Meet the new King of the Hill, The Chevrolet C8 Corvette Z06

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 package: 35% stiffer coil springs, larger anti-roll bars, specific calibration for the magnetic dampers, and the necessary tuning for the wider wheel-and-tire package. The Z07 package also includes carbon-fiber wheels, Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes and sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires. 

Have a Seat

The cockpit might seem a little odd, but thanks to all the power and brakes, the driving experience is anything but. 

Inside the Z06, you’ll likely notice the least difference between this Vette and the Z51–at least until you hit either pedal. The rectangular steering wheel and heavily fortified wall between the driver and passenger remain, and the Z06 just gets a bit more Alcantara trim to differentiate it from the higher end of the Z51 order sheet. 

In any case, it’s a great place to drive from, even if companionship is somewhat limited by the barricade between occupants. Despite that bit of weirdness, the fact remains that as a driver, you have some room to work, and the wheel/seat/pedal relationship is solid. 

We’d prefer a bit more drop on the seat–there’s adequate helmet space, but we’d like the wheel out of our lap and up where we could get a little more leverage–but it’s a minor quibble and probably not a big deal for street driving.

Nothing Compares

Street driving is not where the Z06 excels, although it’s fully capable of being a real car for as long as you need it to be. It is, after all, a production GM vehicle, and there’s zero indication that you couldn’t take it on a four-corners road trip whenever your schedule and your fuel budget allow.

And if that road trip includes some track stops, that’s where the Z06 truly shines. It’s honestly difficult to come up with any sort of meaningful segue into the Z06’s track performance, because its level of performance is just so far beyond anything else we’ve driven. And that performance–once you get past a couple of very minor quirks–is highly accessible.

Let’s start with the engine, which is a gem on track and would fool anyone into thinking it turns out fewer than the 670 claimed horsepower–until they started looking at data charts. The single-plane crank delivers great balance and lots of revs–the Z06 redlines at a stratospheric and industrially melodic 8000 rpm. 

This setup also yields an insane torque curve that never punches you in the gut. It produces power more like a trebuchet than a catapult (or, if we’re being truly pedantic, a mangonel). 

Instead of ferociously uncoiling once released, the engine continuously builds through its power curve until the pull right before the shift. Throttle travel is long, which takes some getting used to, but also makes it easier to control the engine’s output and mitigate torque effects on handling. 

Ultimately, though, the engine is so tractable and the chassis so able to accept that output–once the 140tw Michelins heat up a bit–that full-throttle exits from even second-gear corners are entirely drama free. In faster corners, more oversteer is available through off-throttle goofery than on-throttle heroics–unless you get into a particularly long corner where you can progressively load the rear before doing something truly dumb with the gas pedal. But even then, you have to force it. That never feels like a way to make the car go any faster.

The chassis–and remember, our test car was bone stock, without even GM’s factory-approved “track” alignment setting–is surprisingly sharp for a street car. Chalk up a lot of that to the sticky Michelins, but the C8 Z06 points into a corner like a Lotus Elise weighing nearly a Miata less. 

This is particularly evident on our test course in the fast right-hand kink of Turn 4, where the Z06 and its Z51 cousin have the highest turn-in speeds of any cars we’ve tested. A lot of that comes from the lower polar moment of inertia afforded by the mid-engine configurations–it’s just easier to get a car to change directions when most of the mass is closer to the center of rotation–but a lot of the credit also goes to the excellent turn-in feedback afforded by the chassis.

When it’s time to halt, the optional carbon-ceramic rotors are clamped by Brembo calipers the size of shoeboxes, and the car stops yesterday. Initial bite at track pace feels more like a race car setup than any high-performance street car we’ve driven, although the pedal doesn’t need much heft to get that bite. 

Which brings us to one of our few criticisms of the Z06: The character of the brake, throttle and steering are a bit out of sync overall. The steering is sharp and direct with good feedback but also some nice heft. The throttle is long and lazy, giving the driver lots of control and resolution over torque management. And the brakes are impossibly grippy but still need a light, sensitive toe. All three inputs are great on their own, but it takes a few laps to get used to them in concert. 

