Last month, we reported on the 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1 netting five new lap records on four iconic American racetracks. Those four tracks are Watkins Glen in New York, Road America in Wisconsin, Road Atlanta in Georgia, and Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Virginia. Now that the production C8 ZR1 and the latest version of the Corvette Z06 GT3.R racecar have been put through their paces on these same four tracks, let’s compare the best lap times of the production car versus the racecar.
It’s unsurprising that the racecar achieves faster lap times than the production car on street-legal tires. However, it’s impressive just how close they are. The Z06 GT3.R is approximately eight seconds faster at Watkins Glen, six seconds faster at Road America, four seconds faster at VIR, and five seconds faster at Road Atlanta.
The Corvette Z06 GT3.R replaced the C8.R in 2024 with the discontinuation of the FIA’s GTE class. Engineered to compete in LMGT3, GTD, and GTD Pro racing classes. Power comes from a naturally aspirated 5.5L V8 LT6.R, the racing version of the LT6 that powers the production C8 Z06. In the spec that runs in the IMSA championship, it produces 600 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. An Xtrec 6-speed sequential manual transaxle delivers output to the rear wheels.
Meanwhile, the C8 ZR1 is the fastest and most powerful production Corvette ever produced. It’s equipped with the twin-turbocharged 5.5L V8 LT7 engine that belts out 1,064 horses and 828 pound-feet of torque, all sent to the rear wheels via the GM eight-speed, dual-clutch transmission. GM claims the Corvette ZR1 can blast from 0 to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds, clear the quarter-mile in 9.6 seconds, and reach a top speed of 233 mph.
The faster lap times of the Z06 GT3.R show that it takes more than sky-high power and torque ratings to achieve good lap times. Even with a pretty significant output deficit compared to the Corvette ZR1, the Z06 GT3.R gets better lap times just by virtue of being a purpose-built racecar.
Many factors, like weight savings, gear ratios, aerodynamics, suspension systems, tires, and brakes, are racecar-specific and add up to faster lap times for GT racecars than their production counterparts. As we can see here, this is even true when racecars produce less power and torque. Engineers don’t need to worry about things like daily driving comfort, efficient gear ratios, or sound deadening when engineering a real racecar that can’t legally be driven on public roads, not to mention very different safety and emissions requirements.
Comments
Weight savings? I thought that they were penalized.
Interesting for sure, but I would still say that is a somewhat significant time difference.
5+ seconds is a huge difference in racing though and not even close at all
The time difference is very significant but mind blowing when you consider the engineering advantages of the race car. Congratulations GM for building such an impressive ZR1.
While the new ZR1 is obviously going to be an amazing “Street Terror” machine (and maybe on a few race tracks for those who’ve got the guts and the money to actually do a few track days in their new 200K plus C8 ZR1) and one hell of a ride on the street, those multiple seconds of difference being shown between the race C8 and the street going C8 ZR1’s are really more significant than you really know. Stop to think, a 5 to 7 seven second a lap difference after just one lap is kinda close…but that’s just one lap, now do 10 or 20 maybe 30 laps more and you’ll see that they really are not that close afterall. While the street going ZR1 is an amazing machine and probably worth every penny you’ll pay for it, I’d be thinking twice about running one of those factory, street driven ZR1’s for any length of time on a real race track. Oh, it’ll be a lot fun for a few laps, but then reality sinks in and as you pull your steed into the race track garage after getting your kicks, you’ll see that there will be wear indicators showing that you’ve just spent a small fortune in tires, brakes, gas, your fire suit plus safety accessories ect. to be able to go out and have some fun with your new and very expensive toy. I’m sure for most, it’ll be worth the expense, providing nothing stupid happens, to the car or to yourself. Anyway, those lap times for a street driven (and probably by an engineer and not a real race car driver) ZR1 are very decent indeed, and Chevy should be proud of what they’ve managed to put together, it’ll obviously be a force to be reconed with when they finally are driven “con brio” on the street and on certain race tracks all over the world. Hats off to Chevy, it makes me proud to have been a Corvette owner for over 50 years, and “loving it”!
Also has double the power.
Most interesting. Any chance you could write several follow up articles pin pointing certain difference and the advantages these items have for the race vs street car. Also, same driver and track condition would be needed AND the same tires would be needed.
the tire difference can mean a lot along with the race suspension and transmission optimization. If the ZR1 was in ‘race trim’ the results would be much closer…. Awesome job with the ZR1 GM!!
This is a bit miss leading.
The race car is built on a stock platform but has many changes. It has regulations that set the weight and power. They use restrictors on the air intake to limit power.
They also use a spec tire that is smaller than stock.
The race car is lower and has larger brakes.
You really can’t compare them heads up as they are build for different proposes and different rules.
Now there are parts of the car you can compare as they so share many bits and pieces.
The GT3 Pro car is much closer to stock than the old racer was.
The one thing you can do is say the Corvette has to be toned down for racing as where the Mustang has to build a special car just to compete.
Ford had to design the GT3 car to compete ands really shares little with the street car. It also cost more than twice the Corvette ZR1.
5 seconds a lap isn’t “almost as fast.” On a racetrack, that’s a huge advantage over one lap. Over a 30 lap race you’re looking at a 2 minute deficit, which is massive. And in reality the delta in lap times would get worse, much worse, as the lap counter goes up, because the extra weight of the ZR-1 would wear out brakes and tires at a faster rate.
The ZR1 is hugely impressive for a street car, but the gap to a race car, in spite of a 500HP deficit, shows just how important weight (or lack of), tires and brakes are when it comes to track use.
Have Tommy Milner (Corvette Racing driver) drive the ZR1 on all these tracks and see if it is faster. The author did not address a professional race car driver vs who drove the ZR1 for comparison???