First things first. In any flavor, the new C8 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is fast. Provided all eight cylinders are singing their flat-plane crankshaft song, flooring the present-day range-topping ‘Vette will get you warp-speed acceleration with a screaming supercar soundtrack. The big question is whether our enthusiast friends in Europe are missing out by getting a slightly detuned version.
As a refresher, the 2023 Corvette Z06 produces 670 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque for the North American market. To meet European regulations, a gas particulate filter is added which requires a redesigned exhaust system, hence why these cars lose the center-mount pipes for Stingray-style finishers at the corners. In the process, output from the 5.5-liter DOHC engine falls to 636 hp and 439 lb-ft of torque. That’s still more than enough to efficiently shove this mid-engine Chevrolet to triple-digit speeds without a second thought.
Thus far, we haven’t seen Z06 performance figures outside of the stats announced for North American models. And while this video from Motorsport Magazine on YouTube doesn’t offer any instrumented time/speed data, we can at least extrapolate some general acceleration figures thanks to an uninterrupted in-car view of the digital speedometer reaching 155 mph (250 kph).
It’s worth restating that these are generalized numbers based on what the video shows, and we’re forced to guess on some speedometer readings since the speed increases absurdly fast. Also, we have no idea about external factors such as weather conditions, altitude, or the road surface – all of which can have a profound effect on vehicle performance.
With all of that in mind, it appears the 36-hp drop does make a difference. The US-spec Z06 sets benchmarks of 0-60 mph in 2.6 seconds and a quarter-mile of 10.6 seconds at 131.6 mph. This version appears to reach 60 in approximately 3.5 seconds, with 131 mph (211 kph) arriving in approximately 12 seconds flat. We don’t have a US benchmark for 0-155 mph, but the European Z06 achieves this goal in 19 seconds.
As such, the video suggests the European Z06 is roughly a second slower than its American counterpart. But it’s still supercar quick in all aspects.
