It goes without saying that the Corvette C8 ZR1 is engineered to be fast – in fact, it’s the fastest production vehicle to ever wear the nameplate. Beyond the obvious concessions required for roadworthiness and government regulations, the new ZR1 is hellbent for speed in every way imaginable. Interestingly, even the exhaust helps this thing move, as indicated by former Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter.
During an interview at the C8 ZR1’s reveal with GM Authority Executive Editor Alex Luft, Juechter provided some interesting insight into one unexpected source of motivation for the new C8 ZR1.
“The air coming out of the exhaust runs close to the speed of sound, it’s really amazing,” Juechter told GM Authority. “In fact, it provides thrust to the vehicle, that’s how fast it’s coming out.”
While we knew that the ZR1’s twin-turbocharged 5.5L V8 LT7 gasoline engine was an absolute monster, we didn’t expect those four central exhaust tips to serve as a sort of jet engine for the sports car.
Juechter retired following the debut of the new Corvette C8 ZR1, with GM acknowledging his contributions to the company with a small picture of his face in the C8’s glass. Juechter’s career at GM spanned nearly 50 years, during which time he worked on the development of several generations for America’s Sports Car.
As for the powertrain, the twin-turbo 5.5L V8 LT7 is rated at 1,064 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 828 pound-feet of torque at 6,000 rpm. The V8 is a flat-plane crank DOHC based on the 5.5L LT6 cradled by the C8 Z06. Performance specs include a quarter mile time under the 10-second mark and a top speed around 215 mph.
Under the skin, all C8 Corvette variants ride on the GM Y2 platform, while production takes place at the GM Bowling Green plant in Kentucky.
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Comments
Realistically, top speed is irrelevant for a street car.
A street car that is also trackable.
There, I fixed it for you.
Yeah, I’m thinking there are two buyers in this price range. Trackers and garage queens.
Yeah, the thing about top speed, EVERY car has one. So why make a silly comment?
With all this ZR1 hype, when will you release pricing and yearly allocations and when will the dealers be able to place orders?
The car is still in development. It was shown to be able to test it without camouflage.
If my Z51 creates a sonic boom every morning the neighbors will be pissed
This oddity was my favorite part of the ZR1 reveal when Tadge spoke of it, at that point I was already overwhelmed by the capabilities of the ZR1 and to hear the exhaust actually provided a measurable amount of thrust was when I achieved a joyous information overload.
I want one but cannot afford the divorce!
Curious to know how much thrust.
Motor Trend article claims 37 lbs. of thrust. I tried linking to that article but my comment was not approved.
Me too. If I blow the transmission, is there enough thrust to limp home at 8,000 RPM? ( I just crack myself up ). 😂
What does any of that have to do with this article or the car itself?
Technically, every vehicle with an exhaust produces a small amount of thrust from the exhaust. Forcing air out of a stationary object, the exhaust pipe in this instance, is just how thrust works. They could have said something similar about the supercharged V-8 of the 2019 C-7 ZR1 at 775 bhp, although I’m not sure about the near speed of sound claim that in this particular article.
Absolutely love the homage of the 2025 ZR1 with the split rear window, and it is executed spot-on in both looks and design. Body color or carbon weave with a functional heat dissipating element is just awesome. But, hey, GM… will you please get rid of that hideous disfigurement of a back-end? Such an overall beautifully designed exotic car that I feel is arguably top of its class in looks from every angle except the backend. Those taillights are an absolute mess. It’s such a shame to see this beautiful piece of rolling art undone by (now 5 years) this unrefined and uninspired rear-end styling. I understand styling is subjective, but I’m still not sure after 5 years how this has not run its course. I have always been a Corvette fan, and own a Silver anniversary model. Just saying, I’d really like to see the much overdue demise of the “Why in the would would you do that?” back end design.
Two things, A) this isn’t a beautiful vehicle. It looks like many of the other exotic/super cars. Beautiful vehicles are things like the Aston Martin DB, Jaguar E-type and Bugatti Atlantic among many others. B) they did it so it was wide enough and deep enough to fit two sets of golf clubs in there, has been said many times when the C8 was first revealed. The back end while a little blocky, goes mostly with the rest of the car, no one view stands out as amazing while another view is barf…