There's a new kid on the block, and he's ready to take over the whole neighborhood. The ZR1 is the ultimate moniker in the Corvette family and since it was first conceived by Lotus in 1986, it has been at the forefront of automotive technology and performance. GM pulled the plug on the ZR1 in 1995 and left us wondering about when the next ultra-high performance Corvette would roll off the line.
The C6 ZO6 pumps out 505hp out of a 7.0 liter pushrod V-8 and is not a vehicle for the faint of heart. However, GM thought it would get into the pacemaker business and build a Corvette that was better than any performance vehicle on the market today, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future, the ZR1. To prove to the world that this Corvette means business, they unleashed a full production trim ZR1 onto the famed benchmark test track for any performance car, Nurburgring's Nordschleif circuit.
From stock Michelin tires to full emissions control system, this ZR1 is exactly like the car that any lucky soul off the street would be able to get his mitts on. The Nurburgring time earmarked for the best of the world's super cars is anything under seven minutes 45 seconds. Cars like the Buggatti Veyron, the Porsche Carrera GT and Pagani Zonda all occupy this time slot. Well the new Corvette ZR1 could care less about those nameplates and set an all time record for a production car with a scorching time of 7 minutes 26.4 seconds! For a comparison, the brand new Nissan GT-R laps the ring in 7:29.03 and the Porsche 911 GT2 gets left in the ZR1's wake by almost six seconds!
The driver of the ZR1, GM test engineer Jim Mero, faced a strong headwind on the back straight, so the Corvette had to use all 638hp to fight against it. Under better conditions the ZR1 might be able to lay down an even better mind bending time. We want to say congratulations to all the ZR1 guys that put their hard work into this car, for accomplishing such a feat. What's also great is that all the technology that allows GM vehicles like the ZR1 to do its job, trickles down and get put into the cars we all know and love - like the brand new 2008 Chevy Cobalt SS Turbo.
