What do you do when your house in American historical past is safe? Do you relaxation and milk the nostalgia? Or do you retain pushing, knocking off the perfect on the earth?
There are arguably a handful of vehicles as necessary to American historical past because the Chevrolet Corvette. There are none extra necessary. With an unchallengeable place within the historical past books, Corvette engineers are pushing the automobile to new heights.
On the high of the Corvette hierarchy sits the 2025 Corvette ZR1. It’s not low-cost, beginning at $174,995 (together with a $1,695 vacation spot cost) for the 1LZ coupe and $184,995 (delivered) for the 1LZ hardtop convertible. However these costs look reasonably priced subsequent to unique supercars from low-volume producers like Lamborghini and Ferrari.
It’s not a nasty value for a automobile that units information all over the place it goes. Chevrolet began 2025 by sending the ZR1 to problem monitor information at 5 iconic American race tracks. It took the highest time at each one in every of them.
The Occasions
With 4 completely different drivers behind the wheel, Chevrolet says, the 2025 ZR1 set new single-lap information at every monitor:
- Watkins Glen Lengthy Course: 1:52.7. Driver: Invoice Smart, Lead Efficiency Engineer, Chassis Controls
- Highway America: 2:08.6. Driver: Brian Wallace, Lead Automobile Dynamics Engineer
- Highway Atlanta: 1:22.8. Driver: Chris Barber, Lead Improvement Engineer
- Virginia Worldwide Raceway Full Course: 1:47.7. Driver: Aaron Hyperlink, International Automobile Efficiency Supervisor
- Virginia Worldwide Raceway Grand Course: 2:32.3. Driver: Aaron Hyperlink
The ZR1 makes use of a hand-built 5.5-liter twin-turbo flat-plane crank V8, placing out an astonishing 1,064 horsepower and 828 lb-ft of torque. Energy goes by way of an 8-speed dual-clutch computerized transmission to the rear wheels.
“The drivers set out on this monitor tour with a pre-production Corvette ZR1 geared up with the optionally available ZTK Efficiency Bundle,” Chevrolet notes. That package deal provides “an aggressive, high-downforce rear wing, entrance dive planes, and a tall hood Gurney lip — all constructed from woven carbon fiber. Beneath, underbody strakes change the usual entrance underwing stall Gurney to considerably enhance entrance downforce. The suspension tuning included within the ZTK package deal incorporates stiffer springs and provides Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R ZP tires.”
