2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1: Here It Is, In All its 755-HP Glory
The King of the Hill is back.

By Máté Petrány
Nov 12, 2017

The pack leader is finally here, launched in Sebring Orange to make sure you notice all the significant upgrades that no doubt make it the fastest street car GM has ever made.
Not all Corvette generations spawn a ZR1, but the previous one from 2009 left quite an impression with its 638 horsepower LS9. Eight years wiser, the Corvette team used all they had to create a worthy successor. Looking at all the figures, the C7 ZR1 shouldn't disappoint.
It all start with its big, bulging exposed carbon-fiber hood. Apparently, GM put a lot of effort into coming up with the C6 ZR1's transparent hood window, only to find that some customers thought it looked like a cheap piece of plastic. So this time around, they went all in.

The trick is that one of those two pieces is the actual carbon fiber intercooler cover, meaning that the engine is out in the open through what GM calls a "halo" hood. The carbon weave is perfectly aligned with the body panel, but the intercooler cover will move around when the engine is running, since it's part of the drivetrain. Now that's just bonkers.
What's more, the two openings in front of the cover extrude hot air from the engine bay, which is much needed, since the ZR1 packs eight very angry cylinders.

Despite all the wishful thinking, the new LT5 doesn't come with a DOHC head like the Lotus-enhanced original did in the nineties. Instead, the ZR1's new pushrod V8 features a 52 percent larger supercharger than the Z06's LT4, as well as GM’s first dual-injection system to get 755 horsepower and 715 lb-ft of torque out of high octane and dense air.
This dry sump motor also features GM's largest ever throttle bodies at 95mm, as well as an upgraded crankshaft with a wider key slot. What's even cooler is that the whole thing is connected to a patent-pending active exhaust, which should give you a wider range of nasty noises, promising Motörhead-levels of decibels in race mode. And since they don't expect to sell more than 3000 ZR1s a year, all of the LT5s will be hand-built in Bowling Green.

To keep all that power on the asphalt, Chevrolet came up with an equally serious aero package in a rolling wind tunnel, with both versions of the ZR1's available rear wings bolted to the chassis itself. Not unlike on Corvette Racing's C7.R.
Chevy claims that after benchmarking a few sports cars with active wings, they came to the conclusion that those serve more of an aesthetic purpose than anything else, creating the least drag and the most downforce at their fully extended form. That, and the fact that an active wing would have been a packaging nightmare on the C7 led to a pair of fixed wings, as well as a clever front underwing designed to balance out the additional rear downforce without making the car unusable on the street.

While both wings are bolted to the chassis, only the taller one is said to effect cargo space considerably. Which is fair, because in exchange, it gives the ZR1 an estimated 950 lbs. of downforce near its top speed.

Said top speed is "somewhere above" 210 miles per hour, as long as you stick to the standard wing.
Talking of sticks, there's a seven-speed manual with rev-matching that's "more robust for track duty," but for the first time ever, the ZR1 will also be available with GM's 8-speed automatic. The 10-speed simply didn't fit, as it was never intended for the C7 platform.
If you must know, the final drive ratios are 3.42 (manual) and 2.41 (automatic).

Dual-injection means the LT5 uses primary direct injection as well as supplemental port injection, to get 755 horsepower out of 6.2 liters with the help of that gigantic supercharger. And those "conservatively estimated" 755 horses have to motivate 3560 lbs. of Corvette.
Huge forces demand lots of rubber, so the ZR1 comes with 355 wide rear tires, as well as half an inch wider front wheels with an open design for improved cooling. The brakes are equally monstrous two-piece carbon ceramic rotors, with fixed six-piston aluminum calipers at the front.
Remember the Z06's overheating issues? GM does too.

Not only does the ZR1 have a more-efficient intercooler system with a heat extractor hole on its hood, but it also packs four new radiators, bringing the number of heat-exchangers to 13. A Bugatti Veyron has 10.

While this car contains the most carbon fiber GM has ever put in a vehicle, the extra fluids, coolers and the wing adds more weight than the composites can shred, and that's why the ZR1 is slightly heavier at 3560 lbs.

Suspension-wise, it has a double wishbone setup all around, with cast aluminum upper and lower control arms, transverse-mounted composite springs and Magnetic Ride Control standard. The base package also includes a performance-focused traction control system, the electronic differential, and that super loud exhaust.

