[VIDEO] C8 Corvette ZR1X Finally Gets in the Octagon with a Bugatti, Easily Rises to the Challenge!

For more than 20-years, the conventional knowledge has held the wares of Volkswagen-owned French hypercar maker Bugatti as both the fastest and quickest cars in the world. There’s almost aways some niche, shed-built pretender claiming a higher top-end, and the rise of party-trick-quick EVs has challenged the big Bug’s “quickest” throne, but Bugatti has been, and remains the ultimate automotive yardstick, and for good reason.

It all started with the 1,001 horsepower Veyron in 2005 (when we were over here getting excited about the first 500-horse Corvette). The firm’s new Tourbillon isn’t readily available yet and doesn’t seem like one to suffer the indignity of something so pedestrian as drag racing. That leaves the wild middle child as the one who wants to fight. It’s called the Chiron, and it took everything about the groundbreaking Veyron, and took it to the cutting edge of extreme.

We’re talking 16-cylinders (a W16; basically, two V8s fused together at the crank), displacing a massive 8.0-liters, all force-fed by a quad-turbo setup good for 1,500 horsepower and 1,180 lb-ft of torque at just 2,000 rpm. That phenomenal muscle is routed through all four wheels, and motivates some 4,300 lbs., including the heft of one of the finest interiors ever crafted. 500 were made through its discontinuation in 2024, and picking one up today can put buyers back a staggering amount of money falling anywhere between $2,900,000 and $5,700,000.

It’s the heavyweight champ that the upstart Corvette ZR1X has been working its way up to, and Drag Times has teamed up with Vehicle Virgins to make it happen this Memorial Day weekend. Representatives from both YouTube channels met at Apex Motor Club south of Phoenix, Arizona for the first of a promised series of “ZR1X vs.” videos, and as Brooks from Drag Times did the race from the POV of the X, that’ll be the link we’ll share today.

What you need to know is that Arizona is brutally hot, even in May, the festivities began early in the morning with the mercury already rising over 80 degrees. The most powerful Detroit consumer product in history makes do with just 5.5L, and features half the cylinders and half the turbos of the Bugatti. It’s flat-plane V8 makes 1,064 ponies on its own, and it is augmented by an electrified front axle that brings total system HP to 1,250. It checks in around 4,100 lbs. and carries a sticker price around 1/17th that of its competitor at $231,000. This specific example has standard aero and is running Michelin 4S rubber vs the Bugatti’s Cup 2s.

The back straight at Apex, a 1,600 feet – just under a third of a mile – stretch of tarmac, is where the duel will take place. It consists of three standing drag races and two rolling drags. Now, we usually don’t like to spoil the results, and if that’s the way you like it, kindly stop reading and go to the video now…

If you’re still with us, we’re too floored by the results to contain ourselves from breaking down what went down as the ZR1X, once again, absolutely destroyed a once-untouchable member of the hypercar monarchy. Here’s our notes:

Three standing runs:

1. The starter, who looks strangely like a Domino’s delivery guy in what we’re guessing is a University of Arizona polo, fires the starting gun and the ZR1X instantly leaves the Chiron for dead. When he finally catches up to talk to Brooks, the Vehicle Virgin guy complains of wheel spin in the Bug.
2. To make things more interesting, Brooks actually lets the Bugatti have the hole shot, on purpose, from the driver’s seat of a Corvette! After an ever-so-slight advantage for the Frenchman, the ‘Vette walks away again, though, if it’s any consolation, the $4MM car is at least in the still frame at the checkered flag this time around.
3. After a noticeably slower time in the second victory, possibly due to rising temps, Brooks lowers the RPM of the launch and gave the VV guy in the fancy VW an even more obvious jump, but, once again, the working-man’s hypercar quickly overtakes the 17x more expensive sled and cruises to the checkered flag by multiple car lengths. There was a brief stretch where it looked like the Bugatti was reeling the ‘Vette back in, but then the gap went right back to where it was by the end.

Two roll-races:

1. Brooks sets the X to PTM Sport and starts in 2nd gear for a 30-roll but forgets to put it in manual mode, turning the Bugatti the world’s most expensive Challenger Hellcat, a car that needs a full head of steam to actually utilize its on-paper power.
2. Brooks’ new strategy of switching from manual mode to auto mode mid-race to get the launch and later shifts perfect pays off in a decisive final victory for the Corvette, and the crowd starts chanting U S A, U S A, U S A!!

Source:
DragTimes / YoUTube

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