There’s no question that the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing and the Chevrolet Corvette are two of the best performance cars that have ever come out of General Motors. How do they match up against one another in stock form though? Well, now we get a look at how they handle a unique drag race format that highlights their strengths.
Drag racing videos are all over the place online so the folks at Edmunds have decided to change things up just a bit. They’ve created a new U-drag race that looks like something they could have gotten from 2 Fast 2 Furious.
Nevertheless, the format sees each car take off from a standing start and complete a quarter-mile drag race before each one makes a U-turn and tries to get back to the start faster than the other. So it’s not just about acceleration or straight-line speed. To win, one car will have to prove that it’s faster over the course of acceleration, handling, and then have enough power up top to hold off the other.
Related: Can The Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Take On The C8 Corvette?
That format is key with regard to these two cars too because, on paper, it’s not very clear who the winner might be. The Cadillac has 170 hp (126 kw) more than the Corvette, but the Chevy is about 500 pounds (226 kg) lighter. Add in the handling aspect and it’s easy to see how the ‘Vette could carve the corner fast enough to take the win.
In practice, the format demonstrates its strengths in back-to-back races. The Corvette rockets off of the line thanks to its lighter weight and mid-engined layout and then has no problem pulling 1.09g in the corner. Still, the Cadillac relies on the back half of the race and is able to reel in the C8 each time. They actually tie the first race with a total time of 31.4 seconds.
In the second race, the CT5-V Blackwing wins by a tenth of a second at 135 mph (217 km/h). The C8 Corvette is clearly very fast and that’s what makes this win for the Cadillac so impressive. It’s just sad to know that the era of supercharged V8 super sedans is drawing to a close.
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