Faster Pussycat
By Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit
Date posted: 08-19-2008


Possibly the only thing more surprising than the existence of a $100,000-plus, 638-horsepower factory-built Corvette is that the car is a total pussycat.

Don't get us wrong, this 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 can kill you quite completely dead. We mean like augured-in, test-pilot kind of beyond-recognition dead. It is capable of such stunning velocity in such a short distance that if things go wrong at even a fraction of its ultimate speed, it'll tear a ragged hole in just about whatever it encounters.

This ZR1 produces 638 hp — the equivalent of the power produced by the 405-hp 1995 Corvette ZR-1 (the "King of the Hill Corvette") plus a 1984 Corvette plus a 1968 Citroën 2CV.

Or think of it this way. If you bolted three 1980s-era Corvette L83 small blocks end to end to end to produce a single V24 engine, it would still produce 23 hp fewer than the ZR1's supercharged LS9 V8. For perspective, the total power received by the earth from the sun is considerably higher at 174.0 petawatts (1015 watts) or 233,334,000,000,000 hp*.

But for all its badass credentials, its power output of a hydroelectric dam and its stunning production-car lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the ZR1 doesn't really seem to want to kill you all that bad.

What do you think this is, a freakin' Dodge Viper or something? That widowmaker is right now sitting in a nearby parking lot plotting ways to turn you into freshly chopped liver — liver that it will then fry to a savory firmness right there on its exhaust-heated rocker panels.

A Friend to Widows and Orphans Everywhere
Unlike the small-scale, population-reduction experiment that is the 600-hp 2008 Dodge Viper, the ZR1 has stuff like traction control and stability control. The Viper only got antilock brakes in 2001, almost a decade after the model's introduction, for goodness' sakes.

But this is about more than traction and stability control systems. The 505-hp Corvette Z06 also has these same well-tuned systems, yet we have it on good authority that the Z06 still wants us dead. Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter euphemistically refers to this particular Z06 trait as "itching for a fight all the time." We note that "fight" is at a different location, yet on the same continuum of violence as "homicide."

Around the 'Ring Is Cozy
Most of our experience driving the Master of all Corvettes came at GM's proving grounds in Milford, Michigan. Specifically, we spent nearly the entire day perspiring as we drove around the Milford Road Course (MRC), a wicked little road course designed to trip up car and driver. It's also called the Lutzring, because "ring" sounds cool and German and because it's shaped exactly like Bob Lutz's pancreas.

Now we do not claim to have set a new lap record around the MRC, nor do we claim to have extracted in our 20 or so laps all that the ZR1 has to give, but we can say this: We did stuff both intentionally and accidentally in the supposedly fearsome ZR1 that a twitchy Z06 would have made us badly regret. The ZR1 is more forgiving than Eliot Spitzer's wife, or Kwame Kilpatrick's wife, or Bill...possibly you get the point.

Badly misjudge your entry speed to a corner — which you will do often despite the ZR1's gigantic Brembo-supplied carbon ceramic brakes — and the ZR1 can be coaxed through a corner without a requisite trip through the grass/sand trap/7-Eleven store. The ZR1's rear end slips wide (another thing you will do frequently in the ZR1) under the oppressive force of 604 pound-feet of torque, but you'd have to be driving in Herman Munster's boots to really screw up too badly. Or at least, the ZR1 will give you the opportunity to reconsider your dunderheaded ways before punishing you for them. Everything happens fast in the ZR1 but progressively and predictably so. That includes the rate at which the driver's confidence builds.

What?! I'm Going How Fast?!
"You should take a peek at the speedometer once and see just how fast you're going," we say to ourselves, possibly out loud, knowing full well that we would ignore any sign of conscience as usual. But we never could bring ourselves to tear our dilated peepers away from the straight-ahead.

