Look, we’re going to cut right to it and save you the trouble of looking through the whole article: Yes, the C8 Corvette Z06 was faster than not only the Z51–honestly, it wasn’t even close–but any other car we’ve tested at our official test track.
Z06 Still Means Business
The Z06 designation originally appeared in 1963 on the C2-chassis Corvette as a factory-available set of high-performance goodies aimed at the amateur racer. At the time, the Automobile Manufacturers Association banned its members from participating in any factory-backed motorsports programs, and Corvette boss Zora Arkus-Duntov conceived of the deeply hidden option package to skirt those rules and get the performance bits to Corvette customers.
GM eventually pulled out of the racing ban, but the Z06 package remained an easy way to get racers the good stuff while also keeping the casual Corvette customers from accidentally ordering it.
Now let’s fast-forward to the C5 era. GM has long embraced its motorsport side, as selling on Monday proved to be good business. The Z06 designation returned, not as a buried Easter egg of options but as a completely separate trim level with high performance as the theme. The C6 and C7 generations followed suit, with each successive Z06 package getting a little wilder and further from the base model.
Now we come to the C8, and the Z06 continues as the track-focused trim package. The latest setup adds a whole new engine in the form of a 5.5-liter, flat-plane crank V8 that takes the title as the most powerful naturally aspirated production engine in the world, cranking 670 horsepower into the eight-speed DCT.
Chassis architecture remains largely the same across the Corvette lineup, but the Z06 relies on a host of “bolt-on” goodies to make the experience more extreme. The Z06 sits 3 full inches wider thanks to wider wheels and tires, with larger fenders covering the additional rubber.
The Z06 also gets several aero upgrades. A carbon splitter, diffuser and wing are the most visible elements of the aero enhancements, but a host of more subtle tricks guide air over, under and around the wider bodywork for grip, cooling or simple optimization of airflow management. The electronically controlled limited-slip diff is also standard on the Z06.
Our test car was equipped with the Z07 package, which adds the FE7 track suspension…
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