C8 Corvette at the Drag Strip Starts With Toyota Supra Beatdown, Ends With Snapped Axle
Maybe NOS had something to do with it…
You win some, you lose some—especially if you test the limits of a brand-spanking-new car at the drag strip. Just ask LG Motorsports, whose nitrous-boosted C8 Chevy Corvette gapped a MKV Toyota Supra in the quarter-mile before snapping an axle later in the day. From victory lane to the back of a tow truck in a few short hours, these guys know the highs and lows of R&D.
At last weekend's TX2K event—which features some of the nation's fastest cars across the board—the 500-mile C8 made pass after pass, and some were more successful than others. When battling against the Supra, the Corvette ran without nitrous for the sake of fairness. Still, its 490-horsepower 6.2-liter V8 far out-hustled the Toyota's twin-turbocharged inline-six which puts out just 335 horsepower. A predictable result, sure, but its 12.11-second quarter-mile time is what we're paying attention to here.
During the Corvette's second go-around, now with nitrous in play, there was a small bug that kept its time within a hundredth of the first. Even then, its trap speed climbed from 118 miles per hour to 124 mph.
While trying to work around the nitrous issue, which apparently prevented the car from shifting into second with the spray turned on, everything went awry. The C8's third and final pass resulted in a blown left-rear axle when the driver shifted up from second and flipped on the nitrous. This left it waiting on a tow truck with spectators joking about a broken transmission.
Alas, the Chevy's dual-clutch automatic was fine and what's left is a relatively minor issue that can be fixed by simply replacing the axle. As for the nitrous system, the builders at Nitrous Express are currently working to iron out the issue so they can deliver the first-ever C8 NOS kit to the general public.
Rest assured, this is far from the last time we'll see one of these mid-engined domestics run into problems. As always, shops will push for more power and end up breaking one thing or another before being satisfied. It's just how it goes.
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h/t: Road and Track
