Edmunds Inside Line has some more details on the 2009 Corvette ZR1’s recent 205mph run down the ATP Papenburg test track in Papenburg, Germany.
Luke Sewell, a powertrain engineer on the Corvette platform team, told Inside Line that Patrick Herrmann, a European engineer, was behind the wheel during the top-speed run. Sewell says Herrmann isn’t part of the Corvette team, but that he’s certified to drive the ATP Papenburg course.
Sewell said he himself spent time in the 2009 ZR1’s right seat during the testing, and that the vehicle used was an “integration” vehicle, a mule, that was different from a production car only in that it was equipped with a roll cage and instrumentation for monitoring speed, cooling temps and such.
GMNext.com released a video earlier today of the new Corvette ZR1 doing a pull from 100mph to 200mph. Having watched the video, I brought out my trusty stop watch to get some incredibly unofficial performance numbers for the car. Heres what I found:
100mph to 150mph: 9.7 seconds
The Porsche Carrera GT (the reigning king of the Nurburgring) does 100 to 150mph in 10.4 seconds. So the ZR1’s time of 9.7 should give you a good indication of what the car will be capable of. Watch the video after the break and try to time it for yourself.
Chevrolet has finally taken the lid off the Corvette ZR1’s power ratings, and boy are they staggering: The 2009 Corvette ZR1 will make 638hp (that’s 13 less then a Ferrari Enzo! 26 MORE than a Porsche Carrera GT!) and 604 lb.-ft of torque, with a top speed of over 200mph. Not only that but the new ZR1 is to be the single most gas efficient 600hp motor in all of the automotive world, getting 26mpg (source: Popular Mechanics) on the highway.
Track times and acceleration numbers have yet to be released.
Quick note: GMNext.com is hosting a live chat with chief Corvette ZR1 engineer Tadge J. Juechter on Tuesday, April 29th 2008, from 3:00pm to 4:00pm EDT. Participants will get a chance to discuss “the history of the ZR1 and the legacy it leaves on the road.” Chat is to presumably cover both the C4 and C6 ZR1 models.
Edmunds has some awesome new video footage of the ZR1 lapping the ‘Ring. Their reporters are claiming lap times in the low 7:40s; a number that is sure to drop in the mid to low 7:30s. However, those times are still a ways off of Chevy’s goal of setting the Nurburgring production car lap record.
According to our shooters on the ground, the Corvette ZR1 was turning in lap times in the low 7:40s, a pace that puts it right up there with the world’s fastest supercars. And given the damp conditions and rough, hand-timed numbers, you can expect to see even quicker official lap times when Chevrolet goes public with its Nürburgring data.
…That said, the folks at Chevrolet aren’t worried about the performance potential of their $100,000 halo car. According to ZR1 Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter, the ZR1 will beat the track record for production cars at any road course in the world.
My lame launch put us about ten feet off the Z06’s bumper, and with the throttle pegged to the floor, the rear-mounted, dual-clutch gear box runs through the ratios in full automatic mode. Our necks are jolted back at each shift and we can feel our spines forming a valley in the suede-covered buckets. You know the stats; you can do the math. The Z06 is around 3,100 pounds and comes packing 505 hp. The GT-R is down 25 horsepower (TDC NOTE: not true, Motortrend dyno’d the GTR at 430whp which is almost identical to the Z06) and is almost 700 pounds heavier. But in defiance of the laws of physics, the distance between us never changes. And it continues down our imaginary quarter-mile before we brake simultaneously and make a quick left into a row of homes to talk shop and take a few photos. “The guys on the ‘Vette forum aren’t going to believe this,” Rich says as he snaps away on his disposable camera. “It’s way faster than I would’ve thought.”
From the Z06 owner:
I pull up next to it and its a new Nissan GTR. I ask the two guys; “Ok, guys, what are you doing, a test for some magazines?”. Yep! I asked them if they wanted to test it against a 06 with 45,000 miles on it…….. 2,000 rpm launch, to 2nd, then 3rd, shut down after about 110……. Got them on the start by 2 car lengths, opened it up a little to 3 about halfway through 2nd, then we were the same to the end. They followed to my home. Took pictures, exchanged business cards. The driver said he did not quite have the launch control down yet. Hey, it took me 6 months to learn how to drive my car! He took pictures too and said he would send some to me. His passenger was from Popular Science Magazine.
I decided to use a 1/4 mile calculator to estimate the ZR1s potential in the 1/4 mile. Using a 3400lbs car weight and 620hp (flywheel), I came up with a 10.82 ET. For a test in accuracy I punched in the numbers for a C6 Z06: 3200lbs car, 505hp: 11.36. Those calculations are almost identical to real life considering that the C6 Z06s are consistently running 11.2-11.4s (stock with street tires) in the quarter.
Some of my calculations put the ZR-1’s 1/4 mile time in as low as 10.6. Obviously we can’t factor in traction issues, but I’m willing to bet these numbers aren’t far off.
Side note: I guarantee you that no magazine is going to get the ZR1 down the 1/4 mile in under 11 seconds. Most magazines generally make a mockery of the true acceleration numbers for performance cars. Just look at Edmunds, they managed a 12.1 in the C6 Z06.
