The 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is absurdly fast and absurdly cheap

Let's review a few things: At $54,995 and 455 hp, the current, seventh-generation Corvette is a monster, a practical and almost flaw-free device. Similarly, as the media is fond of telling you, we live in a golden age; if you're building fast cars, you have to offer at least 500 hp if you want any attention. The last top-line Ford Mustang made 662 hp and-this is not an exaggeration-thanks to 200-mph gearing, occasionally felt half-asleep. Dodge builds a family sedan with 707 hp. When it comes to horsepower, the industry is generally agreed to have a last-days-of-Rome going on, and yet the numbers keep reaching for the moon.

Into this bat-guano party steps the 2015 Corvette Z06. It makes 650 hp and costs $78,995, which makes it both absurdly fast and remarkably cheap. Its supercharged, 6.2-liter, direct-injected pushrod V8, which GM calls LT4, produces 12 hp more than the LS9 V8 in the old Corvette ZR1, which was also supercharged.

Like that car, the Z06 offers standard magnetorheological dampers and select carbon-fiber body panels; unlike that car, it has electric power steering, a seven-speed manual, an optional eight-speed automatic, and an electronically controlled, variable-lockup limited-slip. Plus a removable roof panel and an available convertible model. The coupe weighs 3536 pounds. Thanks to the base C7's aluminum frame-20 percent more rigid than that of the previous Z06-Chevrolet says the convertible needs no additional structural reinforcements, weighs within 60 pounds of the coupe, and is tuned identically to it. On either car, if you choose the carbon aerodynamics package, you get a carbon-fiber front splitter, carbon rocker extensions, a larger spoiler, and small nose winglets.

If you are the sort of person who sits up nights figuring out how to fit slicks and a straight pipe to his dishwasher, the track-focused Z07 package ($7995) is built for your weirdo brain. It brings the carbon pack plus the carbon brakes; Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires; a 59-millimeter, clear-plastic Gurney flap on the trunk; and larger winglets.

There's more here than just a bonkers engine. Because the Z06's rear fenders are more than three inches wider than those of the base C7, the taillights are three inches farther apart, to keep the newly enplumped rump from looking cross-eyed. The grille is so effective at humping air into the engine bay that Chevrolet says the engine actually sees less air volume with the grille removed. Scoops on the rear-fender vents force 50 percent more air to the newly enlarged transaxle coolers. And while the Z07's clear Gurney "looks a little NASCAR," as one engineer told me, it also causes air to bunch up over the rear glass, providing 80 percent of the Z07's total downforce with a center of pressure just in front of the rear wheels. (Fun fact: GM considered a traditional rear wing mounted directly to the rear fascia, but that would've required reinforcing the fascia to take the load, which would've added cost.

It also would've shifted the aero balance rearward, requiring more front downforce for balance. The Gurney simply produces pressure on the middle of the car, and with a relatively small drag penalty.)