In terms of design, the ZR1 comes with a completely new front that's basically one giant air intake, as well as the wider body, and lots of optional exposed carbon bits, including the hood, the quarter panel inserts, the side rockers, the front splitter, the rear wing and the removable top.
The brake calipers can be black, gray, yellow or red, while due to popular demand, Chevy kept the chrome wheel option. Luckily, younger buyers can choose from three more tasteful wheel finishes.
Going back to the wings, the standard one generates up to 70 percent more downforce than the Z06’s base aero package, while the available two-way-adjustable high wing grants about 60 percent more than the Z06 with the available Z07 Performance Package.

That's 950 lbs pushing down the back, and to complement that, the ZTK Performance Package also includes a front splitter with carbon-fiber end caps, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires (instead of the run-flat Super Sports), and specific chassis and Magnetic Ride Control tuning for greater cornering speeds. Plus the bucket seats, naturally.
Of course if you prefer your ZR1 somewhat milder, you can spec it with heated and vented Napa leather-trimmed seats, and a Bose audio system. Yet options such as the carbon fiber-rimmed steering wheel and the Performance Data Recorder feel more appropriate.

Just to tease us further before the ZR1 goes on sale next spring, the launch car features the Sebring Orange Design Package, which gives you this exterior color, as well as orange brake calipers, rocker and splitter accent stripes, seat belts and interior stitching, with the competition seats and a bronze aluminum interior trim.
It's pretty, and pretty much everything you could want from a Corvette. The Dodge Viper ACR might be dead, but there seems to be a new King of the Hill.

Get your checkbooks ready for next spring, with prices staying "at the usual ZR1 levels". More to come soon!

In addition to the extra displacement from the blower, the LT5 makes use of both direct and port fuel injection. Not only should this help fuel flow, it should slow the carbon buildup that occurs with direct-injected engines. It uses a more efficient intercooler, too, helping prevent the heat-soak issues that plagued the Z06. The supercharger and intercooler are so large that the hood is open in the middle, raising a big middle finger to pedestrian crash standards. It sits three inches higher than the standard car. The whole front end has been honed and shaped to feed air into the engine and driveline. Four new radiators bring the total to 13.

The car goes on sale this spring, and GM expects to make 2,000-3,000 of them at the plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but production will not be limited.

Pricing has not been announced but could easily exceed $130,000. The 2009 ZR1 started at $105,000; a carbon fiber package alone added $15,000. The 2018 base Stingray coupe starts at $56,490 and the Z06 starts at $80,490. Juechter said the ZR1 won’t be double the price of the Stingray.

Supercharged hardcore 'Vette now comes in drop-top form. Imagine the NOISE

Just two weeks after the quite mad coupe comes this, the Corvette ZR1 convertible. Yep, no special name or confusing spelling of the word spider. Just ‘convertible’ with a lower-case C. Simple.

It uses the same 755bhp supercharged 6.2-litre V8 as the coupe, with the option of seven-speed manual or eight-speed automatic gearboxes. With the auto, the hard top has a top speed of 212mph and does 0-60mph in sub-3.0secs, but that’s with a special aero package.

Chevrolet says the convertible will still have a top speed ‘over 200mph’, though, which is probably more than enough. And all that unholy supercharger whine and V8 roar – unencumbered by a roof – should make up for any performance deficit.

Chevy also says the says the rigidity of the Corvette’s aluminium chassis means no extra strengthening has been required, and that the convertible’s only structural mods over the coupe are to fit the folding roof and reposition the seatbelt mounts. So their suspension tune is the same and the convertible weighs just 27kg more than the coupe. That’s a couple of extravagant drive-thru orders.

It also costs just $4,000 more, at $123,995. Or about £92,000 ar current exchange rates, which is startling value for a car so quick and powerful. But then value has always been the Corvette way. A 215bhp-lighter Audi R8 Spyder is over $50,000 more in the States…

Does the hardest-cored Corvette make sense with its roof opened up? It’s the first ZR1 convertible since the Seventies, which might suggest not. And you wouldn’t expect Porsche to trot out a 911 GT2 RS with a soft top. But then that noise really ought to shout over any our doubts.

Let us know your thoughts below, and recap on the coupe at this link. Both will be on display at the LA motor show from the end of the week.

We hitch a ride in a ZR1 prototype for some laps of Willow Springs. It's quick...

