Chevrolet just revealed the most powerful Corvette in history
- The new Corvette ZR1 has a 755-horsepower supercharged V8.
- That's over 100 more hp than the Z06 Vette.
- This is the first ZR1 since the previous version of the car was retired for the last-generation of Vettes.
If you thought the Corvette Z06 was a lot of car, get ready to have your world rearranged.
On Sunday in Dubai, Chevy pulled the cover off the new baddest Vette of them all, the new ZR1.
"I've never driven a Corvette like this before, and nobody else has either, because there's never been one like this before," Mark Reuss, General Motors' vice-president, resident car guy, and unabashed Corvette enthusiast, said in a statement.
"Its unprecedented performance puts all other global supercars on notice that the ZR1 is back."
The Z06 has impressive numbers - 650 horsepower, 650 pound-feet of torque - but the ZR1 one blows them away. How does 755 horsepower and 715 pound-feet of torque strike you?
The previous-generation Vette ZR1 debuted in 2009 and was produced until 2013. It harbored an impressive motor for the day, making well over 600 horses, but the current-gen Z06 outdid it. Now, as Chevy put it in a statement, the king is back.
What we have under the hood is a supercharged, 6.2-liter V8 carrying the LT5 designation that has been pushed to the limit. The power is channeled through the familiar Corvette 7-speed manual or, in a first for ZR1s, an eight-speed automatic with manual-mode paddle-shifters.
The top speed is a Chevy-claimed 210 mph. The Z06 can bust through the 0-60-mph barrier in under three seconds, so expect the ZR1 to chop several tenths off that time.
According to Chevy, the ZR1 will be available with two aerodynamic setups to ensure that all that velocity stays stuck to terra firma. A "standard rear low wing" will serve up that 210-mph dragstrip speed, while a adjustable "High Wing" will enhance downforce and improve racetrack, go-around-corners performance.
The overall look of the ZR1 will be familiar to fans of the its stablesmates, the Z06, Grand Sport, and Stingray. But the front-end has been tweaked so that airflow through the Vette's four radiators can keep the heat from that stonking engine under control. Addition front aero will jam the ZR1 even harder into the track.
If you like your Vette's in aggressive colors, Chevy rolled out a "Sebring Orange Design Package," which pretty much takes orange to 11. "[T]he package also includes orange brake calipers, orange rocker and splitter accent stripes, orange seat belts, orange interior stitching and unique, bronze aluminum interior trim," Chevy said.
The ZR1 will go on sale for the 2019 model year next spring. Chevy didn't announce pricing, but it will probably come in at just over $100,000, continuing Corvette's pattern of offering bonkers performance for a relative song.