Chevy C8 Corvette’s Real-world Quarter-mile Speculation

Corvette owners often turn quicker quarter mile times than what Chevrolet claims. Will the C8 follow suit?

The C8 Corvette is the first to feature the long-rumored mid-engine design and while it is engineered to be far more than a drag car, there is no question that plenty of owners will spend some time racing down the quarter mile. With that in mind, Corvette Forum member “Racerns” posted a thread in the C8 Tech/Performance section asking the community what kinds of stock times they expect to see from the newest Stingray. As you might expect, the majority of members believe that the C8 Corvette will run 10s with a good driver while great air and drag radial tires should get them into the mid-10s.

Corvette Official Times and Owner Times

When the OP first posted his question to the forum, he included quarter mile times for a long list of C5, C6 and C7 Corvettes, with both the official Chevrolet time and the best time turned in by private owners. As you can see in the list below, the private times are always markedly better than the official times.

So now that we are starting to see actual magazine 1/4 time for the C8 it is time to predict what we think is going to be the best drag strip time we see out of the C8 LT2 (base or z51) completely stock and maybe with just drag radials. I mean best track, mine shaft air, hot shoe driver (if that makes any difference) time. Corvettes have a recent history of being able to better the factory and magazine 1/4 times by a significant amount at the strip.

Below are factory quoted times (if I could find them) vs best strip time stock:
C5 Z06 (M6) 12.4@116mph – 11.78@119.9mph
C6 LS2 (A4) 12.9@110mph – 12.56@112.0mph
C6 LS2 (M6) 12.5@115mph – 12.23@115.6mph
C6 LS2 (A6) 12.X@11Xmph – 12.22@11.5.5mph
C6 LS3 (M6) 12.4@117mph – 11.72@119.9mph
C6 LS3 (A6) 12.X@11Xmph – 11.81@118.8mph
C6 Z06 (M6) 11.7@125mph – 10.98@128.9mph DR Time – 10.72@130.3mph
C6 ZR1 (M6) 11.3@131mph – 10.66@132.9mph DR Time – 10.26@135.4mph
C7 LT1 (M7) 12.0@119mph – 11.96@119.6mph DR Time – 11.72@119.4mph
C7 LT1 (A6/8) 11.9@119mph – 11.37@119.9mph DR time – 11.31@121.2mph
C7 Z06 (M7) 11.2@127mph – 10.90@127.1mph DR time – 10.31@134.7mph (This time with front skinnies)
C7 Z06 (A8) 10.95@127mph – 10.41@134.3mph DR time – 10.21@137.1mph (This time with front skinnies)
C7 ZR1 (A8) 10.6@134mph – 10.36@133.4mph DR time – 9.94@140.3mph (This time with front skinnies)
C8 Z51 (DC) 11.3@121mph – ????? (That factory time is not official yet)

So what will the C8 do? I am going to say that since Chevy has spent so much time maximizing traction and the DTC launch that you will not see as big of a drag strip bump as the front engine cars have and that drag radials won’t gain that much more either. See the C7 autos (besides the ZR1). I am going to say a best of 10.9@124mph with maybe another .1 for drag radials.

As you can see, some privately owned Corvettes are more than a half-second quicker in the quarter mile than Chevrolet expects while the smallest gap is four hundredths of a second, but in every case, privately owned cars are turning in better times. With that in mind, the C8 Corvette is all-but-guaranteed to run quicker than an 11.3, but how much quicker?

The Community Responds

The first person to reply was “Mike Jesse”, who is expected the C8 Corvette to run well into the 10-second range with good tires and good air.

Negative DA.
Proper DR’s and wheels.
10.70’s.
Sit back and wait for HP Tuning to crack the ECU/TCU and it will be a 10.40 car IMHO.

“Fore58” isn’t quite as optimistic, but his expectations are in the same basic range.

10.90 stock….10.80 with drag radials

“Pre-Z06” also likes the 10-second range, with air quality leading to mid-10s.

It’s cool to see the C5Z06, C6LS3 and C7Z51 all ran within a tenth/mph in stock manual form.

Agreed the delta of drag radials on the C8 isn’t going to as big as manual cars of the past as the 2.8 0-60 is probably a low 1.6 maybe high 1.5 60’ that’s impressive for a stock rwd on a street tire. I think in mine shaft air it’ll go 10.9 with a flyweight jockey behind the wheel, throw on some smaller/lighter/narrower drag radials and it might go 10.7 if it still shifts right matching the mighty C6Z06, put skinnies on the front and 10.6 is my guess.

Finally, along with more of the same basic comments and some small talk about the tuning potential of the LT2, “JazzVA” points out the best time so far, turned in by Motor Trend.

Isn’t the best 1/4 mile report now 11.1 @123.2 and 0-60 in 2.8 sec according to MotorTrend. I’m guessing with a proper tire this car gets into the 10’s at the same mph and that’s pretty sexy.

If you have an opinion on how quickly the C8 Corvette will cover the quarter mile, click here to head into the discussion.

Photos: Chevrolet

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