ZR1 Is Fast: The Ring at 7:26.4
 

2008-June-27
Ripping the ‘Ring: Stock ZR1 Laps Nürburgring in 7:26.4
By: Tadge J. Juechter
Corvette Chief Engineer
Over the last two weeks, we have been doing our final tuning and testing there before we start ZR1 production cars. This morning (Friday June 27), General Motors development engineer Jim Mero drove the Corvette ZR1 around the Nürburgring in a time of 7:26.4.
The car was bone stock with the exception of the communications and safety equipment. The tires were production Michelin Pilot Sport 2’s. These tires have been developed specifically for the ZR1 and will have impressive wet traction and wear (tread wear rating = 220), in addition to excellent dry road holding. Chassis alignment and vehicle height were set to factory specs. Likewise, the engine calibrations were absolutely stock, emissions compliant and the car ran on pump (not racing) fuel. The vehicle was exactly like the cars that will be built in Bowling Green, Kentucky and sold around the world later this summer.
Despite posting one of the fastest times ever run by a production car, Nürburgring lap times were not an over-riding priority in the development of the ZR1. The truth is, if the only priority was speed at the ring, the car would not be very pleasant to drive on American roads. The ZR1 is an incredibly capable track machine, but unlike most ultra-high performance cars, it is very easy to live with on a daily basis.

http://blog.gmnext.com/?p=194

:w00t:

- Justin

I heard a dodge neon sxt did it in 7:26.3 ;)

7 hrs, 26 min? ;)

a direct jab at nissan... why did this take so long to surface? i thought production already began on these cars?

They might of been tryign to buy a little time till the Spec-V GTR came out to do laps there.

Spec V has been timed by spectators at about 7:24

I wonder what kind of price jump the Spec-V will be....

- Justin

I saw one today :shock:
I was in traffic for the GWB and saw a black ZR1 with michigan plates :drool: didn't really get to hear it though, the windows were up and it was gone as soon as I realized what it was

they sold the 1st ever zr1 for 1 million last night on barret jackson.

That's a repeat....was actually a few months ago, it all went to charity IIRC.

- Justin

ahhhh ok, didnt know that.

God now the fanboi's are trying to compare the GT-R to the ZR1? :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: The comments there are funny.

Chevy Rules!!!!!! Suck it Ferrari,Ford, and everyone else.

I cant stand all the comments on those Autoblog stories. Its like watching a bunch of retards play egg toss.

True....Couldn't they all just play lawn darts?!

on thecarlounge and ls1tech they just delete GTR vs vette threads because they always turn into pissing matches. its retarded and i can't stand it anymore. both cars are phenomenal, and i really only prefer the vette because i like GM. i could care less if someone thinks the GTR is better, good for them!

I like the GT-R as well. I'm not sold on the looks but he technology that went into it is simply amazing. However there was and still is a lot of BS surrounding this car. Nissan is playing games. First they rated it at 480hp which we all know is BS. Then a magazine said it trapped at 14x in the 1/4 mile(a mistake on purpose maybe?), then it was reported one of the cars sent for testing was a ringer(upped boost, tires other than stock). It's a shame, a nice car is being tarnished(in my opinion) by silly games Nissan is playing. Just come out and say this is what we have here, this is the power it makes, this is what it can do.

Because they are seeing whats coming out in its class, and dont want to slap down the official numbers until all the dust settles down. It is a shame they are playing games with such a highly anticipated car. They knew the ZR-1 was going to be coming out, and most likely didnt want to give all the official info, because in sure they didnt want to bring out a car they've been working on for years, to then all of a sudden have those numbers wiped out by a vette. As far as I'm concerned, theres a reason they are bringin out a Spec-V GTR, and if it wasent for the ZR-1 they may of never produced it. This will be an ongoing battle for years to come of whos king of the production mountain.


You think by now, someone who owns one of theese things could give us the numbers, if they know it doesnt have 480hp, why hasent a non-magazine owner take it to a dyno, or run 1/4's with it. where are those owners at?

Their egos are too fragile to uncover that truth

DING! They'd probably rather street race and brag about beating Tiburon's lol

http://jalopnik.com/398297/video-pro...urburgring-lap

Video is posted....enjoy

That wasnt exactly accurate at all. First, an 80mph roll, then they started the clock after he passes the exit of the pits, and stopped it when he was coming around the turn around the pits, so its off by a few seconds.

If you look at the 3 second mark, hes already going about 50mph, coming around the turn, then if you forward to the 7:38 mark, hes coming around the same turn, so its more like 7:38 from a roll.

all ring passes are made from a roll and from those two points. it was discussed before with the GTR pass and it will be discussed again now with the ZR1. no foul play from the general

what i did notice though was how hard he throws it into each corner. he even almost loses it on one turn. if you notice the GTR was careful not to touch any curbs. that tells me 3 things. 1. the zr1 has very good suspension tuning, not too stiff and forgiving enough to handle fast off ramps with rough road. 2. the gtr is the opposite. since the limit of the tires/suspension/awd setup is probably very thin, the car may be unpredictable which explains why the test driver himself didn't push the car too hard. 3. both cars are capable of better times i think.

not to turn this into a pissing match, but these cars are direct competitors so there is no reason to not use the other as the benchmark for the other