Watch How a C7 Stingray Matches Up to a Lightly Modified C8 Corvette

C7 holds its own, but with more than 500 horsepower, the C8 Corvette wins by a comfortable margin.

The C8 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is the quickest and most powerful “base car” to date. Not everyone has had a chance to drive and experience a C8, but this video from the Hennessey YouTube channel provides an excellent frame of reference. In the video, a Hennessey-modified C8 Stingray goes head-to-head with a bone stock C7 Corvette in a pair of races. If you have driven a stock C7, the video below provides a difference of the performance measures between the two generations.

Again, this really isn’t what we would call a fair race, since the C8 Stingray is modified. Rather than focus on who wins, look at how the newer Corvette pulls on the older car. Using your experience with a C7, you get a good idea of how much harder the C8 pulls through the powerband.

Tale of the Tape

The C7 Chevrolet Corvette in the video above is stock. The LT1 V8 with the performance exhaust upgrade offers 460 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque with an 8-speed automatic transmission. The C8 Stingray’s LT2 offers 495 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque and it is equipped with an 8-speed dual clutch automatic transmission. Also, in stock form, a C7 Stingray Z51 weighs about 200 pounds less than a C8 Stingray Z51. The stock C8 has significantly more horsepower and a little more torque, but it is heavier.

More importantly, the C8 Corvette in this video is not stock. It is fitted with a Hennessey stainless steel exhaust system. This system adds around 21 horsepower and 19 lb-ft of torque while cutting around 10 pounds. This mid-engine machine also has lighter wheels, but we don’t know how much lighter. Those wheels are wrapped in sticky Hoosier tires.

In short, the C8 Corvette has around 516 horsepower and 489 lb-ft of torque while weighing a bit less than it did when stock. The C7 still has a weight advantage, but it has big disadvantages in both power metrics. As a result, the older car doesn’t stand a real chance in either of these races.

C7 and C8 Corvette Duel

The C7 and C8 Corvette begin with a race from a dig. The C7 owner gets the hit and the C8 owner goes when he sees the older car move. This gives the C7 a lead of about a half-length, but the mid-engine Stingray quickly closes, passes and runs away. The C8 ends up beating the C7 by a far car lengths in the dig race.

Next, the two race from a roll, starting around 24 miles per hour. Once again, the C7 gets the hit, but it doesn’t get much of a lead before the C8 has pulled ahead. The roll race shows how the heavier car walks away more quickly, although the C7 puts up a good fight, considering the difference in power.

If you haven’t driven a C8, but you have driven a stock C7, the video below gives you a good look at how big of a performance difference exists between the two.

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