The answer to the question would be some essentially meaningless variation of "fast" anyway. We never even swung our gaze low enough or focused closely enough to get a look at the ZR1's signature peephole in the hood, much less the gauges. If ever there was a car where a head-up display makes sense, the ZR1 might be it. Good thing it's standard.

We are aware of ourselves conducting the act of breathing. Goodness, just feel that. Innnn...outttt. Innnn...outt. We're aware of a certain, er, clarity in the general region of our head. Speed will do that.

After track exercises we take the ZR1 on some public roads around the proving ground sans racing helmet and notice that the big ol' Eaton supercharger makes a noticeable whine. It might not be cranked quite to the toddler-level whine of the Shelby GT500's blower, but it is unmistakably there. We didn't notice this on the track, perhaps because the helmet blocked it out. But it might also be that our eyes were open so wide that they partially blocked our ear canals.

Under any set of circumstances we sure as hell could hear the ZR1's exhaust note, which is deeper, thicker and more authoritative than the Z06's high-rpm rip. Once the butterfly valves open thanks to the two servos mounted on the business end of the exhaust, the thing just bellows. If water were sound, a Ferrari F430's exhaust would be the high-pressure stream shot from a water cannon. The ZR1 would be the bowel-rumbling gathering gloom of a tidal wave. It's a sound forceful enough that it might be able to motivate a small car all on its own.

Brakes, Tires, Suspension and Other Good Stuff
We've polled the entire car-liking population of the U.S. (our office) and exactly no one is surprised that the supercharged 6.2-liter LS9 V8 feels strong in an epic kind of way. Neither should anyone be surprised that the presence of so much aluminum and carbon fiber makes the ZR1 shockingly light at 3,324 pounds. So it stands to reason that the ZR1 should be able to blast to 60 mph from a standstill in 3.4 seconds and crank out quarter-mile times of 11.3 seconds at 131 mph, plus that it will power up to a top speed of 205 mph.

It is something of a surprise that (unlike basically all recent Corvettes) the tires don't let the car down. Typically, Corvettes run Goodyear tires. Last we tested a Z06 against a Viper, we noted that the Vette's Goodyear Eagle F1 tires perform like all-season rubber compared to the Viper's larger Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 rubber. And as it turns out, the ZR1 rolls on monstrous Michelins. "We had a shoot-out with prospective tire suppliers and Michelin just blew us away," says Juechter.

The ZR1's ridiculously wide 335/25ZR20 rear tires and tall 20-inch wheels look exactly like one of those crazy drawings that car designers make where a car appears to be riding on water mill-sized wheels with one black line drawn around the edge to suggest a tire. The front tires measure 285/30ZR19. And these Michelins are, so far as we could figure in our short time with the car, spectacular. They provide for better than 1.0g of grip on the skid pad according to Chevy's tests, and break traction so smoothly and progressively that they alone take 60 percent of the fear out of driving fast in this car.

Still, the ridiculously narrow sidewalls of 25- and 30-series tires should make the ZR1 a tailbone-shattering torture device on public roads. Credit for the ride comfort goes to the Magnetic Ride Control dampers. This second-generation, magnetically controlled electrically adjustable suspension will withstand significant track time without wilting with the heat, while they react so swiftly that they also ride well. True, they add weight. But with 638 horses, the system's additional 20 pounds are negligible.

Yes, the steering system for the 2008 Corvette has already been upgraded to improve feedback and the ZR1 incorporates the appropriate hardware, but if you're expecting Porsche GT3 steering you will be disappointed. The ZR1's steering works fine, though. Did we mention 638 hp? The clutch (an agreeable new dual-plate design) and shift lever (connected to a Tremec TR6060 six-speed manual) work fine, too. That 638 hp, it's a lot, don't you think?

Not a Peep
It is surprisingly easy to overlook the Brembo-supplied brakes with their carbon-ceramic rotors and monstrous blue calipers. Chevrolet says that 15.5-inch front and 15-inch rear rotors are the biggest fitted to any production car. Technically, the 4,300-pound, $1.5 million Bugatti Veyron 16.4 has front rotors two-tenths of an inch larger — so you know the ZR1's brakes obviously are garbage in comparison.

