The dust has settled. Viper TA vs C7 Z06
 

Yesterday, a local guy and I met up and ran the two cars that the entire auto enthusiast world has anticipated seeing run. The newly available 2015 Corvette Z06 vs the Viper TA. Both cars are incredible machines in their own right, extremely capable on the highways and on the roadcourse. No two American sportscars have received more fanfare and praise from the media. As the Z06's first appeared in public driveways this past Wednesday, we now had the perfect opportunity to line them up for some spirited testing. Both cars are 100% stock. The Viper has 1,700 miles on it, and the Z06 has 700 miles on it. Both manual transmissions. It was 57F today, and the pavement was dry. My Viper IAT temps never went over 79F. We ran a series of runs, from different starting and finishing mph, as we wanted a full suite of testing to be shown.

At the end of the day, there were 7 clean passes made, where we started nearly even, and neither of us missed a gear. The Viper won every race, no matter what the starting speed was. The cars were typically dead even through 3rd gear, but once the Viper reached 4th gear, it would begin to pull away from the Z06. Once in 5th, there was no catching the snake. Going into this match, neither of us knew what to expect. I actually figured the Z06 would edge me out, based on his dynos of 579 rwhp SAE, which is higher than what Vipers put down.

Enjoy the video. Both cars speak for themselves, as you'll see.


Tony

Beautiful cars!!!

Would have loved to have seen a driver swap for comparisons sake. Either way expected more from the C7Z.

I think a lot of people were expecting more from the C7Z, but the extra curb weight (3,500+ lbs. vs. 3,300 for the Viper) + a tiny blower that they are spinning faster isn't exactly a recipe for success. The Viper was even at a slight disadvantage in the aero department with the extra drag the TA package adds.

GM's heart was in the right place (big HP with a relatively moderate price tag), but the execution fell short this time around.

Why the 1.7 blower had to have heat up quick.

Wow
 

Would have expected lot more out of the Z06. Was the driver as good as the viper driver?

According to whom?

Going off the video alone, without any bias, I would say the Viper driver is better.

The Viper owner will say equal driver skill. The Corvette guys will cry the Vette driver sucked.

I saw the Viper gaining substantially at every shift. The steady pull may indicate that proper shifting may not help the Z, or it may indicate the loss in acceleration and momentum the Z06 had and the Viper gained at each shift point.

You watch and let us know!

man, I love both cars!

I couldn't agree more!

Not trying to argue but whats the price on both of these? I remembering seeing the Z06 starting around $78k but I know nothing about these new Vipers. Both cars look great its a real toss up. Im more curious on how they respond to simple mods.

womp womp womp chevy

This is great! I tip my hat to the Viper on its win. There will always be a faster car out there than you as well as a better driver than you. I have always liked Corvettes and still do. I feel this is the downside to Chevy for having chose their Engine with a supercharger, how much better could the car be if it was 650hp,650tq from a N/A? I'm enjoying all the comments from around the internet on this topic. You find out people's character through the internet and those that are good sports.

It wasn't but 6 years ago when the Gen 4 Viper was wiping the floor with the C6 Z06. The Gen 2 Vipers were substantially quicker than the C5 Z06 as well. My point being this isn't the first time the Viper has won the battle, probably won't be the last.

There are lengthy discussions over at Corvette Forum, for those interested in more of the story. Both drivers do chime in (several times also) to give more details (and defend their test results), and I believe both drivers have agreed to "run them again" and switch drivers to eliminate that variable.

The Viper edges out the Z06, but there is no real loser here. Both of these cars are fantastic, and are far more capable than most people will ever be able to use properly.

Props to both drivers. They both have very new, very expensive vehicles and they weren't afraid to "beat on them" for everyone's mutual benefit.

^link to thread?

There are a few of them in the C7 Z06 section. Some have been locked, some are still open. I'd be here all night trying to link them all. They aren't hard to find though.

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...video-run.html

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...vs-c7-z06.html

Im not downing the Z06 driver at all. Its just the video camera was in the viper showing his driving skills. Put one in the vette. It still really dont look like it would have mattered cuz the viper did pull on high end.

Base price C7Z06 = $79K
Base price Viper = $85K

The video was a $95K Z06 vs a $101K Viper TA. The base model Vipers are faster than the TA, they are a little lighter and don't have the aero to slow them down. SRT base model with Track Pack (lightweight wheels, 2-piece brake rotors) is the lightest model and fastest version. About $89K.

I'm going to go head and say Drivers Mod.

Not saying the Viper isn't faster, but saying that it could go back and forth with a different driver.

Also these are brand spanking new cars with less that 300 miles on them. My girlfriend's grandpa has one and apparently they govern their rpm's before 500 miles of their lives(or something like that) So don't jump to any conclusions just yet, no body is going to be amazing on with a brand new car on their first try, it take a proper amount of break-in time.

Just my .02 cents, don't be too quick to jump on and off bandwagons :P

This same thread on Corvette Forums has 50 plus pages, and it's horrible how internet races are so quick to judge cars which they'll never get to drive.

My girlfriend's grandpa has one, and he sold his c6zr1 for it, and he love it and has nothing but great things to say about it.

They're too new and people wanted answers about these cars yesterday, so the internet it's just too impatient and really easy to want to jump to conclusions. Just give it a few months and all these magazines will have videos out in no time. These cars have only been in customer's hands for less than 2 weeks, so be patient :usa: