Few decades in automotive history were as exciting for American performance cars as the early 1990s. It was a time when manufacturers were pushing boundaries, experimenting with wild designs, and building machines that quickly became legends. On one side, Dodge shocked the world with the bare-knuckled Viper RT/10—a car that was more weapon than automobile.
On the other, Chevrolet unveiled the Corvette ZR-1, nicknamed “King of the Hill,” a technological showcase with a Lotus-designed V8 that promised to take America’s sports car global.
So, more than 30 years later, how do these icons stack up against each other? TFLclassics on YouTube brought them both to the airstrip to find out in a series of drag races.
The quarter-mile drag race kicked off with the ZR-1 in its “normal” mode, which limited power to 212 hp. Unsurprisingly, the Corvette turned in a sluggish 17-second pass while the Viper stormed down the strip at 14.3 seconds—impressive at 6,000 feet above sea level.
After unlocking the Corvette’s “full power” mode with the speed key, the ZR-1 woke up, revving past 7,000 rpm and putting all 375 hp and 370 lb-ft to work. Still, the Viper’s 400 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque gave it the edge every time.
