Late Model Racecraft C7 Corvette First to Break 7-Second 1/4-Mile
Loaded up on nitrous and tons of force-fed air, C7 also scores a record as the fastest Gen 5 LT-powered vehicle around.
Corvette Forum supporting vendor Late Model Racecraft of Houston, Texas has been on a roll over the past few months, smashing quarter-mile records left and right with Richard Broadway’s 2015 C7. The monster ‘Vette first set a world record of eight seconds at 170 mph back in August 2018, then came close to doing it again at the 2018 Holley LS Fest.
Now, LMR has taken Broadway’s C7 to Houston Raceway to set a new record, with a little help from a couple of bottles of nitrous in the back.
“An 8.13, very first pass off the trailer, low-rolled it,” said LMR team member Steven Fereday. “We’re making about 23 pounds of boost. We’re about to put the bottles in it, see what happens. I want it to go a 7 today. We can fine-tune it, and then, I really do think if I had more time, which we might later tonight, fine-tune it on blower, I think it’s gonna go a 7.90 on blower alone, and then go well into 7 on nitrous. But for now, I don’t want to wait. I’m putting the nitrous in it, and we’re gonna send it.”
Fereday predicted his first pass would be 7.79 with the C7 running nitrous for the first time. The first pass turned out be 7.747 at 163.75 mph, a much quicker time but a slightly slower speed than the eight-second run a few months before.
“[On the first pass] of the day, we went a 7.70,” said Fereday. “Had to click it at a thousand-foot. It was the first time on the nitrous. We’re about to run it again. Hopefully, I’m gonna air this thing all the way out. [If] everything feels good and stays good, hoping for a 7.60, guys. Maybe even 7.59. We’ll see.”
Fereday knocked off more time in his second pass, clearing the quarter-mile in 7.556 at 184.09 mph, establishing a new C7 quarter-mile record and a second record as the fastest Gen 5 LT-powered vehicle in the world. As Fereday says, this was all done with a C7 “full street car [with] power steering, AC, radio,” and a whole interior with nothing removed. The LMR may have to ask their client if they can put a cage in his car, though, lest it gets too hairy on the next record-setting run.