Japan’s greatest supercar can’t run down the supercharged Corvette in this high altitude quarter mile clash.
This week’s Drag Race Monday video comes to us from the 612to303 YouTube channel and it features a quarter mile drag race between a C6 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and a Nissan GTR. Due to this race being run at high altitude, the elapsed times are a bit slower than you might expect, but the race is a good, tight battle between two of the world’s greatest performance cars.
The Competitors
This race features a C6 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and a Nissan GTR. We don’t have any details on the cars, but they appear to be near-stock.
We don’t know the model year of the Nissan, but it appears to be a 2012-or-newer model, meaning that it has at least 530 horsepower and 448 lb-ft of torque. If it is a premium performance model, those numbers could climb up around 600 horsepower and 481 lb-ft of torque, but we don’t know for sure. What we do know is that the GTR has a high performance all-wheel-drive system and a quick-shifting dual clutch automatic transmission; two features that make the twin-turbocharged Nissan a beast on the drag strip.
The C6 Corvette ZR1 is, of course, powered by the LS9 V9 with 638 horsepower and 604 lb-ft of torque, giving it a significant advantage over every model year and trim level of the Nissan. However, with ZR1 was only offered with a 6-speed manual transmission and rear-wheel-drive, so the Corvette is a bit harder to launch with good traction.
The Race
After the Corvette does a quick burnout, the all-wheel-drive Nissan drives around the water box and both cars stage. When the green lights drop, you might expect the GTR to jump out to an early lead thanks to the traction advantage, but the ZR1 driver gets a great launch and gets to the 60-foot marker first.
The GTR appears to be closing the gap a bit around half-track, but the Corvette driver bangs through the gears and gets to the finish line first. In the end, the Vette runs an 11.40 at 125 miles per hour while the Nissan runs an 11.53 at 120.
For those of you wondering why these times aren’t better, we should point out that they are racing at Bandimere Speedway in Colorado, with an elevation of 5,800 feet above sea level. The thin air at that elevation leads to less power and slower times, but this is still a great battle between a pair of the greatest supercars in the world.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
