Of Course The Chevy Corvette ZR1 Will Smoke The Ford Mustang GTD In A Drag Race
The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and Ford Mustang GTD are about as far from traditional American muscle cars as you can get.
Both borrow design and tech elements from GT racing cars and were fine-tuned to perform on road courses like Germany’s Nürburgring, where the Mustang GTD set an American lap record last year only to see it bettered by the Corvette ZR1 and ZR1X this summer.
But good old fashioned drag racing bragging rights still matter in ‘Murica and it looks like the Corvette ZR1 can claim them with even more authority than it’s ‘Ring time.
Chevrolet’s official acceleration numbers for the Corvette ZR1 are a 2.3-second 0-60 mph sprint and a 9.6-second quarter-mile. Car and Driver actually improved both of those by a tick in its independent testing, clocking 2.2 seconds and 9.5 seconds in a Corvette ZR1 equipped with the ZTK package that adds the highest performance tires and an aerodynamic package that increases downforce to a maximum 1,200 pounds at its 225 mph top speed.
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Like Chevrolet, Car and Driver conducts its tests on an unprepared surface and uses the one-foot rollout timing method.
Ford never released any official acceleration figures for the Mustang GTD, only its Nürburgring time and 202 mph top speed, but Car and Driver got its hands on one of them as well, so now we know how it stacks up.
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Equipped with the optional performance package that comes with extra aero bits like the Corvette ZR1’s and a giant rear wing with a drag reduction system, Car and Driver was able to hustle it to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and cover a quarter mile in 10.6 seconds.
If the Corvette ZR1 were in the lane next to it, the Mustang GTD would’ve been looking at its taillights pretty far down the road. The Chevy also crossed the quarter-mile finish line at 149 mph, while the Ford was putting along at 133 mph. Car and Driver didn’t note if it used the Mustang GTD’s drag reduction system during the run. According to Edmunds, the Mustang generates 951 pounds of downforce at 125 mph and 1,951 pounds in the high downforce setting
Along with having a horsepower and torque advantage of 1,064 hp and 828 lb-ft to 815 hp and 664 lb-ft, the 3,831-pound Corvette ZR1 is also much lighter than the 4,404-pound Mustang GTD, while its mid-engine design puts more of its weight on over the rear tires for added traction.
The results were flipped in the rolling 5-60 mph acceleration test, however, where the Corvette ZR1 needed 3.0 seconds and the Mustang GTD just 2.9 seconds. The Mustang GTD could also win a 70-0 mph brake-off at 132 feet to 140 feet and recorded a higher cornering force on the skidpad at 1.17g to the Corvette ZR1’s 1.13g.
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All of this, plus the Corvette’s 225 mph top speed, draws very different performance pictures for each car. It all adds up over the course of a 12.9-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife lap to result in the scant difference between their 6:52.072 and 6:50.763 times.
As for the price differential, Car and Driver’s as-tested prices were $205,265 for the Corvette ZR1 and $367,960 for the Mustang GTD, but good luck finding either on sale for near those amounts.
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The one Mustang GTD that’s currently listed at a dealer is $470,000 and a Corvette ZR1 that was just offered on Bring a Trailer got a high bid of $360,000, which wasn’t enough to meet the seller’s undisclosed reserve.
If you’re in the market for a second-hand car, keep in mind that Chevy has a no-flipping rule that voids the warranty on Corvette ZR1s that are resold within the first year and Mustang GTD owners “agree to confidential terms and conditions that include a commitment to maintain ownership for two years.” Ford hasn’t elaborated on what penalties they face, but it had the same sort of restriction for the Ford GT and took legal action against several owners who tried to resell them early, including WWE star John Cena.