They certainly can’t be too common in that part of the world, but Chevrolet’s Corvette has become such a success over here that even some of Japan’s more imaginative tuners have tried their hands at the venerable American sports car.

Team Advance seem to be some of the more daring among the time attack contenders with their normally-aspirated Z06 carving out a spot for itself among the hordes of turbocharged, four wheel-drive Japanese techno titans. What happens when big-bore motors and rear wheel-drive are unleashed on the tight, twisty Tsukuba circuit?

By building on a strong package, this Z06 shows how far minor modifications can go with a sturdy base.

Though one might assume that the Corvette is too unwieldy to handle the hairpin corners that give four wheel-drives such an advantage here, they would be wrong, for a few reasons. The latest Z06s used a transaxle six-speed gearbox to distribute the weight more evenly across the entire platform.

In addition, the motor was moved back, flush with the firewall and nearly behind the front axle. This packaging helped give the modern Corvettes the agility that has endeared them to people the world over, despite some of the flak older ‘Vettes received for their wayward handling.

The enormous rear diffuser gives it a hint of tuner car-styling.

That refinement can be seen clearly through the onboard footage, which shows stellar traction and great braking performance, even in the slowest of corners. Sure, a hint of oversteer is never far away — but with 600 horsepower and Hankook Ventus street tires, something’s gotta give. Building on some of that inherent performance are an OS Giken LSD, Sachs suspension, Pfadt sway bars and an Exedy clutch.

To help it maintain composure in the quicker corners — Z06s are known to be quite snappy at speed — a carbon rear wing, diffuser and front splitter have been employed. Needless to say, the base car was a stout package already, but with some minor tweaking, the C6 Z06 is a serious force to be reckoned with.