Video: See The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X’s Record Nürburgring Lap From The Driver’s Seat
The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X is now the fastest American car to lap the Nürburgring race track Germany.
The hilly circuit has more than 150 corners and about 1000 feet of elevation change. Automakers from around the world use it for development, and a lap time has become the ultimate benchmark for overall performance.
“It’s 12.9 miles of enormous challenge for a vehicle,” Senior Vice President of Product Programs, Safety, Integration and Motorsports Ken Morris told GM News. “Within one lap of the ‘Ring, a vehicle is going to experience every type of input that it will anywhere else in the world” – from the low-speed, steeply-banked hairpin turn called the Carousel to flat-out straightaways where world-class supercars can exceed 200 mph. The Nürburgring “challenges everything about the car – the braking, the cooling, the engine performance, the steering,” Morris said. “Over the course of a lap, or multiple laps, does the car stay robust?”
Chevy brought the 1,250 hp hybrid Corvette ZR1X and the 1,064 hp Corvette ZR1 to the ‘Ring on June 24 and both were able to beat the Ford Mustang GTD’s lap record for cars from American brands set earlier this year at 6:52.072.
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The Corvette ZR1 did it in 6:50.763 and the Corvette ZR1X in 6:49.275, the latter being the fourth fastest time for a factory production car.
One difference between Ford’s and Chevy’s attempts is that the Mustang GTD was driven by professional racing driver Dirk Müller, who has won the Nürburgring 24 Hours race, while the Chevys were driven by engineers who worked on the cars.
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“We’ve created a different kind of relationship between our cars, iconic tracks, and our engineers, it is how we develop our vehicles,” Morris said.
Chevy did that with some intent as it wanted to prove to its customers that the cars were fast even without an ace behind the wheel. That’s not to say the engineers were inexperienced. Each had several hundred laps of the track under their belts, but not under the most extreme racing conditions.
Vehicle Dynamics Engineer Drew Cattell had the honor of driving the Corvette ZR1X and getting his name in the record books. Chevrolet has released the full in-car video of his lap from the Corvette ZR1X’s Peformance Data Recorder in case anyone has any doubts about the record.
The Performance Data Recorder is a standard feature on the Corvette ZR1X, while the car was equipped with the optional ZTK Performance Package and ZR1 Carbon Fiber Aero Package, which includes a recalibrated suspension and summer performance tires along with a high-wing spoiler, dive planes and a hood spoiler that increase downforce.
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Pricing for the Corvette ZR1X that goes on sale later this year hasn’t been announced, but the options are $9,995 on the Corvette ZR1, which has a starting price of $175,195.