C8 vs GT500: Mustang Needs Extra 260 Horsepower to Play
C8 vs GT500: Mustang Needs Extra 260 Horsepower to Play
The first C8 vs GT500 comparison is out and, while Ford takes this round, Corvette’s future looks mighty bright.
In his latest Motor Trend article, professional driver & writer Randy Pobst covers the first C8 vs GT500 head-to-head comparison. The best Corvette ever versus the best Mustang ever. It’s a fascinating face-off, not least because of how differently the two machines approach the task of setting a fast lap around Virginia International Raceway.
Let’s cut to the chase, though. A GT500 equipped with the optional Carbon Fiber Track Pack bests a Z51-equipped Corvette around the track. The C8’s best time is 2:00.96 to the GT500’s 1:56.30 seconds.
Those times are close enough that Motor Trend says that the two performance cars are roughly equal. The two are also priced similarly. The C8 has a base price of $76,945, with the optioned-out version Pobst drove coming in at $88,305. That’s less than the GT500, which came in at $94,365. And the C8’s 495-hp is far less than the GT500’s 760-hp, which says a great deal about the new mid-engine platform.
Pobst finds the C8 far sharper and more of a driver’s car than the GT500, which is intimidating (though fun) on track. “At speed, the ‘Vette’s strongest dynamic assets are described in a list of two: first, low polar moment, and second, forward traction. Chevy engineers have created a machine that benefits in exactly the ways it should: more centralized mass and the resulting rearward weight bias.”
He notes that the C8 has evolved from the “Bart Simpson of supercars” into something far more capable and sophisticated. “The amidships engine makes the steering feel responsive, more direct, and more precise,” he says. “It’s less work. The new ‘Vette slices its way into a bend in a most delightful way.”
Compare that to his take on the GT500. “Pouring on the ponies rockets it down the straights, and slides come slow and controllably,” says Pobst, before adding rather ominously: “Within reason.”
Driven correctly, the Shelby handles its insane power output surprisingly well. “The Shelby handles this great grunt very well—even with its traction/stability control fully disengaged. (I don’t recommend this unless you’ve completed several professional driving schools, one of which Ford offers with the purchase of a GT500, or have won Daytona at least once.) It’s an incredible thrill, breathtaking, to lay the pedal to the metal. But it requires skill to handle that thrill.”
He adds later “overeagerness with that gas pedal will be rewarded with jail and/or hospital time.”
In the end, the less expensive and far less powerful Corvette is not quite as quick as the GT500 around this one track. But a careful reading of the comparison reveals that the C8 is more precise, stable and just less intimidating than the GT500. And we’re still talking about the basic version of the C8. When the Z06 and ZR1 versions of this new world-class platform arrive, they should absolutely destroy the GT500.
While the first C8 vs GT500 may have been lost on one track with one driver, we are entering a golden age for the Corvette. And we can’t wait to see a rematch between the GT500 and faster versions of the C8.
Photos: Motor Trend
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