Immaculate C5 Drag Racer Runs a 4.5-Second 1/8-mile

Dragzine profiles a Nardo Grey C5 Corvette drag racer that has evolved from mild to wild.

Since purchasing a 1999 Corvette in 2016, owner Charlie Hill built his C5 into a formidable drag racer. Dragzine writer Brian Havins wrote an in-depth profile of Hill and his C5 Corvette drag racer. Despite its current extreme spec, when Hill bought the C5 he was just looking for, “a basic-ass C5 that would rip,” as he says in the article. Hill retired from dirt-bike racing (too dangerous) and went into drag racing. His first drag car was a fourth-get Camaro with an LS under the hood. But when Hill’s business LSxperts took off he decided to get serious about racing. Which is where his 1999 Corvette came into the picture.

As Hill tells Dragzine, the C5 may have started out basic but it has evolved into something far more extreme. It took Hill a mere six months to build it into its first iteration. The Corvette was modified with a 399 c.i. engine with 76/75 turbos which allowed it to reach 229 mph at a 1/2-mile event in 2017. While it was undeniably fast, Hill tells Dragzine that 1/2-mile racing was too dangerous for him, considering the fact that the cars routinely exceed 200 mph. “When we went 229 in the 1/2-mile, the windows tried to come out, and the hood tried to blow off,” says Hill in the article. “At that point, I was thinking ‘the hell with that.’” Once he set the record he retired the Corvette from 1/2-mile competition.

Hill then began racing the Corvette in 1/8-mile drag racing. Currently, the C5 is running a 440 c.i. LS built by Thompson Motorsports. The built LS allows the Corvette to hit 162 mph in 4.5 seconds down the 1/8-mile. That’s a pretty impressive number. The independent rear suspension and stock torque tube have been swapped for a solid rear axle along with a lot of other modifications. Big changes to the bodywork also meant the car needed to be repainted. Hill chose Nardo Grey, a color more commonly seen on Audi RS variants. “Since the car had a more sinister look, we made everything under the hood look like it was from a chrome factory,” says Hill.

The story behind Hill’s C5 is an interesting read so head on over to Dragzine to get the full scoop.

Photos: Lock It In Productions

.