Understeer is also a constant presence, and despite some great reactions of turn-in, the front tires are still the fuse controlling the ultimate pace of the car. There’s a massive 50mm stagger between the front and rear tire widths, but chassis tuning is also biased toward a benign push. And ultimately, that’s fine. It allows you to go harder earlier in corners without paying a huge momentum price, and it really only blunts the pace later into longer corners, where it does feel at times like you’re waiting on the front to catch up to the massive grip being generated by the rear.

Please keep in mind, though, that we’re picking these nits off the fastest car we’ve ever tested, and that 1:12.99 second lap represents an objectively fast lap for anything at our test track. That’s the territory of fully prepped track cars at the FIRM on Hoosier A7s with big power, big brakes and big aero. The Z06 is not just fast “for a street car.” It’s legit fast. Full stop. No asterisk. The Corvette Z51? It could only muster a 1:16.16.

What Does the Data Say?

So where did it make the speed on track? The short answer is “everywhere,” but looking closer at the data traces of the Z06 and Z51 show a few interesting highlights.

1. Right away, we can see the advantage of the Z06 (blue trace) over the Z51 (red trace) in the steeper deceleration trace into Turn 2 as well as a much higher speed through the apex. This indicates a great deal more grip. 2. Through third gear, the cars are somewhat even. As soon as the Z06 hits fourth, though, it checks out. 3. This two-corner sequence shows how the Z06 is just better at everything. Higher cornering speed, quicker velocity between the turns, and harder braking add up to a serious lap time advantage.  4. Over the curbs in the esses, where power and grip don’t matter much but stability and great shocks do, the Z06 is astounding. It soaks up curbs and returns the chassis to stability instantly.

First, the docile and deceiving power output isn’t just in our heads, it’s in the data. 

Both Corvettes display similar tip-in when leaving a corner, but as your foot gets closer to the floor, the Z06 just asserts itself and drives away: That’s simply 670 versus 505 horsepower at work here.

At the beginning of the fastest straight, the Z06 exits the final corner faster than the Z51, but the acceleration curves are similar out of the corner. By the time the Z06 hits fourth gear, it’s still pulling and just outruns the Z51 down the straight to the tune of an 8 mph speed advantage at V-max. 

Second, the Z06 shocks are magic. The esses section of the FIRM is basically a straight if the shocks are good enough. For most cars, speed is limited mostly by how hard you can drive over each curb and how little speed and stability you lose while doing it. So, theoretically, it’s a bit of an equalizer, as a lower-powered car shouldn’t be at a thrust disadvantage since you’re kind of hitting these curbs at a fast coast or a tiny amount of maintenance throttle. 

In these esses, the latest tuning on the FE3 package shines as the Z06 shows more speed and less speed variance than the Z51. From behind the wheel, it simply eats up the bumps, particularly the final one, which defines the angle into the braking area for the hairpin. The Z06 can simply dispatch that final curb and take a much more aggressive braking line into the right-hand hairpin, which is clearly reflected in the data as a much more aggressive deceleration curve.

Third, the brakes are just amazing. They’re maybe even too amazing at times, as many of our hardest braking zones show the momentary blip of ABS intervention. But that’s more of a driver thing than a car thing. A few more laps would attune our stomp to the sensitive pedal and ride that edge of intervention a little more cleanly, but overall, the carbon rotors and massive Brembo calipers produce braking traces more like a race car than any street car: razor-sharp initiation peaks, smooth trail brake releases due to the great feel and modulation, and some mind-boggling deceleration rates occasionally exceeding 1.2g.

In conclusion, it’s, um, really, really good. But you probably already suspected that.

Our verdict: For those who can afford it, the C8 Corvette Z06 represents the finest–and fastest–track car we have ever sampled. 

What you may not have guessed is that the Z06 is losing–if it hasn’t completely lost already–its place among models discussed as hanging with the world’s supercars; the car itself is now a yardstick of that performance. 

Quick, name another car you think could hang with the Z06 off the showroom floor on our test course. Your answer was probably a British or Italian exotic costing easily double the Z06’s $145,000-ish selling price. While the Z06 is certainly not a used Miata-level bargain, the performance per dollar represented, along with the sheer level of aggression and capability, is kind of unprecedented off the showroom floor.

The fact that it’s an American legacy brand with a major American legacy nameplate delivering that performance bodes well for Corvette lovers for generations to come. Corvette engineers and GM have long been pushing the envelope for what could be accomplished within the Corvette’s design parameters. With the C8 Z06, they’ve jumped the line and made it the new standard.