2006 Ford GT vs. Dodge Viper SRT10 vs. Chevrolet Corvette z06 - Handling - Exotic Sport Coupes Comparison

We ended our Chelsea operations on a 1.6-mile handling circuit consisting mostly of smooth, flat, medium to high-speed turns with a few slow kinks thrown in for good measure. Dodge provides no electronic safety net, but, despite having the highest torque-to-rear-axle-weight rating of the three, the Viper seldom threatened to break loose its 345/35R19 rear tires and wag its tail. High cornering grip (peaking at 1.27 g) compensated for noticeably less urgent acceleration on the straights to bring the Viper in just 1.3 seconds slower than the Corvette, but the tight footwell, confining cockpit, and a steering wheel location too far aft made this a difficult car to feel comfortable going fast in. There's also a peculiar sensation of sitting way back on the rear axle and swinging the nose from side to side in turns. It's not a bad thing, just odd.

Your humble scribe, who's never held a pro-racing license, found the Corvette the easiest to drive fast on a largely unfamiliar track, by running all timed laps with StabiliTrak set to the "competition mode." The system meters out as much thrust to each rear wheel as surface conditions will permit, allowing a bit of oversteer to point the car, without ever dousing the fire. That's not to say you can flat-foot the go-pedal and just steer around the course--this front-engine car will push if thrown at a curve clumsily. But given the least amount of finesse, the Corvette generates big numbers with ease: highest top speed (133.6 mph), hardest acceleration (0.71 g), and peak braking and cornering within 10 percent of the GT's and Viper's. Score a decisive victory for team bow-tie.

The GT's mid-engine layout makes it behave much more like a textbook race car. Brake too late for a corner or too hard with the front wheels turned, and the rear end--which wears the smallest tires in this test--will come unstuck. Braking performance on the track was stellar, with the GT decelerating 0.1 to 0.2 g harder than the others. Of course, that may be because a major tail-wag on lap one (the GT employs no safety nannies, either) may have prompted extra driver caution on corner entries. The supercharger can easily overwhelm the rear-wheel traction on corner exits as well, but once hooked up it builds speed quickly, reaching within just 1.4 mph of the Corvette's top speed.

During the first hot lap with our initial test car, a couple of over-torqued half-shaft companion-flange bolts failed, sending the open differential into freewheeling mode. The replacement car that laid down these lap times was an engineering car with 40,000 hard miles on it. It dyno'd 21 horsepower down on the original. Those extra ponies, and perhaps more bravado at the entrance to the corners, might well have put the GT ahead of the Corvette (or possibly wadded it into a little ball).