Chevrolet's new Corvette ZR1 marks its territory by setting new lap records
We had a lot of fun with the Chevy Corvette Z06 we kept in-house for a few months last year, after the now-iconic mid-engined American sports car won MotorTrend's 2023 Performance Car of the Year award. We tested it with one of our grandmothers, we tested it against a real race car and we drove it on plenty of road trips. But now it's Chevy's turn to have some more fun with the Corvette, albeit now in high-performance Corvette ZR1 guise, as it just went out to mark its territory, setting five new records around racetracks across the U.S. And luckily for us, GM recorded them all to watch.
An engineer explains: What makes the Corvette ZR1's engine so powerful?
The new ZR1 is quite the hot car, aptly dubbed an American supercar — though we'd wager it's a supercar, period, no qualifications needed — considering its 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 engine is good for over 1,000 horsepower in stock form, which is more than 300 hp more than the previous-generation ZR1. We've personally seen the new ZR1 hit up to 205 mph, while properly prepped cars with the carbon aero package have hit up to 233 mph, generating up to 1,200 pounds of downforce as they go. It ain't cheap, with the tamest version coming in at a starting price of $174,995, but it's cheap for that kind of performance.
An American supercar: A look at the 1,064-HP 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
The five new U.S. lap records come from four different GM drivers. Bill Wise, lead performance engineer of chassis controls, set a record 1:52.7 lap time around Watkins Glen's long course. Driver Brian Wallace, lead vehicle dynamics engineer on the ZR1, set a record time of 2:08.6 around Road America. The car zoomed around Road Atlanta with a 1:22.8 lap time piloted by lead development engineer Chris Barber. Finally, driver Aaron Link, global vehicle performance manager, managed to set two new records; he ran a time of 1:47.7 around Virginia International Raceway's full course, and also set a 2:32.3 time around VIR's grand course, as well.
We know the new ZR1 has also been testing at the iconic German Nürburgring, which is sort of the international benchmark track for performance vehicles to set comparative lap times, though Chevy has yet to post its results for now — even as crosstown Detroit rival Ford has been ballyhooing its Mustang GTD's top-time-for-an-American-production-car's stunner — Still, it can claim it has dominated America, as America's supercar sweetheart.
Photos by MotorTrend staff
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