Unlike many carbon-ceramic systems, the ZR1's brakes don't embarrass you with incessant squealing when they're cold. They're not in the least bit touchy. And according to Tom Wallace, vehicle line executive for Corvette, the rotors will last almost an entire 24-hour track test at full race speed before needing to be replaced.

Certainly we noticed only that the brakes, with six-piston front calipers and four-piston rears, lop off big hunks of speed without really making us even notice. Incidentally, the ZR1 will do 0-100-0 mph in less than 11 seconds.

Of Carbon and Plastic
Will any of the ZR1's buyers care that the interior is not exactly up to snuff for a car costing more than $100,000? They should. Chevrolet tries to class up the joint with a standard fitment of the Corvette's recently introduced leather-upholstered interior. And, should one want it, basically every option available on any Corvette is available on the ZR1 in one big luxury package for about $10,000.

But it's still a Corvette. And it uses the same switchgear and plastic that we have complained about in Corvettes only half as expensive. Only the seats are functionally bad, of course. They're simply not up to the task of keeping passengers in place under the extraordinary acceleration, braking and cornering forces. Bruises on the outsides of both of our knees attest to the need for better side bolstering. If you're going to track your ZR1, go ahead and get a proper racing seat and five-point harness.

While you're at it, get yourself some stock in a company called Plasan. That's the outfit that produces the carbon-fiber pieces for the ZR1, including the front aero splitter that juts out 4 inches from the face of the ZR1. It's especially prone to whacks, and the one on the car we drove was cracked in a couple of places.

What Price Greatness?
The 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 lists for $105,000, including destination and a $1,700 gas-guzzler charge. The luxury package adds another $10,000 and the showy chrome wheels are $2,000. Other than some additional costs for various paint colors, that's as much as a ZR1 is going to cost you. But that doesn't really matter, because it will cost you oh-so-much-more with requisite dealer markup.

Also the purchase of any ZR1 entitles the owner to a "free" driver training course at a well-known but as-yet-to-be-determined school. Perhaps this momentarily quells the heart palpitations GM's lawyers must surely be experiencing over this car.

Maybe they should drive the ZR1. It's not really diabolical. Also its limits are so high that when things do go terribly wrong, then...oh wait, forget it.

The lads at Jalopnik.com have procured from a top secret source a few new photos of the Corvette Centennial Concept. After being seen on the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen sequel film set, it was rumored to be the next C7 Corvette, but then later revealed as GM's Corvette Centennial Design Concept. Set to coincide with GM's 100th anniversary, the Centennial concept merges design elements from historic GM muscle cars such as the Stingray and Camaro.

Although GM is celebrating its 100-year anniversary this month, it's not known if the Centennial concept will wait until the Transformers film releases in 2009 or be revealed for the GM celebration. Our money is on the later.

Brute Force, Mild Manners
By Josh Jacquot, Senior Road Test Editor
Date posted: 10-26-2008


Brute force, a quality we can't help but assign to any car generating 638 horsepower, is by definition anything but subtle. Yet the 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1 manages at once to be both brutally quick and remarkably mild-mannered. Its quarter-mile acceleration is quicker than any production car we've ever tested, its chassis is benign but highly capable and its carbon-ceramic brakes are mind-bending in their effectiveness. This new Vette offers an unlikely combination of performance and real-world usability that we're proud to experience in an American car.

This combination is as rare as truth in a presidential debate. Honestly, most of the ZR1's competition (think Dodge Viper ACR) or Nissan GT-R)) is less capable and makes a much larger compromise in typical road driving. With the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 we have a machine that is engaging to drive, capable of making insane numbers on the test track and also a legitimate road car.

