-shifting dual-clutch transmission, which makes the ZR1’s 8-speed automatic look a bit archaic. However, the Corvette weighs significantly less than the porky Shelby – around 700 pounds less, in fact. Thus, this intriguing matchup is truly up for grabs as the two cars line up for a series of roll races.

On the first run, the ZR1 jumps out to a lead right off the line and never looks back, putting some distance on the GT500 by the time they both cross the finish line. The Mustang driver forgot to put the car in manual mode, however, so they line up for a rematch. This time, the Mustang gets the jump, but loses considerable ground by the end.

For the third and final race, the two drivers switch cars to see if that makes a difference. And it doesn’t, really, as the Corvette easily takes down the portly GT500. We would have liked to see a second race with the driver change, but that isn’t in the cards. Regardless, it’s pretty clear which car is consistently faster here, and it isn’t the newer, heavily-hyped one, either.

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