As each new performance car is released by the Big Three automakers, many aftermarket tuners immediately race to buy one and turn it into the “First to the (insert specific dragstrip achievement here)” and Steve Fereday, Josh Ledford and the gang at Late Model Racecraft are no different.

They procured a brand-new Torch Red (which is our favorite C7 color) machine and immediately set to work by modifying it to see just what type of performance the Corvette could achieve at the dragstrip, and in the process became the first shop to bust into the coveted 9-second zone with their C7. 

How did they do it? If you can believe this, they’ve already got a complete Reaper package designed for the C7, including a camshaft, custom torque converter from Circle D Specialties along with a healthy nitrous system from Nitrous Express. The LMR team is also one of the first in the country to have a CNC cylinder head program for the GenV LT1 engine, so we have to believe these heads and a ported intake manifold rest atop the engine. 

Details are scant on the rest of the combination, but if we had to guess, we’d suspect a complete exhaust has been installed and the catalytic converters have been deleted strictly based on the healthy rumble coming from the C7’s rear end in the video. 

They recently stopped the clocks with an insane 9.999 at 132 MPH during a test session, and we’re inclined to believe there’s plenty more performance where that came from given more tuning time and effort with the combination.

Knowing their past history with building high-performance vehicles, we fully expect to see them running hot and heavy to be the first tuner shop into the 8’s with the C7 as well. Congratulations on the great effort!