[VIDEO] Edmunds U-Drags the 2023 Corvette Z06 and the Lucid Air

Good news, Corvette Nation! The Edmunds team behind our second-favorite online drag racing videos still has Chevrolet’s flat-crank phenom in its possession. This week, they’ve decided upon a fascinating upstart competitor from these very United States for its latest head-to-head battle.

Edmunds’ proprietary all-around performance exercise takes two cars “there and back again,” blending a standing quarter mile, a braking and high-speed cornering test, and a rolling quarter into a single fluid motion. Playing the part of (old) Bilbo Baggins this time around is America’s greatest-ever sports car, the 2023 Corvette Z06, which isn’t just fighting for itself, but for the pride of internal combustion performance. Cast in the role of young Bilbo and representing “the electric future” is the Lucid Air Grand Touring.

Lucid may be unfamiliar to many traditional gearheads as the California-based firm only recently started delivering its “Air” electric luxury sedan, but the company has actually been around since 2007, when it was brought into existence by the former Chief Engineer of the Tesla Model S and Mazda’s ex-head of design. Like the Model S, the Air is powered by a pair of electric motors that drive all four wheels. In GT trim, those motors combine to make 819 HP and 885 lb.-ft. of torque.

Being a plug-in sedan with luxury appointments, though, all of that grunt has quite a lot of bulk to haul around. The Air GT tips the scales at 5,226 lbs., giving this $140,500 sled a weight-to-power ratio of 6.38 lbs. for each pony. The top banana (for now) of the legendary Corvette lineup might be down some 150 horsepower, but at 3,681 pounds, it is also way down on mass, giving it a w/p ratio of just 5.49 lbs. per HP. It is also equipped with the aero, grip, and carbon fiber goodness of the Z07 package, which will help in the corners even if it makes the $109,295 ‘Vette into the more expensive vehicle with a bottom line of just over $160,000.

As has become tradition, Edmunds treats customers to two races with a driver swap happening in the middle for the sake of fairness. This is followed by a statistical deep dive, a look at the all-time leaderboard, onboard video from both cars and a sharing of opinions from the staff. As has also been our tradition, you’ll find no further spoilers here. To see how the howling Z07 fares against its silent challenger, you’ll have to click “play!”

Source:
Edmunds / YouTube

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