Edmunds U-Drags: Insane Corvette vs. CT5-V Blackwing Showdown!

• 2020 Corvette and 2022 CT5-V Blackwing battle in our unique U-Drags format.
• The mid-engine Vette is lighter; the Blackwing has major muscle.
• This battle of acceleration, braking and handling came down to inches.

The Corvette used its lighter overall weight and mid-engine layout to jump out to an early lead, while the Blackwing relied on overwhelming power to catch up. Read on to see who nosed out whom.

U-Drags 101

So what's a U-Drag anyway? In short, it's a one-of-a-kind drag race devised by Edmunds as the ultimate test of acceleration, braking and handling. The car that wins isn't necessarily better in all three areas; rather, it's the one that's better at putting it all together. Starting side by side, the two vehicles accelerate through the quarter-mile mark before braking into a U-turn (U-Drags — get it?) and accelerating back to where they started. Then we switch drivers and positions on the track and do it again.

Check out the diagram below to get a visual and then scroll down for the details on how this inaugural U-Drags throwdown played out.

And the winner is ...

The Corvette and the Blackwing crossed the finish line at the exact same time in Race 1, clocking in at 31.4 seconds. Later on, in Race 2, it was the Blackwing that came from behind down the stretch, finishing in 31.9 seconds to the Corvette's 32.0 seconds flat. Averaging the runs, then, the Cadillac wins by a hair, but we're looking at the fastest run for each vehicle — and that means this one ends in a 31.4-second tie.

The finer points

The demands of the U-Drags course highlighted key strengths and weaknesses in both cars. For the Corvette, its lighter weight enabled a quick start and a sprint to 60 mph in just 3.4-3.5 seconds, quite an advantage over the Blackwing at 4.0-4.1 seconds.

At the quarter-mile mark, though, the Blackwing had more than halved that margin, needing 11.7 seconds to get there versus the Vette's 11.5. Both cars recorded up to 0.85 g of braking force and nearly 1.1 g in the U-turn. The Corvette led both races as they entered the returning quarter-mile segment of the match. However, the superior power of the Blackwing took center stage, rocketing the four-door sedan to impressive speed as it closed the gap each time. Ultimately, our clash of performance titans ended in a hard-fought draw.

Edmunds says

It's tempting to call this race a disappointment for the Corvette, which failed to leverage its weight advantage and superior mid-engine balance against a heavy four-door sedan. However, we came away impressed with the capabilities of both: the Corvette for its overall performance and the Blackwing for its sheer brute force yet relatively deft touch through the hairpin. This battle for the ages produced one clear winner: GM.