For the past four years, Michael Stout of Atlanta-based Vengeance Racing has been working on his Chevrolet Corvette C7 to make it the fastest model of its kind in the world. At an unidentified airstrip on Saturday, Stout managed to get his C7 to crack the 200-mph barrier and garner two record-breaking runs in the process.
Previous Record Less Than 197 MPH
Modifying Corvettes seems to be high on the list of great American pastimes. This year alone, Hennessey Performance once boosted a C7 Corvette Z06 to outdistance a C8 while a team of Florida builders jazzed up an old C6 to hit 172 mph. And that's just barely scraping the surface.
But to get a feel for what Stout had to work on to get a world record, consider the specs of a C7 fresh off the truck. It has a seven-speed manual transmission and a 6.2-liter V8 engine that pumps out 455 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. For all that, it clocks in at a top speed of 186 mph.
Gearheads have since souped-up the C7 to reach 195 mph and the previous record on a half-mile strip was 196.85 mph. That's also at a pace where handling starts to become an issue. "You get that 195 mark, man, it's just tough," remarked Stout before his run. "The car starts fighting you in ways that you didn't even know it could."
Surpassed 200 MPH On Saturday
Stout made several huge changes to his C7 such as replacing the LT1 engine block with a LSX tall deck that has 427 cubic inches of iron block casting. He also replaced the A6 transmission with a Powerglide and added a pair of BorgWarner 88-millimeter turbochargers behind the grille. While testing, he managed to get 6,600 rpms out of his C7.
At the track, the revamped C7 took a few tries on the tarmac and started building up results, hitting 184 mph, followed by a 188-mph run. On his third try, Stout took the half-miler at 206.61, cracking the barrier and landing a berth in the record books. "That was awesome and it's got a lot left!" yelled Stout, still behind the wheel.
Another Record Sunday
The following day, Stout wanted to test his theory about how much left his C7 had in it. The first time he hit the gas, the Corvette did even better, breaking the world record again with a speed of 216.34 mph. But traction became an issue over subsequent runs and he never surpassed his latest result. That said, none of his runs registered less than 200 mph.
Still, Stout seemed a bit reserved at the end, saying, "The car's pretty consistent, wouldn't you say?"
Source: 1320 Video