Jul

The New Lord of the ‘Ring

Posted by admin Published in Chevrolet, GM

A General Motors engineer has driven - flogged may be the better word - a bone-stock Corvette ZR1 around the famed Nurburgring Nordschleif in an astonishing 7 minutes and 26.4 seconds, one of the fastest times ever posted by a production car.

With 638 supercharged ponies and a top speed of 205 mph, we knew the ZR1 would be quick, but circling the 12.9-mile ‘ring in that kind of day is nevertheless very impressive. The ‘Vette slays the amazing Nissan GT-R and the 7:29.03 it posted and smokes the mighty Porsche 911 GT2 by nearly six seconds.

GM sent us some video of the run. It’s a wild ride.

Corvette chief engineer Tadge J. Juechter says the ZR1 was the same car anyone with a big abundant bank history can pick up later that summer.

He notes on the GMnext blog that the only modification was the installation of communications and safety equipment. Everything else, from the Michelin tires to the vehicle ride height, was production spec. It even ran on pump gas with a full emissions control system. Driver Jim Mero faced stiff headwinds on the main straight, so he might have eked out a few more mph had things been smoother.

Although the ZR1 dusted the GT-R, it remains to be seen how it stacks up against the GT-R V-Spec, which reportedly ran the ‘ring in a scorching 7:25.

Image taken from GM’s in-car video of Mero’s run around the ‘ring.

Original post by Chuck Squatriglia