Elon Musk has promised that the next-generation Tesla Roadster will be rocket-powered, using cold gas thrusters borrowed from Space X.
The 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 also has rockets, but they’re not quite the same thing.
The new top-of-the-line Corvette model is powered by a 1,064 hp turbocharged 5.5-liter V8 engine called the LT7 that features a flat-plane crankshaft and rockets. Lots of them.
Not function rockets, but cartoon-style logos stamped into dozens of parts, including castings and hoses.
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That’s because the LT7 belongs to a growing engine family known as the Small Block Gemini.
It started with the naturally-aspirated LT6 that powers the current Corvette Z06 and draws its inspiration from the Gemini space program.
The engine’s dual intake plenums, throttle bodies, valve springs play into the twin theme, according to Motor Trend, but the name also tips a hat to the early NASA astronaut tradition of driving Corvettes.
And while the LT7 doesn’t double the horsepower of the 670 hp LT6, it does have a secondary port fuel injection system to deliver the massive amounts of gas needed to crank out 1,064 hp and is more than twice as powerful as the 505 hp LS6 7.0-liter V8 that was in the sixth-generation Corvette Z06.
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The rockets aren’t the only “easter eggs” hidden on the ZR1. The left side of its split rear window features an image of retiring Executive Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter, who has worked on the Corvette team for 31 years and oversaw its radical transformation from a front-engine to mid-engine layout for the 2020 model year.
The ZR1 is set to be the quickest and most powerful Corvette ever when production begins next year. Chevrolet says it can cover a quarter-mile in less than 10 seconds and hit a top speed in excess of 215 mph.
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