Electrification has always been sold to the public as a way to combat rising gas prices and protect the environment. Fine goals, but not all that exciting. If they'd told us from the start that EVs and hybrids would be clearing 60 mph in under two seconds, we're willing to bet you'd have had less resistance to battery power over the years.
Superpowered EVs and hybrids have certainly evened the playing field when it comes to horsepower. It wasn't that long ago that you would need to spend well over a million bucks if you wanted to buy one of the quickest cars in the world. Thanks to electrification, two of the world's quickest supercars, the Lucid Air Sapphire and the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X, can be had for a fraction of what you might spend on something built by Koenigsegg or Bugatti.
Let's Watch These Suckers Fly
Hagerty recently ran a video on their YouTube channel pitting the ZR1X and the Sapphire in a drag race against one another, and a Volkswagen Golf with a substantial headstart. The winner of this race, at the quarter-mile marker, was literally too close to call, even for computerized tracking systems.
We recommend checking out the whole video, but we've cued it up to the race in case you've only got 9.1 seconds to spare.
The Corvette takes an early razor-thin lead, until its wing spoiler creates starts to work against it, allowing the Sapphire to catch up by the finish line as it continues to gain speed.
| 0-60 | Quarter-Mile | |
| Corvette ZR1X | 2.0 Seconds | 9.1 Seconds @ 154 mph |
| Lucid Air Sapphire (Trofeo RS) | 2.0 Seconds | 9.1 Seconds @ 157 mph |
Finishes were marked with a pair of GPS trackers, one checking location 20 times a second, and the other checking location 25 times a second. Neither tracker was able to identify a substantial difference in quarter-mile times between these two cars. Measuring the difference might require some literal splitting of hairs to accurately gauge the distance between these two cars at the 9.1-second mark.
Supercars clearing the quarter mile in under 10 seconds is nothing new, but there are two really exciting things about watching the Sapphire and the ZR1X cars do it. Firstly, these cars are relatively affordable for the power they deliver. Secondly, they're made in America, and it feels good to win one now and then.
A Look At The American-Made Supercars
The Lucid Air Sapphire is pure battery power, while the Corvette uses a hybridized V8. In Hagerty's drag race, the 'Vette matches the Sapphire's two-second take-off, but it's been clocked at 1.68 seconds, while the Sapphire's record time is 1.89 seconds.
| Lucid Air Sapphire (Trofeo RS) | Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X | |
| Engine | EV | 5.5-Liter Hybrid 8-Cylinder |
| Power | 1,234 hp | 1,065 hp @ 7,000 RPM |
| Toque | 1,430 lb-ft | 828 lb-ft @ 6,000 RPM |
| Transmission | 1-Speed Automatic | 8-Speed Auto-Shift Manual |
| Drivetrain | All-Wheel Drive | All-Wheel Drive |
The Chevy and the Sapphire are both all-wheel-drive. It's getting harder to find new supercars and hypercars with all-wheel drive these days. When you're traveling at 150 mph and hitting 60 mph quicker than you can say "60 mph," the superior control offered by four-wheel power is simply a must-have.
Both Cars Offer Perfect Weight Distribution
The electric Corvette E-Ray is often reported as the first 'Vette with all-wheel drive, with the ZR1X being the first gas-powered AWD Corvette. In truth, Chevrolet has been playing with the idea of an AWD Corvette since the 1986 Corvette Indy. But, the Indy was a concept car, making the C8s the first production Corvettes with all-wheel drive.
Being an electric car, the Lucid Air Sapphire packs its weight along the floor, in its lithium-ion battery pack. The Corvette is a rear-mid-engine car, providing excellent balance and traction, plus it looks cool when you open the rear hatch to access the engine.
Sources: Chevrolet, Lucid, Hagerty.
Read the full article on CarBuzz
This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
