Motortrend Review: 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1

[ChevyRules]

First Test: 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Mind Blowing: The Incredible Numbers -- 200.5 MPH Top Speed Included -- From the Most Powerful Production Car in GM History

Arthur St. Antoine/ MotorTrend

Prepare to be humiliated. If, that is, you're a sports-car maker other than Chevrolet. Call it what you will -- "Blue Devil," "King of the Hill," even "Steve" -- the all-new 2009 Corvette ZR1 is a world-beater. We've just spent a breathless week with the supercharged beast, the most powerful GM production car ever, and we've got all the numbers -- observed top speed included.

If you're easily frightened, now would be a good time to tune to another channel.

Drive a 600-horsepower Dodge Viper SRT-10? Better move out of the way, bub. Launched well (and that means enough revs to keep the blown 6.2L V-8 from bogging but not so many revs that you simply whirl the rear tires into black jam), the 638-horse ZR1 blitzes from 0 to 60 miles per hour in a scalding 3.3 sec (versus 3.7 for the Dodge). Once those huge rear 335/25ZR-20 Michelin Sport PS2s are well and truly hooked up, though, the ZR1 really gets down and dirty. The quarter-mile flashes by in just 11.2 seconds at a trap speed of 130.5 mph (at that point the Viper is doing 124.4 mph). By the second half of the quarter-mile, the ZR1 is running away from almost every other automobile we've ever tested. The sound? Imagine an IndyCar being flat-footed around the Brickyard by a screaming Sam Kinison.

Is the ZR1 still pulling hard? Does Ben & Jerry's molest waistlines? The world offers few roads long or open enough to legally push this four-wheeled ICBM to its top speed, but we found a good stage for the ZR1's main event: the five-mile banked oval at Chrysler's Arizona Proving Grounds. With former IndyCar driver and Daytona 24 Hours winner Didier Theys at the helm, and with Mother Nature taunting our troupe with 25-mph wind gusts, the ZR1 screamed around the circuit at a wind-corrected Vmax of 200.5 miles per hour. "Very nice, very stable at speed," said Theys with Belgian accent and shoulder-shrugging nonchalance. "No problem."

Full Review Here

[ChevyRules]

Food for thought. Braking is amazing.

0-60 mph 3.3 sec
Quarter mile 11.2 sec @ 130.5 mph
Braking, 60-0 mph 97 ft
Lateral acceleration 1.1 g (avg)

[Ultra Magnus]

Just an awesome machine! And true to the Chevy mindset, a relative bargain for what it can do.

[SuperSS27]

Link is broken, here is the article:

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...est/index.html

[mbukukanyau]

Now, What are Porsche lovers going to say? this thing will humiliate an enzo, heck an FXX... 0-6 in 3.3 secs .

[red_rider]

0-60 mph 3.3 sec
Quarter mile 11.2 sec @ 130.5 mph

So it's 0.4 sec faster to 60 and 0.5 faster (and 6 mph) through the whole quarter mile than a Z06.

I wonder why the ZR-1 doesn't gain any more than that 0.1 sec past 60 in the quarter. I know the mph is faster, but not sure why it doesn't pull away, timewise.

[Corr69]

Originally Posted by red_rider

So it's 0.4 sec faster to 60 and 0.5 faster (and 6 mph) through the whole quarter mile than a Z06.

I wonder why the ZR-1 doesn't gain any more than that 0.1 sec past 60 in the quarter. I know the mph is faster, but not sure why it doesn't pull away, timewise.

The Z06 does the 1/4 mile in 11.0-11.4 with a good driver. Depending on conditions, I'd assume this car will sneak into the 10's. 130.5mph is an amazing trap speed, definetly potential for mid to high 10s.

[JerryL]

Use the ZO6 as the daily driver and get in your ZR1 when you want to go fast !!
It's mind blowing what this car can do.... with a full warranty also. On slicks with a good driver it should be in the 10's. But what a waste of a great machine to run it at the strip more than once to see what it [or you] can do.

[supraracer]

Originally Posted by red_rider

So it's 0.4 sec faster to 60 and 0.5 faster (and 6 mph) through the whole quarter mile than a Z06.

I wonder why the ZR-1 doesn't gain any more than that 0.1 sec past 60 in the quarter. I know the mph is faster, but not sure why it doesn't pull away, timewise.

You probably can launch a Z06 harder than you can the ZR1, so the ZR1 will have to make up ground after the rears hook up. As you can see by the trap speeds it's pulling like a freight train.

[eurohazard]

Awesome car!!!!!

[blkwrxsti]

Originally Posted by ChevyRules

...Launched well (and that means enough revs to keep the blown 6.2L V-8 from bogging but not so many revs that you simply whirl the rear tires into black jam)...

What - no launch control, no automatic? You mean I actually have to learn to drive to get into a car this fast?

Well, I did enjoy the second page - the part about the MR shocks soaking up all the bumps in the road, the cushy leather interior, the Bose audio, the smooth burbling V8.

In all seriousness, the braking distance (97 feet?!?) and the cornering ability (1.1 g ?!? - does that mean I can climb walls?) are even more shocking than the speed and acceleration. I wonder how the aftermarket will react to all of this. I remember when the Z06 came out and people were replacing their titanium exhaust with Borla...

As Dan Neil might say - Oh.My.God.

[ogg vorbis]

with slicks it should run 10.44 s with that trap speed. that's sub 3.0 s 0-60:O

there's already a vid on youtube going 205 mph.

btw, because it rides so nice, the zr1 IS the preferred daily driver!

it's already one of the quickest cars around...stock. headers and cat back exhaust push it to 598 whp...~706 bhp.

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum...s-598rwhp.html

how does gm follow this up?

[ogg vorbis]

Originally Posted by blkwrxsti

What - no launch control, no automatic? You mean I actually have to learn to drive to get into a car this fast?

Well, I did enjoy the second page - the part about the MR shocks soaking up all the bumps in the road, the cushy leather interior, the Bose audio, the smooth burbling V8.

In all seriousness, the braking distance (97 feet?!?) and the cornering ability (1.1 g ?!? - does that mean I can climb walls?) are even more shocking than the speed and acceleration. I wonder how the aftermarket will react to all of this. I remember when the Z06 came out and people were replacing their titanium exhaust with Borla...

As Dan Neil might say - Oh.My.God.

it doesn't produce 3500+ lb downforce...so don't try to run your zr1 upside down

automatics can handle the torque, shift quicker and more consistently than manuals.

[Cphelps]

Great review. A Corvette review where the interior is only mentioned once and it is in a positive way?! I've died and gone to heaven. Great to see MT getting more impressive times out of the ZR1. I'm also impressed with the breaking as everyone said, however it is good that a professional driver found the car nice and stable at 200mph, since high speed stability has always been less than a strong suit for stock Corvettes, glad to see those new aero bits are helping.

[GMusa]

Gotta love American muscle!