New Corvette Puts Pressure On Ferrari 458 Speciale In Close Drag Races

Five years separate the last Ferrari 458 Speciale from the new Chevy Corvette C8. There’s a price gap between them, too, but their differences narrow when they hit the track. A new Carwow video demonstrates that by running the pair through a series of drag races.

The Corvette uses GM’s naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8. It produces 482 horsepower (354 kilowatts) and 452 pound-feet (613 Newton-meters) of torque across the pond. Chevy routes the power to the rear wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

The Ferrari also uses a naturally aspirated V8, but it’s smaller in size at 4.5 liters. It produces 605 hp (444 kW) and 398 lb-ft (540 Nm) of torque, which pumps through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic to the rears. It’s a tad lighter than the Corvette, too, which is an advantage.

The two face off in three standing-start drag races. The first race starts with the Corvette getting a big jump off the line over the Ferrari, and the 458 is unable to close the gap, losing the first race. The second race has a much more even start between the two, with the Ferrari eking out its first win.

The Corvette got a much better start in the final race, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Ferrari, which inched ahead just before the finish line. The Ferrari completed the quarter-mile in 11.7 seconds. The Corvette was right behind it with an 11.8-second time as its best.

The two rolling races are just as exciting. With the cars in their least sporty settings, the first is very even through the finish line. The Ferrari doesn’t pull away as it does in the second rolling race, which is raced in the cars’ sportiest settings. The Ferrari easily won the final brake test with its fancy brakes, whereas the Corvette had simple steel discs.

While the older Ferrari still outperforms the new Corvette, the two have a massive price gap, with the Corvette still being a bargain that delivers supercar levels of performance. There are hotter versions of the Corvette coming, including hybrid and fully electric variants, that’ll be more expensive than the Stingray. But they’ll still defy performance expectations.