They say you should never judge a book by its cover, and we’d wager that applies doubly to the modern crop of go-fast cars on the market. Case in point – a drag race between a stock C8 Corvette and a stock Dodge Durango Hellcat.
Coming to us from the Hennessey Performance Engineering YouTube channel, these two speed demons are in fact 100-percent factory-spec, unlike the vast majority of tuned-up monsters featured in the tuner’s videos. As explained at the outset of the video, the 2021 Durango is a fresh delivery, slated to become the first recipient of Hennessey’s new HPE1000 performance upgrade for the SUV. However, before throwing the wrenches at it, the tuner decides to run some baseline testing against the new C8 Corvette Stingray Coupe.
That’s right – a big, three-row SUV lining up for a drag race against a mid-engine Chevy sports car. Cake walk, right?
Not so fast. The 2021 Dodge Durango Hellcat is equipped from the factory with the same supercharged 6.2L V8 as the Challenger Hellcat and Charger Hellcat, which means it’s packing a ridiculous 710 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque, all of which hits the performance AWD system through an eight-speed automatic transmission.
That said, the C8 Corvette is certainly no slouch. Mounted just behind the cabin of Chevy’s new mid-engine sports car is the naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 LT2, which produces 495 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque when equipped with the factory performance exhaust system. Output is routed to the rear wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.
So, while the Dodge SUV has the power and traction advantage, the C8 Corvette has the weight advantage, tipping the scales at 3,366 pounds compared to the Durango’s pavement-crushing 5,710 pounds. The C8’s dual-clutch transmission also likely shifts a bit quicker than the Dodge’s eight-speed.
Which vehicle will come out on top? Hit play to find out.
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Comments
Give the vett, 710.Hp then try it again
You guys are not playing the game! What does this prove? NOTHING!
Hennessey clearly needs to learn how do drive a C8 before they make these videos. The C8 has a better 0-60 and 1/4 than the Durango Hellcat yet they once again manage to make the C8 look like it’s in lawnmower mode. Same thing happened in their TRX video.
What’s the weight difference? Sad gm has no rwd CUV.
Looked staged to me! The Durango’s wheels were turning off the line before the C8 started moving at turtle pace. Check the revolution of the C8’s wheels off the line! You can count the spokes! They should have been a blur!
Has the driver of the C8 ever been in a drag race? Who said go? Once again it’s the old saying “It’s he who holds the pencil” !!
I’m a Mopar fan and hemi owner and a C8 owner.
Uhhh…2 guys in vette? Did they even use launch control? Seems fishy to me.
I’ve gotta call BeeEss on this one. 710 HP?
Give me a break with the weight. And, were the drivers equally experienced/competent off the line? You’ve got to do better. Give the Vette 710 and see what happens.
Also, seeing tags hanging near glovebox in the C8 interior tells me it is brand new. So does the C8 have the 500 miles on it to open the RPM’s above the restricted 4500 mark to unleash it’s power or was it still restricted?
Like everyone here, looked staged… No one is taking away the performance of 707 hp in a plus 4,200 lb SUV but the video diffinately has a purpose …what I don’t know… Same for another Hennessy video where the GT500 races the same 707 hp Durango. The GT500 was left at the start like the Vette but catches and passes the Durango at the 3/4 mark of the 1/4 mile.
Videos are out there where stock C8 Vettes running the 0-60 at 3.0 seconds and 1/4 mile in the low 11’s in stock tires…
Someone is selling something stinky…
Just another fake race by Hennessey. Nothing about that race was fair as it was clearly staged.
Well, GM lied to its customers or the dealers are, in Canada , anyway. The dealers have told me, I have to pay the price on the window sticker when it comes in. Even though GM said if we had ordered a 2020, which I had , and did not get, you won t pay the price increase on the 2021! If I did not like this car so much , I would cancel my order , and I am thinking about it. I know GM will not give a crap. One thing is for sure , that will be it for GM. I will go back to Ford. As for the drag race , it is bull….
Interesting, pathetic, but interesting. Not taking away from the MOPAR, it is an amazing vehicle in itself, got all of the goodies to help it launch well and move out smartly….BUT, does anyone seriously think that the C8 driver (and, uh a passenger?) knows what he’s doing! Watched these new C8’s leave with the Launch Control (and uh, just one person in it please) and they are running sub 3 second 0-60 MPH times and very low 11 second ET’s at well over 120 plus MPH and to see this race come out as it did, leaves me totally suspect that someone was “sandbagging” here, guess which one it was, and it wasn’t the MOPAR (hint, hint). Come on guys, seriously now, drop “the kid” and go back and do it again, but this time, lets all leave the line together, and lets see what the outcome will be….I’m betting there will be a small but important change to the ending. I realize that sometimes “it is, what it is”…but not this time, oh hell no, stop fooling around and lets do it right…and if it’s “done right” (sic) there will be a surprise ending (not!) that’ll confirm how awesome that new C8 really is when you “do it right the first time”! Okay, ’nuff said….sheesh!
I couldn’t have said it any better! 👍
The next time a mopar sail boat beats a Chevrolet speed boat will be the first time that happens
TOTAL FIX JOB BY HENNACY
Swap the drivers and the Corvette wins by 6 car lengths
Two things … make that 3: first of which, C8 had a passenger and didn’t use launch control. Their own video of their 1,000 hp package only beat a C8 by a car length or two when the C8 used launch control. The stock hellcat Durango with driver only basically tied the 1,000 hp Hennessy Durango when it had 5 passengers in it. Finally, Hennessy is trying to get folks to buy their upgraded vehicles, so of course the Hennessy vehicle will win/tie. You can’t tell me that Durango gets to 60 faster than 2.9 seconds like a stock Vette can! These are just glorified advertisements, not actual drag races. I can’t think of anyone racing their C8 Vette WITHOUT using launch control either. But … they’re still somewhat fun videos to watch.