Z06 Driver Bangs Own Gears While Spraying Nitrous

This C6’s violent launches and filthy-sounding cam make it one of our new favorite Corvettes in the quarter-mile.

By now, we’re used to seeing C5 and C6 Corvettes laying waste to race tracks. Road courses, drag strips, autocrosses…you name it, we have seen it. It takes something a little special to stand out these days, but this nitrous-huffing, six-speed Z06 sure grabbed our attention.

YouTube videographer BigKleib34 tends to find some amazing cars and this bright-red C6 might be the best Corvette he’s found in some time. Not only does the driver bang-shift the gears himself, he also feeds it nitrous.

While that combination used to exist regularly, it has largely disappeared from the drag-racing lexicon as automatic transmissions have improved. We love anybody who rows their own gears, but we find it pretty crazy in a car that knocks on the eight-second door.

If the car’s layout isn’t impressive enough, its violence should be. The Z06 leaves with an urgency you just don’t find in auto-equipped cars. At the initial hit, the car just sits beautifully on its haunches. We find it a real pleasure watching this thing run deep into the 9s. We can’t put our finger on why, but the Corvette carries that meanness all the way down the track.

It doesn’t hurt that the engine sounds magnificent. BigKleib saw this car at Street Car Takeover in March, as well. He couldn’t get enough of that nasty, nasty cam sound. Just listen to this Z06 idle before it howls down the track. That might be what Corvette drag-racing perfection sounds like.

Whatever mods have been done, the Corvette registers as one of the most potent ones around. Certainly, some stick-shift Vettes have gone quicker, but no other one has quite the pizzazz like this. And we love it.