The all new 2009 Corvette ZR-1
The engine is based on a modified LS3 6.2-liter block and is expected to produce 100 horsepower/liter. Because tweaks are still being made to the cooling system, final testing won’t happen for months. (SAE procedures require a 0-to-60 test be run in a car with instruments measuring intake air temperatures at 60 mph so that air can be supplied at precisely the same temperature during the dyno test.) Expect 620-plus horses and around 600 pound feet.
Because blowers add weight, extensive lightening efforts were concentrated in front. The fenders, hood inner and outer panels, roof panel, and C-pillar roof bar are carbon fiber, the tooling for which caps production at 2000 per year. The fibers are visible on the roof and hood inner, and to prevent ultraviolet light from degrading them a special additive costing over $60,000/gallon (!) is added at three-percent concentration in the thin clear-coat layer ($2000/gallon). In all, the new car is expected to weigh about 200 pounds more than a Z06 and to nudge the weight bias forward slightly to 52/48 front/rear.
Major developments in the chassis department include Brembo calipers grabbing gigantic carbon-ceramic rotors designed for Ferrari’s Enzo and FXX. (At an expected price of near $100,000, the ZR1 will be the least expensive car with standard CCM brakes.) We’re assured the brakes work perfectly well when cold, and they don’t squeal. Delphi reengineered its magneto-rheological shocks to withstand the extreme temperatures encountered in track duty, allowing the ZR1 to ride like a base coupe and outhandle the Z51 and Z06.
Will it all work? The ZR1 is undergoing GM’s full battery of passenger-car durability tests as well as its motorsport torture regimen (250 miles of autocrossing and a 24-hour endurance race), so it should hold up fine. The hardware and numbers sound impressive and we’re rooting for the home team, but can a car with a front weight bias really smoke a GT3 or F430 Scuderia around the ‘Ring? Let’s put it this way, we will be getting many trade-ins. The BOSS is here, everybody, back to the garage.
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