The monstrous 1,064-horsepower, 233-mph, $174,995 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is America’s hypercar, and while most hypercars are content to live on spec sheets and in climate controlled garages, that’s not what fast Corvettes are about. They’re about proving something, and the Kentucky Kaiju just proved itself some more by setting five production car lap records on some of America’s greatest tracks.
Let’s start in Virginia, home of Virginia International Raceway. Over the past few decades, this sprawling roller coaster of a track has enjoyed a wider audience thanks to Car And Driver’s Lightning Lap events and the growth of sim racing, and it now stands as a sort of American analog to the Nürburging. Specifically, everyone’s looking to see what cars can do around both the Full course layout and the Grand course layout used for Lightning Lap, and the new Corvette ZR1 with the ZTK performance package delivered.
The fastest stock production car to circle VIR’s Grand course was the $1 million McLaren Senna, clocking a 2:34.9. Key word here being “was.” The C8 Corvette ZR1 is faster than a Senna, laying down a new lap record of 2:32.3. Beyond that, the new top-dog Corvette also swiped the Full course record from its predecessor before setting its sights beyond Virginia.
Road America near Elkhart Lake, Wisc. isn’t just a power track, it’s the power track in America. With a 4,405-foot uphill front straightaway and an overall circuit length of 4.408 miles, it’s a road course that rewards enormous output and herculean brakes. The production car lap record there used to belong to the Porsche 911 GT3 RS with a time of 2:13.8, but then the ZR1 came along and laid down a 2:08.6 scorcher.
Road Atlanta, in contrast, is more technical, with a rising-and-falling corner complex morphing into esses that demand big commitment and grip, a huge downhill braking zone at the end of the back straight, and Turn 11 taking no prisoners, happily spitting drivers who got their corner setup wrong into the wall. The old Porsche 911 GT2 RS laid down a 1:24.88 lap time to take the production car record back in 2019, but the Corvette ZR1 bested that by two full seconds with a time of 1:22.8.
Oh, and there’s one more track in the East where the production car lap record is now held by the Corvette ZR1. For nearly 80 years, Watkins Glen has been New York’s home for racing, with a permanent track established in 1956. Since then, Watkins Glen International has played host to Formula One, IndyCar, NASCAR, IMSA, and, um, Phish. By now, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the new Corvette ZR1 now holds the production car lap record at Watkins Glen as well, with a time of 1:52.7 on the long course. For the record, that’s 1.37 seconds faster than the GT4 lap record.
What’s more, these five production car lap records were set without much in the way of outside help. To set all these records, GM turned to its own employees instead of a single championship-winning hotshoe. Lead performance engineer of chassis controls Bill Wise set the record at Watkins Glen, lead vehicle dynamics engineer Brian Wallace set it at Road America, lead development engineer Chris Barber set it at Road Atlanta, and Aaron Link, GM’s Aaron Link, Global Vehicle Performance Manager, set two at VIR.
Overall, hats off to Chevrolet. A faster car around VIR than a McLaren Senna is one hell of an achievement, and I have a feeling the Corvette team isn’t done chasing records yet. Can we see it at Laguna Seca, Sonoma Raceway, Mosport, and the Nordschleife next?
(Lead photo credit: Chevrolet)
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If I had this kind of disposable income I would be really tempted to compromise on my “no manual, no sale” stance. Fortunately that’s not ever going to be a problem. 🙂
Yes, but what would it have done around the TG track? Remember Jeremy said American cars can’t turn LOL
NASCAR shows they used to be able to only turn left, but now they’re pretty good at turning right.
Were the previous records on these tracks manufacturer efforts? I feel like the VIR record might be from Lightning Lap. Also not surprising that you can pick up a lot of time over the GT3 RS at Road America, given the GT3 doesn’t have hypercar power. This is like an appetizer before the meal that is lap records at the big tracks (Laguna, Nordschleife). On the other hand, I would love to see more competition at these tracks, and a more manufacturer efforts at my home track of Road America would make me very happy.
There’s still a faster C8 coming too!
Absolute madness.
These are huge margins over the previous records, and these are drivers who are, at best, semi-professional at racing.
The ZR-1 delivers.
I doubt I’ll ever be able to afford a ZR-1, but it’s definitely sharpening my interest in buying a C8 Corvette that I can afford.
The difference in a great driver with a lot of experience in a car and a pro is measurable, I wonder if they are going to let the records go to others and take them back with a pro.
I get the feeling that GM has proven their point, and will leave further assault on these records to privateers.
Dual benefit: they’ve already proven it can be done without a pro driver, and they’ve proven the car you can buy from them will do it.
This is 1000% better marketing than hiring a star driver to take the record and lock it up way beyond the reach of hopeful amateurs.
typo?
“The fastest stock production car go circle VIR’s Grand course was the $1 million McLaren Senna”
cars go?
cars can go?
cars go circle around?
“and Aaron Link, GM’s Aaron Link, Global Vehicle Performance Manager, set two at VIR.
so, Aaron Link then?
Yep. go -> to
“A lap so nice, we said his name twice.”
I just saw the ZR-1 in person yesterday at the Chicago Auto Show, and I suggest you do the same, if only to appreciate in person the absolute unit of a rear wing this thing has. I mean it would not look out of place on an IndyCar.
But 2.08 at Road America, good Lord. When I started track days in the early 90’s it was a goal for the novices to get under 3.00. Despite what anyone tells you, this is the golden age of performance cars.