800-Plus HP C5 Corvette Stuns Matt Farah
800-Plus HP C5 Corvette Stuns Matt Farah
Watch the host of The Smoking Tire drive a purpose-built C5 Corvette that dominates runway battles and canyon carving.
The Chevrolet C5 Corvette is one of the greatest used performance bargains at the moment. The American sports car was an absolute beast when it came out. Appearing on the scene in 1997, the C5 Corvette features an LS1 engine that puts out 350 horsepower and 375 pound-feet of torque. That’s a decent amount of grunt by today’s standards and a whole lot of oomph for the late-‘90s. While the C5 was great out of the box, with enough modifications, this machine is capable of supercar-besting power.
Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire has a C5 Corvette and drives some incredibly quick machines. But this heavily-modified example is putting out over 800 horsepower. It has Farah giddy with joy when it unleashes its full power.
This C5 has a long spec sheet that includes a 418-cubic inch stroked LS3 engine by QMP Racing, a Novi 2000 Paxton Supercharger, dual meth injection, ported heads, a custom-built transmission, fully-built Quaife differential, Pfadt coil overs, Brembo brakes, HRE wheels, sticky Toyo tires, and much more.
The end result is a mean Corvette that can hit 172 miles per hour in the half-mile and 206.8 mph in the standing mile. That’s insanely fast. But the car (which puts these figures down reliably) is more than just a straight-line monster. It’s also a canyon carver.
ALSO SEE: Corvette Museum Gets Beautiful Donation from 1967
Farah pushed the car around some of California’s gorgeous roads and not only fell in love with its power but also the way it handled. Despite making more than 800 horses, Farah says it’s easy to drive and rides well. “This is definitely the best C5 I’ve driven,” he says, which summarizes this car perfectly.
The C5 may be getting old, but with some work, it’s still capable of beating supercars. For those wondering what getting this kind of performance out of an aging Corvette might cost, Farah and the car’s owner believe it’s in the neighborhood of $150,000.
