When the enemy is at the gates, you arm yourself and brace for an attack. When you are the enemy, you let loose a fusillade. With high-priced exotics and domestic sports cars alike in its crosshairs, we already knew the 2015 Corvette Z06 was out for blood; our deep dive on the car told us all we needed to know on that count. But official power figures had been kept secret. Now that they’re out, it’s clear that the Chevy is going to be beating down some gates.
Let’s end the suspense: The 2015 Corvette Z06’s supercharged LT4 engine will crank out 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque, each figure being 25 more than Chevrolet’s coy estimates. In fact, the Z06 fairly crushes the last-generation Corvette ZR1, which packed 638 horsepower and 604 lb-ft of torque, reinforcing the notion that that model won’t be making a return in C7 guise any time soon. And forget the last-gen Z06, which eked out just 505 horsepower from its 7.0-liter LS7.