Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 first drive: hype meets hyperspeed

The Verge

4 days ago

Back in March, we brought you an exclusive look into how Chevrolet's engineers tuned and tweaked, sculpted and simulated to turn the eighth-generation Corvette into a 233-mph missile, the 1,064-horsepower ZR1. But while I'm a racing simulator fan through and through, there's nothing like driving a real car on a real track, and this past week it was time to do exactly that.
That track, the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, is as real as it gets. Host of the Formula One United States Grand Prix since 2012, it's three and a half miles of sinuous asphalt with enough turns to see just how well those engineers sorted the car's handling, plus a long back straight just perfect for letting that big motor really sing.
Staying stuck
COTA is also the perfect place to test out the ZR1's downforce, something that wasn't so much of a factor leading up to the car's record-breaking 233-mph run. More downforce means more grip, which is always nice, but it usually comes with the penalty of aerodynamic drag.
That's one reason why there's actually two different ZR1s. First is the base model, with just the (relatively) petite spoiler on the back of the trunk lid. Then there's what Chevy calls the ZTK trim with the Carbon Fiber Aero Package. This includes the massive rear wing you see here, plus numerous other aerodynamic bits and pieces. In exchange for a lower top speed (you'll need the base car if you want to go 233 mph) you get a whopping 1,200 pounds of downforce.
To balance out the wing, an effective scoop up front replaces the frunk found in lesser models of the Corvette. On the ZR1, air is ducted upward through the hood and over the windshield. This helps keep the nose stuck at speed, which in turn helped me accelerate quickly.
Terminal velocity
Before I really got on the power, I took just a single familiarization lap of the track in a ZTK-equipped ZR1. That was enough to warm up the tires and myself before I really got into it. On the next lap, I hit 175 mph on COTA's back straight, then pulled more than 1.5 Gs of deceleration when I hit the brakes.
Those are world-class performance figures. Braking that hard feels like someone's turned the world upside down — or at least spun it 90 degrees.
The forces while cornering are nearly as violent. The seemingly endless sequence of right-hand corners toward the end of a lap really test your fitness in the ZR1. Pulling over 1.3 G in the corners means your neck is going to get a real workout.
By the way, these are all numbers that I verified using the in-car Performance Data Recorder, which not only captures a high-definition view forward of your on-track antics but overlays numerous points of telemetric data and also embeds all that data for later analysis, just like the pros.
Approachable performance
The numbers on that telemetry and the feelings I got inside the car confirm that this is a level of performance unlike any Corvette before. Despite that, it's still very much a Corvette in that all its performance is approachable. It only took one lap to get comfortable diving into the corners, routinely pushing past the tires' limits and quickly recovering to make the next turn without too much drama.
The advanced traction, stability, and ABS systems on the ZR1 are a big part of that. Far from the fun-killing electronic aids we're used to on the track, these systems worked to make me faster, really only letting themselves be known by the occasional blinking light on the dashboard. Even with the aids on, I could still kick the tail out when coming out of the slower turns before launching down the subsequent straights.
There is one big disappointment in the new ZR1, though: It ships first as a 2025 model, which means it comes with Corvette's old interior, including the unfortunate row of buttons that awkwardly bisects the cabin. 2026 Corvettes feature a thoroughly revised and improved layout, including a new triple-screen layout.
The ZR1 will get that new interior, but not until the 2026 cars appear later this year. So, if you have the $174,995 to get yourself into a ZR1, I'd suggest waiting until the second model year, hard as that may be.