The last time we checked in with Carlyle Racing, the Ohio-based tuners were dyno testing a brand-new Corvette to see just how radical the new mid-engined supercar actually is from the factory. With the real-world results showing 440 horsepower and 408 lb-ft of torque at the wheels, GM's claims of 495 horses at the crank certainly seemed like a little bit of an underestimate. But as impressive as the C8 might seem, the team at Carlyle Racing wasn't even close to being satisfied and decided to drop in a NOS system and bolt on some drag radials before sending their car to the drag strip for some serious fun.
Get Some
The new C8 obviously benefits from its mid-engined layout, which improves balance during cornering and acceleration to help keep its power routed to the ground. But with only the Z51 package out thus far—a potential hybrid-electric system and maybe even all-wheel drive seem to be on the horizon—and no sight of the quintessential Z06 or ZR1 quite yet, the C8 is, well, slightly less powerful than its outgoing C7 predecessor.
Say It Ain't So
But even a Z51 Corvette with a bit of nitrous on board can keep up with the C7 ZR1. The setup allowed Carlyle Racing to log a quarter-mile time of 10.65 seconds at 130 miles per hour—with a 100 shot of NOS. Compare that to the 11.06-second run performed with the engine in factory spec and the advantages are clear.
All that remains is for Carlyle Racing to discover whether a brand-new, mid-engined supercar that can sprint to 60 miles per hour in under three seconds and start at a base price of under $60,000 will actually be able to repeatedly perform so well without blowing its engine quite soon. But if that does happen, sounds like a great time for a twin-turbo upgrade, no?
Source: Youtube