Emelia Hartford

Emelia Hartford is a race car driver, custom car builder, television host, and actress. She is most known for building one of the world's fastest custom Corvette C8s and her performance car customization YouTube channel, which launched in 2017. Background Before launching her YouTube channel, Hartford juggled small acting gigs between service industry jobs. As a hobby after her work shifts, she would work on customizing her cars and occasionally chronicled her progress with posts on Instagram. Her Instagram posts eventually led to tire manufacturer Michelin inviting her to New York to launch its performance summer tire, the Pilot Sport 4S. At the Michelin event, Hartford met other car-build influencers who advised her how to create videos. Afterward, she bought her first camera and started her YouTube channel. As of March 2021, her YouTube videos had more than 72 million views. Corvette C8 Build "Phoenix", Hartford's custom Corvette C8, is one of the fastest C8s in the world and once held the record for quickest C8 in the quarter-mile. In June 2021, Hartford drove the car to a 9.36-second time with a trap speed of 147 mph at the Famoso Raceway in Southern California during a private testing event. This result surpassed her previous record of 9.41 seconds at 144 mph set in March 2021. This record was later surpassed by a custom C8 by FuelTech which finished the quarter-mile in 8.973 seconds at 160.92 mph.