This engine is definitely underrated.
After what seems like an eternity of waiting, anxious buyers are finally starting to take delivery of their Corvette Z06s. One new owner, Speed Phenom on YouTube, wasted no time taking his to the dyno. And the results are fascinating.
Speed Phenom recently drove to Texas for a stop at Dallas Performance to take the car on a few runs strapped to the shop’s DynoJet-type dyno. Out of the three runs performed, the Z06 was able to lay down a maximum of 610 hp and 419 lb-ft of torque to the wheels.
As a reminder, the 5.5-liter naturally aspirated, flat-plane crank LT6 V-8 powering the Z06 is rated at 670 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque at the crank. Generally, cars lose about 10 to 15 percent of their power transferring all of that twist to the road, give or take a few percentage points based on driveline configuration. Going by that logic, we’d expect the Z06 to put down anywhere between 570-603 hp. Yet, this one puts down even more than that. It’s possible Chevy is underrating the car’s actual power numbers from the factory.
There are a plethora of other factors involved, of course, like weather conditions at the shop, temperature, and airflow. It’s also possible the car simply got a lucky run. So there’s no real way to truly confirm power numbers without taking a large sample. There is one thing we know for certain from this video, though: The Z06 sounds fantastic.
Brian Silvestro Road & Track staff writer with a taste for high-mileage, rusted-out projects and amateur endurance racing.
Keyword: Watch a Chevy Corvette Z06 Hit the Dyno for the First Time