Corvette Racing driver, Oliver Gavin, may be the man tasked with producing an official Nürburgring lap time with the 2019 C7 Corvette ZR1.
The racing driver posted to Facebook on Tuesday saying, “There’s something coming,” along with a photo of himself behind the wheel of a Corvette. What’s slightly confusing is the fact Gavin mentions the Corvette Z06 and not the Corvette ZR1 in his hashtagging. It very well could be a simple mix up. We’re not sure why Chevrolet would suddenly re-run the ‘Ring without its most powerful and track-honed Corvette, that being the ZR1.
Previously, ‘Ring watchers noted the Corvette ZR1 only managed to clock a 7:12 lap time, though it’s far from official. It’s unclear if whoever was behind the wheel when onlookers timed the car actually gave his or her all, or if other forces led to the rather slow time. The C6 Corvette ZR1 managed a 7:19 years ago.
Corvette chief engineer, Tadge Juechter, also previously hinted he’d like to see a sub-7-minute time from the 755-horsepower Corvette ZR1.
No matter what happens, the Corvette ZR1 is already a record holder. The sports car smashed the Virginia International Raceway record time last January and shamed the Ford GT in the process with a 2:37.25. Ford claimed the GT ran the track in 2:38.62.
Comments
It’s crazy that 755hp is the minimum power output with heat soak. Make upwards of 825hp when running cool
Where did you get that info? I ask because I haven’t read that anywhere. I’m especially curious because of all the extra cooling on the ZR1 that was supposed to take care of the over heating problems like the first couple of years of the C7 Z06 had.
I saw something along those lines as well and supposedly Tadge said it.. I read that 755 is basically the worst case scenario, but didn’t see anything on exact figures other than that.
Edit: “As a benefit, the 755-horsepower figure, according to Juechter, is a worst-case number. Meaning in most conditions, such as our cool morning in Atlanta, the LT5 will make markedly more power than advertised.”
https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first-drives/a19903865/2019-corvette-zr1-review-first-drive-photos-info/
I say 6:58
The new 911 GT3 RS did it in 6:56.4, so lets hope for a 6:55 FLAT from the ZR1.
The fastest time for a C7 Z06 manual Vette was set by a German car magazine (it seems GM’s time in 2015 at the track was saddled by rain, and they don’t have a shop there, they must fly there) the same car magazine which ran a Porsche 918 Spyder with the same time as a C7 Z06 (7:13 vs 7:13.90) when Porsche was able to pull 6:57. Maybe they were missing the similarly Z06-priced Weissach Package?. And the C7 Z06 auto should be faster around the track….Why do I say this? Well, Chevy might still have a bone to pick with the Z06/Z07 on its way to posting even faster performance times with the ZR1
BTW now we know it was a Corvette vs Wingsuit stunt