At the beginning of April 2024, the folks at Chevrolet published the first 2025 Corvette ZR1 video teaser, which included the following message: "The unthinkable is coming this summer." Fast forward nearly two months, and the Chevrolet brand has published the second video teaser of the most powerful series-production Corvette thus far.
On this occasion, GM's mass-market brand made it clear that "unthinkable speed is coming this summer." Considering that ZR1 prototypes were spied with a helluva lot of downforce, top speed clearly isn't the newcomer's forte. However, gaining speed is a different matter because Chevrolet's all-new Corvette ZR1 is a twin-turbocharged monster.
The LT7 hits all the right notes, and it sure makes the Z06 engine proud. Although the ZR1 engine appears to rev pretty high and gain revs quickly, it's not clear if General Motors retained the flat-plane crankshaft of the naturally aspirated Z06 engine.
Over in the United States of America, the 8,600-rpm LT6 produces a thundering 670 horsepower and 460 pound-feet (624 Nm) from a displacement of 5.5 liters. The largest production flat-plane crankshaft V8 is a marvel of engineering. Despite sharing the LT nomenclature with the 6.2-liter small block of the Stingray and E-Ray, the LT6 is a completely different animal, beginning with DOHC heads.
If the Detroit-based automaker managed to squeeze out 670 ponies in free-breathing form, there's no denying the ZR1 will crack into the 800s. How much, it remains to be seen, but 800 ponies are a given because the C7 ZR1 develops 755 horsepower. In regard to peak torque, GM quotes a tire-shredding 715 pound-feet (969 Nm) of twist at the crank.
Photo: Baldauf
The C7 ZR1's LT5 is the only gen-five small block with dual injection. It should not be confused with the LT5 from the C4 era, which premiered dual-overhead-cam heads for model year 1990. The C8-generation ZR1 isn't the first Corvette to feature turbocharging. Remember the Callaway twin-turbo V8 option that GM sold under the B2K regular production order code? That would be the first.
As opposed to C7 and earlier generations of the Chevrolet-branded sports car, the C8 ZR1 will forego torque-converter automatic and manual transmissions in favor of a quicker-shifting DCT. In the ZR1, the dual-clutch transmission is dubbed M1K as opposed to M1M for the Z06, M1L for the Stingray, and MLH for the all-paw-drive E-Ray.
Teased with a Z06-like quad exhaust, Chevrolet's most badass Corvette to date also sports a larger-than-life rear wing. It's widely believed that said wing is included in the go-faster package (i.e., ZTK in the C7-gen ZR1) rather than the standard unit. In any case, tremendous downforce will certainly help the long-awaited C8 ZR1 where it matters. The carparazzi spied the ZR1 at the Nurburgring on many occasions, but alas, GM has a thing for not publishing lap times at the German racing circuit.
The fastest a series-production Corvette has lapped the Green Hell is 7 minutes and 13 seconds for a manual-equipped C7 Z06 driven by Christian Gebhardt for German auto magazine Sport Auto. This, in turn, means that the C7 Z06 slots right between the G82-generation BMW M4 CSL and the incredibly rare Lexus LFA Nurburgring Package.
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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