Video: When you have the most powerful car on the grid

Power is, of course, not everything when it comes to making a good racing car. But where it does come in handy is a place like Silverstone where there are a few opportunities every lap to really open the taps and pass cars for fun…especially when you easily have 600bhp to exploit.

The case in point here is Craig Davies who, as we pointed out in a recent Goodwood Greats post on this very car, has owned Corvettes ever since he was seventeen. Despite his immense experience of driving these cars, as the 1965 ‘Sub Zero’ Stingray lined up for the start of the International Trophy for Classic pre ’66  GT cars at the Silverstone Classic, we didn’t expect it to make much of an impression in all honesty.

‘It’s Achilles heel is actually slow corners. That and the fact that we need to carry a heck of a lot of fuel for a one hour race! Craig tells us. Favourites for the outright win were E-Type Jaguars, AC Cobras or perhaps a TVR Griffith. Despite the Corvette’s immense horsepower advantage though, there was no way it was going to match those cars over a distance. But when the flag dropped Craig set about putting all that poke to good use and, incredibly, monstered his way up to fourth place from a ninth row start – at one point passing an E-Type and Aston Martin DB4 like they had their parking brakes on.

‘It does go very well down the straights’ Craig smiles. ‘I saw Tim Harvey ahead in the Bizzarini and would have loved to catch him up but that was just too much of an ask.’ He certainly put on a good show sliding the ‘Vette around Silverstone’s sweeping bends, trying to keep the lead bunch in sight.

‘It actually handles very well and it’s so enjoyable’ he tells us. ‘It just won’t be hustled in to slow corners and that’s where it tends to lose out.’ A shame, but such great entertainment!