Since arriving last year, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 has lived up to the hype, setting multiple performance milestones—including a Nürburgring lap quicker than the Ford Mustang GTD. It’s the most extreme version of the eighth-generation Corvette, and while expensive, it still undercuts the Ferrari 296 GTB’s price and delivers stronger quarter-mile results.
DragTimes recently put the two head-to-head, noting that the tested 296 GTB cost about $405,000—around $174,000 more than the ZR1, a gap driven by engineering, hardware, and Ferrari’s exclusivity-focused branding.
The ZR1 entered the test with a 5.5-liter twin-turbo flat-plane-crank LT7 V8 pushing 1,064 horsepower to the rear wheels through an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission. Weighing roughly 3,800 pounds, it’s about 300 pounds heavier than the Ferrari. The 296 GTB, meanwhile, produces 820 horsepower from its 3.0-liter twin-turbo hybrid V6, a setup directly tied to the V6 platform used in Ferrari’s Le Mans-winning 499P.
In the first run, the ZR1 won with a 9.291-second pass at 153.20 mph. The Ferrari followed at 9.737 seconds and 146.08 mph—a decisive margin in drag racing. A second run confirmed the outcome: the Corvette posted 9.315 seconds at 151.70 mph, while the 296 GTB managed 9.746 seconds at 145.66 mph. The result was clear—ZR1 beat the Ferrari both times.
