Corvette Z06 Coupe

Make
Chevrolet
Segment
Coupe

It was only a matter of time before somebody put the all-new 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 on a chassis dyno to see how many of the claimed 670 horses actually make it to the wheels.

We now finally have an answer to the question, thanks to the Speed Demon YouTube channel. The car you see here is an actual customer car, which means it's as representative of the real thing as we're going to find. But wait, there's more. The drivetrain loss is well under the usual 15% to 20%, which means Chevrolet either underclaimed or the Z06 over-delivers. Either way, it's a win for the customer.

The first run chucked out 597 horsepower at 8,380 rpm and 422 lb-ft at 6,360 rpm. The second run produced 600 hp at 8,490 rpm and 424 lb-ft at 6,360 rpm.

On the third run, the 'Vette hit 610 hp at precisely 8,400 rpm and 420 lb-ft at 6,200 rpm. That's a powertrain loss of just 9% at more-or-less sea level. Dallas is not high enough above sea level to rob the engine of any performance.

If you skip forward to roughly 8:20, you'll also hear the shop owner make a shocking revelation. The shop in question, Phenom Autos, specializes in Lamborghini Huracans and Audi R8s. When asked how much Lambo's famous V10 engine normally puts down on the dyno, we learn that it's roughly 500 horses. The lowest the Huracan went was 571 hp in the rear-wheel-drive LP580-2, and the highest so far has been 631 in the STO and Tecnica.

And there's more good news for the American enthusiast. The Z06 has been called America's 458 and it's not hard to see why. It follows the same magical recipe as the 458 Italia, and Phenom Autos has historical data. A stock 458 produced 420 hp and 318 lb-ft of torque on this particular dyno.

In short, we have an American-built flat-plane crank V8 that outperforms an Italian-built flat-plane V8 (and V10) by a considerable margin. If you don't love this car, you must have some sort of personal grudge.

It's clear the Z06 is a highly efficient car. The only vehicle with a more impressive dyno run was the BMW M4 CSL. BMW's lightweight limited-run special posted 605 hp and 531 lb-ft of torque, but the Germans only claim 543 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque.

On the flip side, claimed figures can often get you into trouble, as we recently saw with the Hennessey Venom 1200 that only produced 1,000 hp during a dyno run.

Even at current market-adjusted prices, the Z06 is the supercar performance bargain of the year.