If you have been paying close attention to the YouTube channel lately, you will know that we have had the wonderful opportunity to spend just about a week with the 2017 Chevy Corvette Grand Sport. We started by comparing it to another American Muscle car in a similar price range with our own long term Dodge Challenger Hellcat.
What we got from that comparison is ultimately that these two cars, while following a similar formula in their build, complete very different tasks as cars. Ultimately, we said that the Hellcat is much better for the person who wants a daily driver that can do 11 second quarter miles at the drag strip on weekends, whereas the Grand Sport was much better suited to weekend drives and track days. Logically, our next step with the Corvette Grand Sport was to take it to the track and see how well it did, and to see if the 2017 Corvette Grand Sport is indeed hot or not.
We presume this Vette will be quite fast. But will it be quick enough to beat the current track record of 1:01.57? Possibly. First, lets discuss what it is about this Corvette in particular that makes us think it could be the new record holder.
First off is the Chevy LT1 6.2L naturally aspirated V8 which makes 460 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque. This is the exact same engine that comes in the standard Stingray, so what differentiates the Grand Sport? Effectively, the Grand Sport is a Z06 without the supercharger. Over the standard ‘Vette, the Grand Sport gets Magnetic shocks, an aggressive lip spoiler on the back, and of course, some huge Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires (19×10 front and 20×12 rear). What this means is that this Corvette has the power of the already fast Stingray, with the handling and uber-aggressive styling of the Z06.
The question remains, is this enough to make the 2017 Chevy Corvette Grand Sport the fastest car on our track? You’ll have to watch the full video above to find out.