Insane Numbers
We hit the track early in the morning with the Corvette ZR1 when the temperature is low and barometric pressure is high — an ideal combination. The corrected results (which are slightly slower than the numbers the car actually runs) are truly impressive. The 60-mph mark arrives in 3.8 seconds (3.5 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip). The quarter-mile disappears in 11.5 seconds at a staggering 128.3 mph.

The last Dodge Viper ACR we tested hit 60 mph in 3.7 seconds (3.4 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip) and completed the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds at 124.2 mph. The less-powerful Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is only marginally slower at 3.9 seconds to 60 mph (3.6 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip) and does the quarter in 11.7 seconds at 123.2 mph.

The Inside Line records continued to fall as we moved on to our handling tests. In direct contrast to the Z06, the ZR1 is stable, communicative and easy to control on its way to a 74.7-mph pass through the slalom. This is the second-fastest slalom speed we've recorded from a production car, behind only the Porsche 911 GT3 RS at 75.3 mph.

The skid pad performance is even more outrageous. There's massive stick, but the rear end refuses to step out unless you purposely make big stabs at the throttle — and then the back of the car slides predictably and controllably. The result — a 1.06g average in both directions (our standard) with a peak reading of 1.1g — is second only to the Dodge Viper ACR.

The ZR1 brakes to a halt from 60 mph in 96 feet, which ties this Chevy with the $198,875 Porsche 911 GT2. Chalk this up to Brembo carbon-ceramic brake rotors and massive fixed calipers (six-piston front, four-piston rear).

The Power
By now you know all about the ZR1's all-aluminum LS9 power plant. You know that it's supercharged and intercooled and that it displaces 6.2 liters. You know that it's assembled by hand. And you know that it's rated at 638 hp and 604 pound-feet of torque.

About the only thing you don't know is what 638 hp feels like in a 3,366-pound Corvette. But we do. And it's spectacular. Spectacular like Jessica Biel in Blade: Trinity (underrated movie, actually). Spectacular like Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush. Spectacular in so many ways that any real man will find it wholly irresistible.

Certainly we did.

First, slot the six-speed transmission's shifter into gear, a task it accomplishes with exactly the right blend of precision and fluidity. Then let out the twin-disc clutch with a few thousand rpm on the tachometer. Now find a freeway on-ramp you know well and prepare yourself. Lock your eyes down the road as far as you can see and relax your head against the seat headrest with its ZR1 logo. Then wood the throttle and start grabbing gears. In less than 10 seconds you'll be traveling 120 mph. And you'll still be in 3rd gear.

The ZR1's thrust is so awesome we decided to visit Harman Motive in Torrance, California for a few runs on the company's state-of-the-art Mustang chassis dyno to see just how much power the Vette gets to the road. After three dyno runs, power peaks of 505 hp @ 6200 rpm and 494 lb-ft of torque @ 4200-4300 rpm were recorded. That's right, it makes over 500 hp at the wheels.

But that's not the best part. Check the dyno sheet, the Vette's torque curve is shaped like a perfect dome, no dips or flat spots. And you can feel that when behind the wheel. This car makes redamndiculous power from idle to redline.

Sensitive Side
Drive a ZR1 and you learn to respect its ability to warp your perception of space and time. We did, but then something funny happened — we drove off the track and into the world. You know the world. It has features like ruts and potholes, rain grooves and debris. The world is a far cry from the perfectly flat, perfectly smooth track. The world, it turns out, isn't all that different from the streets around Detroit or the rural roads around the Nürburgring where the ZR1 was developed.

This is a good thing. The more we drove, the more convinced we became that GM's engineers know a thing or two about ride control. And that their choice to use Magnetic Selective Ride Control — a technology that can adjust damping 1,000 times per second — is a good one. MSRC tames the ZR1's chassis to offer both a compliant and controlled ride and world-class handling — a compromise only Porsche has come close to matching, and then only at a much higher cost.

We weren't able to discern a significant difference between the two MSRC settings (Sport and Tour) on the highway. Both seemed to offer very good ride quality.

