Understanding the Corvette E-Ray’s Predictable Results at 2024 Lightning Lap

The Corvette E-Ray performance landed between the Z06 and Stingray at Car and Driver’s annual Lightning Lap competition.

The results are in from Car and Driver’s 2024 Lightning Lap competition. This year the Corvette E-Ray participated and put down a fast and a rather predicable result. Most of us would expect that on a racetrack the Z06 would be the lap time king. The Stingray has the least amount of power so you would expect that one to be the slowest of the Corvette trio. Slow being a relative term. And the more powerful, but heavier E-Ray you would think would land somewhere in the middle. Well, for those of you that don’t like surprises we have good news. The E-Ray posted a lap time that neatly splits the times of the Z06 and Stingray.

Running the 4.1-mile VIR Grand Course the E-Ray posted a lap time of 2:45.9. For reference the, Z06 with the Z07 Package posted a lap time of 2:38.6 at the 2023 Lightning Lap competition. At the 2021 event, a Stingray with Z51 package put down a 2:49.0. In the history of the event 327 vehicles have turned a lap. The E-Ray is the 31st fastest of all time. It is quicker than a 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 (2:47.0), but slower than the 2019 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE (2:45.0). But raw lap times don’t always tell the whole story. Let’s look a bit closer at the E-Ray performance.

Tires

The E-Ray and Stingray were both running Michelin Pilot Sport 4S ZP tires. However, the Z06 lapped on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R ZP rubber. Putting the E-Ray and Stingray on Cup 2 tires would probably be worth a good 2 seconds. That would get the hybrid Corvette to within about 5 seconds of the Z06 time. That is still a sizable gap even on a big 4.1-mile course. There is simply no question that the Z06 is the track weapon, and the E-Ray just can’t keep up. Although it would be very interesting to see how the lap times would compare in the rain. In those conditions, the all-wheel drive E-Ray would have a real chance at lapping quicker than the Z06.

Biggest E-Ray Flaw

The VIR Grand Course exposed a serious shortcoming regarding tracking an E-Ray. And that is the hybrid system. The battery can’t provide full boost for the entire lap. And the electric motor that sends power to the front wheels taps out after 120 mph. To get the best possible lap time the driver had to fiddle with the Charge+ button to dole out the extra power. That is not something the typical driver is going to want to bother with if they take their E-Ray to a local track day. Thus, for portions of a lap, an E-Ray driver will be piloting a car that is putting out no more power than a Stingray yet is about 300 pounds heavier.

Testing Notes

During the lap, it was noted that the E-Ray felt larger and less precise than the lighter and narrower Stingray. But it still handled well, and understeer was minimal. The all-wheel-drive system paid dividends even in the dry. Through the tight turn 1, the E-Ray generated 1.12 g’s and accelerated out of the corner 0.6 mph faster than the track-focused Z06. At the end of the day putting down a 2:45.9 at the VIR Grand Course is nothing to be ashamed of. You can still have plenty of fun on a racetrack with an E-Ray. You just will be going a bit slower than you would in a Z06, and a bit faster than you would in a Stingray.

Just like the GM engineers drew it up.

Images: Chevrolet

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