Ford famously claimed the title of the fastest American car at the Green Hell with the Mustang GTD last year, before further lowering the bar earlier this year on its second attempt, setting a marker of six minutes and 52.072 seconds.
Many expected this to be an attempt at keeping the record in its hands when Chevrolet rolled out its flagship Corvettes at the 20.832km circuit, but the new ZR1 and ZR1X proved too quick, both eclipsing the Mustang GTD.
Chevrolet ended up sending three Corvettes for runs around the track: the naturally aspirated Z06, the twin-turbo ZR1 and the twin-turbo ‘hybrid’ all-wheel drive ZR1X, each equipped with their relevant Performance Packages and sticky Michelin Cup 2R semi-slick (but road legal) tyres.
With GM vehicle dynamics engineer Drew Cattell behind the wheel, the ZR1X completed a lap of the Nordschleife in six minutes and 49.275 seconds, beating the Mustang GTD by almost three seconds.
Its result was almost unsurprising, given the extensive testing of the ZR1X which was undertaken at the Nürburgring, as well as its extreme outputs of more than 900kW and 1200Nm – far beyond the Mustang GTD’s 608kW and 900Nm figures from its supercharged 6.2-litre V8.
While the ZR1X’s 793kW/1123Nm twin-turbo 5.5-litre V8 drives the rear wheels, a 139kW/197Nm electric motor on the front axle can deploy at speeds up to 257km/h, aiding traction out of the corners.
In the ‘sports cars’ class at the Nürburgring, only the 991-generation Porsche 911 GT2 RS with a Manthey Racing kit (6:43.300) and the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series (6:48.047) were quicker.
WATCH THE CHEVROLET CORVETTE ZR1X’S NÜRBURGRING LAP HERE
The ‘standard’ ZR1, which goes without the front electric motor, recorded a time of six minutes and 50.763 seconds, nearly 1.5 seconds quicker than the Mustang GTD, and only 1.5 seconds slower than its all-wheel drive sibling.
The Z06, the basis of Chevrolet’s Corvette C8.R GT3 racer, was able to complete a lap in seven minutes and 11.826 seconds, more than 20 seconds slower than the ZR1.
Not only does it make do with six-piston front and four-piston rear ceramic brakes (as opposed to the ZR1’s 10-piston and six-piston setup), the Z06 goes without forced induction, producing 500kW and 624Nm. Its time was more than 2.5 seconds off the pace of a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS.
“No auto manufacturer has done a Nürburgring lap attempt like this before,” GM President Mark Reuss said in a media statement.
WATCH THE CHEVROLET CORVETTE ZR1’S NÜRBURGRING LAP HERE
“From development through production, and now at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the Green Hell, we have clearly shown there is no limit to what our GM engineers and vehicles can accomplish. These are the best Corvettes in history, period.”
There is however a caveat to the three Corvette’s runs, with each vehicle classified in the Prototype/Pre-Production category, rather than as sports cars. Chevrolet claims this was due to the ZR1 and ZR1X not being sold in Europe (unlike the Mustang GTD), while the Z06 was equipped with parts available in North America but not Europe.
By contrast, the Mustang GTD which lapped the track was road registered in Germany.
Like Europe, Australia misses out on the ZR1 and ZR1X, however the Z06 is sold here, complete with the Z07 Performance Package fitted to record its Nürburgring time.
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