Brutal but Communicative
Part of the ZR1's magic is its rubber, as Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires are found at all four corners. And GM has pulled no punches when applying the bigger-is-better philosophy here, as the tires measure 285/30ZR19 in front and 335/20ZR20 in the rear. The ZR1's front wheels are 10 inches wide; its rears are 12.

Accordingly, when cornering forces build, there's no shortage of dynamic information coming to you through the chassis. The lack of same has been our primary criticism of the Corvette Z06 (actually, we've found the car to be pretty unlikable). Sure, the Z06 is fast and it makes good numbers, but driving it hard always provides a thrill that feels like a flirtation with death and disaster.

Not so in the ZR1.

Three hundred and thirty-five millimeters of Michelin rubber on the road at each rear corner is almost enough to rein in 638 horses. In fact, the rubber combines with immensely tall gears to put power to the ground more effectively than we thought possible with so much power.

We say "almost" because there aren't any tires that can contain this Vette's enthusiasm for tire smoke when the throttle is used like a switch. But the ZR1 is easy to control, even when it's laying down two solid black stripes. Sideways. At 65 mph.

Noodly and Flabby
Here's the thing. The ZR1 is one hell of a car. No question. It matches or beats all of its rivals in virtually every performance test. And it's comfortable. But it's also a very, very expensive car. To be precise, our test car — which has both options, the $10,000 premium equipment package and the $2,000 chrome wheels — rang up a tab of $118,520. And this is at a Chevy dealer, remember.

One problem is that the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 just doesn't feel special inside. Sure, the dash and doors are dressed up with leather, and they do look better than the standard Corvette's pieces. But the seats and steering wheel are the same pieces you'll find in a base Vette. And for nearly $120 grand that's not OK.

Even worse, those seats are flabby and soft. It's kind of like sitting on Rosie O'Donnell's lap, which might be fun since she doesn't make 638 hp. But it's distinctly not fun in the ZR1. Then there's the noodly-ass lever for the seatback adjustment that twists and flexes like a Twizzler every time we move the seatback. Seriously, this stuff is embarrassing in a $30,000 car and very much out of place in a car this special.

For what it's worth, our tester also leaked oil out of the gasket of its right cylinder bank and dripped it directly onto the exhaust manifold, periodically allowing the unmistakable stink of burning oil inside the cockpit. At highway velocities its steering wheel shook and shimmied like Shakira on speed. Then its left front tire pressure sensor failed. This, in turn, caused the ECU to reactivate the stability control system during testing, which was a hassle. But we're sure none of that will happen on customer cars.

So What
Given the trouble we've had with other supercars, our long-term Nissan GT-R included, the above issues seem relatively minor. Plus, relative to its adversaries from Germany and Italy, there's no denying the value of the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.

The only question, then, is what to do with a 638-hp Corvette capable of annihilating its rivals with sheer brute force? We can think of one thing: How about surprising them with its mild manners?

'Ring' Time drops bt 4 seconds

While Porsche and Nissan have been involved in a disagreement over Nürburgring lap times, Chevrolet’s Corvette ZR-1 has been sitting undisturbed with its 7 minute 26.4 second lap time. That’s pretty quick – eclipsing Nissan’s GT-R run around the ‘Ring by almost 3 seconds – but apparently the ZR-1 had even more to give.

With driver Jan Magnussen at the helm, the Corvette ZR-1 was able to lay down a blistering 7 minute 22.4 second lap time – a full four second improvement. That places the ZR-1 in a rarified class for an American-born car, besting the likes Ferrari, Zonda and Maserati.

Unfortunately for the Bow Tie boys, the ZR-1’s new Nürburgring lap time isn’t quite good enough to bring home the title. However, Detroit still lays claim to the fastest Nürburgring lap time, thanks to the Dodge Viper ACR’s incredible 7 minute 22.1 second run.