It’s been less than two weeks since the 2020 Chevy Corvette started showing up at dealerships, and the race to eclipse quarter mile milestones is already underway. Carlyle Racing wasted no time getting their 3LT C8 track prepped and down to Marion County International Raceway on a cold March 15.
Mark Carlyle, owner of Carlyle Racing, ordered his eight-speed automatic 3LT C8 with Sebring Orange paint, high wing spoiler, competition seats, and orange seat belts. Being that the Corvette was destined for drag racing, he opted to exclude the Z51 package. Immediately after delivery, the Vette hit the dyno with a mere 20 miles on the clock, netting 440 horsepower at the rear wheels and 408 lb-ft in stock form.
Before Carlyle’s Corvette was delivered, he already had a set of track wheels ready to go—Forgeline’s GS1R in 18×5 for the front and 18x11s out back. These single beadlock wheels are one-piece, forged monoblock units designed specifically for the 2020 Corvette. Complimenting the Forgelines are a set of Mickey Thompson ET Street S/S tires in 305/40/18 for the rear and Sportsman SR 26×6 up front.
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The only modification beyond the wheels and tires is a Nitrous Outlet dry nitrous kit. An LT1 plate kit fit perfectly between the LT2’s throttle body and intake manifold, while the nitrous bottle is mounted in the front trunk. “From all our years of racing, we knew that the car would take a small amount of nitrous without issues,” explained Carlyle. “It took it like a champ.”
Tire pressures started out at 30 psi and the team came down to 20 psi, with the sweet spot being around 22 psi. “If the car dead hooked, it seemed to close the throttle body on the shift between first and second gear, so we dialed in a little tire spin to keep it from doing that,” explained Carlyle.
Mark started off with some mid-11-second baseline passes to get the car sorted out and ended up with a best time of 11.25. The ETs dropped further when Carlyle used the factory launch control, netting their fastest naturally-aspirated run of the day. “It actually ran several 11.05 passes, repeatedly,” said Carlyle. “We also picked up 3 mph by using the launch control. The air outside was perfect with a tail wind and the density altitude was negative 987 feet. It’s going to be hard to beat these stock ET runs.” Running 11.05 at 126 mph with wheels and tires only is simply remarkable.
With the 50 shot activated, Carlyle became the first 2020 Corvette in the 10s, with a 10.65. “We made 15 to 20 passes and it actually liked being hot-lapped—the C8 kept picking up time as we ran it warm,” explained Carlyle. “We wanted to be the first one to the 10s and the 9s as well, but we didn’t want to risk breaking the car since the C8s can’t be tuned yet.”
Carlyle Racing says it would like to extend its thanks to Marion County International Raceway. They weren’t supposed to be open for a couple of weeks, but opened up just to run the Corvette. Even on a cold track, Mark managed to run a 1.61 60-foot time on 18-inch wheels. They believe if we would have had some heat in the track, that 1.50 60-foot times would have been possible.
