Beating a zo6 with a $80,000+ price tag should be harder than it actually is. Lets take the Nissan GT-R for example. You can find them for less than $70k, has about 600 horsepower, 0-60mph in 2.9 and a 1/4 mile time of 11.2. Now compared to the Corvette Zo6’s 650 horsepower and a 1/4 time of 11.3 that is not that far off and i agree, but the GT-R does it with 2 less cylinders.
But lets go even better, Lets beat a zo6 for under $10,000. All you need is the right car, the right mods and the right tune. For this we are gonna be using a 2gb (2nd generation) Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX. The GSX came stock with a turbocharged 2.0 at 210 horsepower and is All wheel drive. With minor upgrades these cars can produce a lot of horsepower and can run low 11’s to high 10’s in a quarter mile.
Adding a bigger turbo, maybe say a GT35r for about $1,500, Some turbo supporting mods like a bigger intercooler for about $400, 3in exhaust about $500 , bigger throttle body for about $250, some 1000cc injectors for about $500, walbro 255 fuel pump for about $90 and a little SAFC (Super Airflow Controller), you can find them for about $400 new or used as low as $200. with a little SAFC tune could produce well over 500 horsepower. Then maybe go a little more and upgrade the ECU to a stand alone EMS (Engine Management System), like the AEM v2 for about $1,700 and put a better tune on it and be well over the 600 horsepower mark. You will also gain a better tune with your 1000cc injectors with the EMS because the SAFC won’t read anything over 550cc, but the SAFC is a good starting point. So with all that would bring you to a total of about $5,340, which you really won’t need the SAFC if you go EMS so that minus $400, would bring you too $4,940.
That horsepower and the lighter weight compared to the Zo6 should be able to run well under the stock 11.3 mark of the Zo6 quarter mile time. All in all to each there own, but to me getting beat by a car not even a quarter of the cost and a quarter of the engine would make me rethink my strategy. But to some it’s not about the money it’s about the car and i totally get that. Would i spend a million dollars on a Hennessey Venom GT? If i had the money laying around, i absolutely would!
