In the ‘old days’ race cars were often driven to and from the circuit at big events like Bathurst and Le Mans – could we be headed for a return?
The line between a racing car and road car is beginning to blur again as street-legal cars get faster and more powerful than ever before. Chevrolet demonstrated this recently by claiming not one but five new production car lap records at some of America’s most famous circuits.
READ MORE: Chevrolet reveals 1000+hp Corvette ZR1
The particular Chevrolet is the all-new Corvette ZR1 fitted with the ZTK Performance Package that adds a race-like body kit complete with large rear wing and front dive planes. This goes with the standard ZR1 package that includes a twin-turbo 5.5-litre V8 engine that makes a staggering 782kW (1064hp) of power and 1122Nm of torque.
Chevrolet have already tested how fast the ZR1 can go in a straight line (or at least on a banked oval), hitting 375km/h at Germany’s ATP test facility. Now it wanted to see how fast it could go around a track, and because the four tracks it visited (Chevrolet set records on two VIR layouts, for the total of five records) have been raced at by the Corvette GT3 machine, we can compare times.
At Virginia International Raceway (VIR) the ZR1 got within just four seconds of the lap times set by the factory-backed Corvette GT3 IMSA racing car. It was only 4.9 seconds slower at Road Atlanta but the gaps widened to 6.4 seconds at Road America and 8.1 seconds at Watkins Glen.
However, that lap times may not be truly representative of exactly how fast the ZR1 can go, because Chevrolet didn’t draft in one of its professional racing drivers and instead relied on its lead engineers. Not that these drivers were slouches and each is a certified track driver for General Motors with intimate knowledge of the ZR1.
The four drivers were Bill Wise, lead performance engineer for chassis controls (who drove at Watkins Glen); Brian Wallace, lead vehicle dynamics engineer (Road America); Chris Barber, lead development engineer (Road Atlanta); and Aaron Link, global vehicle performance manager (VIR).
Wise made the point that while the engineers may not be professional racers, the accessibility of the ZR1 made such impressive lap times possible.
“The ZR1 is super approachable,” Wise says. “Make no mistake, it’s super-fast, but the car’s got pretty benign handling characteristics. It has a touch of understeer on entry so you can really charge into the corner. It’s got good rotation, but not so much that you have to keep it in the back of your head.”
Officially, General Motors Australia hasn’t confirmed the ZR1 for Australian sale, but is monitoring demand to see if a business case can be made to add it to the local Corvette range alongside the Stingray, E-Ray and Z06.
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 v GT3 laps times
VIR 1:47.7 v 1:43.7 (-4.0 sec)
Road Atlanta 1:22.8 v 1:17.9 (-4.9 sec)
Road America 2:08.6 v 2:02.2 (-6.4 sec)
Watkins Glen 1:52.7 v 1:44.6 (-8.1 sec)
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