Now Chevrolet is just showing off.
The Detroit automaker has announced that the eagerly anticipated C8 Corvette ZR1 set five lap records during a recent cross-country tour. Those marks were set on five different tracks by four different drivers.
Chevy promised big things when it began teasing the ZR1 last spring, and it’s had little trouble backing all that talk up. The range-topping C8 is the most potent (1,064 hp), quickest (zero to 60 in 2.3 seconds), and fastest (233 mph) production ‘Vette of all time. Its top speed—which is 21 mph faster than that of the C7 ZR1—also made it the fastest American-made production car ever. As impressive as all that may read, it wasn’t enough for the automaker.
The pre-production Chevrolet C8 Corvette ZR1 with ZTK package was able to set five track records
Chevrolet
As a further show of muscle, Chevy decided it was time to take a pre-production ZR1 equipped with the optional ZTK Performance to some of the country’s best race tracks. So, how did the most powerful C8 fare? It ended the trip as the holder of a quintet of new lap records.
The first of those marks was set when lead performance engineer Bill Wise piloted the ZR1 around New York’s Watkins Glen long course in 1:52.6 minutes. He was followed by lead vehicle dynamic engineer Brian Wallace, who circled Wisconsin’s Road America in 2:08.6 minutes. Then, lead development engineer Chris Barber maneuvered around Road Atlanta in 1:22.8. Finally, global vehicle performance manager Aaron Link set two records at the Virginia International Raceway, lapping the full course in 1:47.7 and the grand course in 2:32.3.
“We knew we had a very, very good shot at beating the record,” Barber, who set the Road Atlanta mark on his first full-speed run, said. “The hope was to destroy it, and that’s what we ended up doing.”
The C8 ZR1’s boundary-pushing performance shouldn’t come as a complete shock. The first turbocharged ‘Vette is a true supercar thanks to a 5.5-liter flat-plane-crank V-8 that makes 1,064 hp and 828 ft lbs of torque. The ZTK performance package adds a more aggressive aero kit that includes a downforce-producing rear wing and new front flips and strakes.
The C8 ZR1 will go into production this spring with deliveries expected to begin later this year. The variant will start at $174,995, which is significantly less than some of its ostensible peers, including the $241,30 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, the $382,500 McLaren 765LT, and the $608,358 Lamborghini Revuelto.
