What do you do when your home in American historical past is safe? Do you relaxation and milk the nostalgia? Or do you retain pushing, knocking off the very best on the planet?
There are arguably a handful of automobiles as essential to American historical past because the Chevrolet Corvette. There are none extra essential. With an unchallengeable place within the historical past books, Corvette engineers are pushing the automotive 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 inexpensive subsequent to unique supercars from low-volume producers like Lamborghini and Ferrari.
It’s not a nasty worth for a automotive that units data in all places it goes. Chevrolet began 2025 by sending the ZR1 to problem observe data at 5 iconic American race tracks. It took the highest time at each considered one of them.
The Instances
With 4 totally different drivers behind the wheel, Chevrolet says, the 2025 ZR1 set new single-lap data at every observe:
- Watkins Glen Lengthy Course: 1:52.7. Driver: Invoice Smart, Lead Efficiency Engineer, Chassis Controls
- Street America: 2:08.6. Driver: Brian Wallace, Lead Car Dynamics Engineer
- Street Atlanta: 1:22.8. Driver: Chris Barber, Lead Improvement Engineer
- Virginia Worldwide Raceway Full Course: 1:47.7. Driver: Aaron Hyperlink, International Car 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 via an 8-speed dual-clutch computerized transmission to the rear wheels.
“The drivers set out on this observe tour with a pre-production Corvette ZR1 outfitted with the non-obligatory ZTK Efficiency Bundle,” Chevrolet notes. That bundle 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 substitute the usual entrance underwing stall Gurney to considerably improve entrance downforce. The suspension tuning included within the ZTK bundle incorporates stiffer springs and provides Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R ZP tires.”