What is this?
We are at Willow Springs Raceway, an hour north of the LA motor show where we first got sight of the new Corvette ZR1, to have the first look at the furious beast in action from the pit lane – and in the passenger seat.

In the driver’s seat is the head of the ZR1’s development drivers, Alex MacDonald. It’s 23degC, the sun is shining, the track is empty and the ZR1, still wearing its development camo, has just been shod with a brand new set of Michelin Cup 2s.

Time to see what the hugely bewinged 755bhp car can do. This is going to be fast…

How fast?
Well, the top speed of the coupe is quoted by the company as 212mph (the convertible is a tad slower at a wig-losing 208mph). The downforce has been measured at 430kg at that top speed, thanks to the huge (optional) rear wing and a new front splitter arrangement.

Both are included in the ZTK pack, along with a set of Michelin’s finest performance tyres. And today, there’s no other traffic to get in the way. So on this track, already renowned as being one of the quickest in the US, it’s going to be very fast indeed.

Let’s go…
There’s going to be no warming up here. Alex hits the throttle hard and we wheelspin our way down the pit road, allegedly to take the top surface off the new tyres and get to the grippy bit.

Then it’s onto the circuit and into the tight left of turn one. The car, in Track mode, is moving around a lot under braking and during the violent bouts of acceleration out of the corners as the tyres come up to temp.

But as we get out of turn six and set up for the long run down to seven and the fearsome turns eight and nine, the ZR1’s aero settles the car on the track. The car we are in has the optional ZTK pack, which generates 340kg more downforce than the regular ZR1 at max speed with its lower – but still frame-mounted – spoiler. And we need every last kilo of that now.

Entry speed to turn eight, a sweeping right hander, is north of 140mph. But once the car is set up, Alex is accelerating again to hit turn nine and run onto the back straight. Speed at the end of that? 159mph before dropping the huge, double heat-treated carbon anchors.

You going for another lap?
Of course we are. Now that the whole car is up to temp there’s no reason not to. All of the Z06 Vette’s heat management problems appear to have have been addressed and banished on the ZR1.

The new 755bhp supercharged V8 is dubbed LT5 – the second time this engine designation as been used, the first time being on the Gen 4 ZR1 back in 1990. That engine was worked on extensively by Lotus, which was then owned by GM. But this latest LT5 is the new king of the small blocks. And it has lots of new numbers to offer the world.

Such as?
The LT5’s 2560 supercharger – it’s called that because it flows 2.65cubic metres of air every time the engine completes one rotation – shifts 52 per cent more air than the Z06’s LT4’s compressor. Its intercooler also has twice the capacity. The drawback? The supercharger draws a huge 110bhp from the engine to power itself. The LT4’s 94bhp.

Where is it making all the extra power and torque?
Across the range, but especially above 4,000rpm, whereupon the ZR1’s power curve shoots north on the graph like a scalded squirrel. A fact that Alex is demonstrating amply as we dive into the second lap.

The ZR1, which Corvette Project Chief, Tadge Juechter, calls ‘the Corvette from Hell’, has settled down now and is only getting out of shape when Alex loads up the front or rear on purpose. Willow Springs is a wide, flowing circuit, but in these first laps out of captivity, the ZR1’s warp speed is making it feel like a narrow kart track.

Does it seem like it’s hard to control?
No, more that it now has more control so that you can get it out of shape more readily. The Z06 can get a little wayward when you switch off all the chassis nannies, and we only got to witness the ZR1 in Track – the least intrusive – drive mode. But, while it was a very animated drive, it never seemed out of control from where we were sitting.

What about that shaker bonnet? Is that just for show?
No, it is a necessity to keep the sight lines as low as possible. One of the great things about the small block Chevy is its absurdly compact dimensions. This keeps bonnet lines low which improves vision and optimizes weight balance.

Because the ZR1 has a much bigger, taller supercharger on top of it, rather than shape the bonnet over the top of it, Chevy cut a hole in it and made a feature of it. So that big slab of book-matched carbon fibre you see there? That’s bolted directly to the top of the engine.

So what do we think so far?
After just four laps in the passenger seat, it’s impossible to draw any conclusions other than the new ZR1 is much faster than the already rapid Z06.

How much faster? We’ll have to wait a few months to get behind the wheel of a production ZR1 to find out. However, expectations are now high and we have little doubt, based on this first ride, that even those high hopes could be shredded.