According to a screenshot posted on MECF, vehicle availability for the C8-generation Corvette ZR1 will be announced at a later date, implying a date after the already confirmed July 25 debut. In said capture, GM also confirmed – for the first time – that ZR1 is a 2025 model.
The email received by MidEngineCorvetteForum big kahuna John includes a computer-generated picture of the newcomer, which appears to be a still from the first video teaser of the C8 ZR1. Nobody except GM knows for certain whether the most powerful Corvette of all time will enter series production at the same time as the 2025 Stingray, E-Ray, and Z06, which are to start rolling off the assembly line on September 9.
A dealer memo leaked at the beginning of the month also reveals that first allocations will come during the first half of July 2024, whereas June 10 saw General Motors publish the order guide for the 2025 Corvette. Unfortunately, said order guide doesn't include any ZR1-specific regular production order codes. Attached below, the order guide currently includes the aforementioned Stingray, E-Ray, and Z06 for model year 2025.
Be that as it may, we already know a few RPO-related things about Chevy's new halo. Shown to dealers in November 2023, the C8-gen ZR1 uses a twin-turbo V8 dubbed LT7. The 5.5-liter mill is connected to a familiar dual-clutch transaxle, which – as expected – is called something different from the M1M in the Z06, MLH in the E-Ray, and M1L in the Stingray. The regular production order code in question is M1K.
As per leaked screenshots from the GM parts catalog, the LT7 engine is a dual-overhead-cam affair with Active Fuel Management. Corvette diehards are fully aware that the naturally aspirated LT6 in the Z06 features DOHC heads, but AFM is absent from the 8,600-rpm V8.
Photo: Chevrolet on YouTube
Whether the listed AFM is a mistake or not, only time will tell. But if the LT7 does feature this cylinder deactivation technology, that would imply a cross-plane crankshaft instead of the flat-plane unit in the LT6. Shock and horror? Not so much because Ford Motor Company did a similar thing with the 5.2-liter Voodoo when it redeveloped it into the 5.2-liter Predator.
Both of them displace 5,163 cubic centimeters, a displacement shared with the Aluminator crate engine. As for the reasons why the Predator switched from the Voodoo's flat-plane crankshaft to a cross-plane design, one of them would be low-down torque, and another one the 2.65-liter Eaton blower.
Even without a flat-plane crank, the LT7 should be a revvy son of a gun. Don't expect a Lamborghini-like ceiling of 10,000 revolutions per minute, though, because the Huracan's long-awaited successor is an FPC design that plays in a different league from the LT7 of the soon-to-be-revealed C8 Corvette ZR1.
Its predecessor was produced for a single model year with either manual or torque-converter automatic transmissions. The C7-gen ZR1 cranks out 755 horsepower and 715 pound-feet (969 Nm) of tire-shredding twist from a 6.2-liter blown small block, which is the only gen-five small block to feature both direct and port injectors.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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