Corvette Zr1 Runs 7.26.4

[Shaolin242]

brillant. how many seconds did that knock off the almighty GTRs record?

what a car - gorgeous to look at to. and with the balls to back it up.

[Snowman]

Impressive time. The rear has a nice shape too. The front looks a little odd though, like a premature born baby's head.

Also too many body features for my taste- so many flares, bumps and ridges. Looks like it needs water to breathe. It's like a beautiful shape hasn't been fine tuned with this car, so much as all those little features have been sculpted into the exterior to give it presence, like an xmas tree covered in lights.

Still, great car and great performance (and it's good ol' manual & RWD for the traditionalists!)

Not only is it still running a tradtional 6 speed manual & RWD but it's even still running leaf springs!!! All up it makes the result even more impressive IMO.

[thorpe84]

who cares, his name is tadge.

PWNED

[GTR-32U]

Didnt suggest this car would fix their problems- nothing much will! my suggestion is that it [corvette]might be worth something if they cease production! I bet the workers of GM dont share your confidence. GM dont have the money to invest in R and D, and as such they skimp on new models. its been a slippery slide for many years and it's because they kept on producing ordinary, inefficiant, mediocre quality cars. Compare them to Toyota and with there miniscul funds they are always going to be 1 then 2 then 3 steps behind the benchmark!

Yeah I can also recall hearing something very much along the same lines as that. Apparently GM is in serious financial strife, Small jap and Euro car sales are killing the local market. I seen this on some TV program, But as you said...Apparently job confidence is a at an all time low..Didnt they just post a record loss of $38.7 billion for 2007 ? Biggest ever loss for an Automaker in history ? Apparently Ford US isnt in that much better a position....Very interesting indeed

[nisskid]

looks like sex as well

[Duncan1]

Not only is it still running a tradtional 6 speed manual & RWD but it's even still running leaf springs!!! All up it makes the result even more impressive IMO.

Leaf Springs?!?!? love it. next thing you know a 4x2 workmate with a v8 will crack 7:30! Sounds like they built a great car! [despite themselves]

Still, gotta give credit where credit is due!

[phunky_monkey]

I love it, think they've done a great job with 'dinosaur' technology. Competition moves the game forwards

Video of the ZR1 in the link (not on burgerring though... ): http://www.caradvice.com.au/13737/chevrole...formance-specs/

Pity we won't get this instead of the W427. We really could have it for the same price except for the red tape. It's a real shame.

[lingeringsoul]

I love it, think they've done a great job with 'dinosaur' technology. Competition moves the game forwards

Video of the ZR1 in the link (not on burgerring though... ): http://www.caradvice.com.au/13737/chevrole...formance-specs/

Pity we won't get this instead of the W427. We really could have it for the same price except for the red tape. It's a real shame.

lol if you can afford this, you can definitely afford to go over to america, pay for 1 year storage fee or live there for a year then ship it here as a private import.

[Bliksem]

it's even still running leaf springs!!! All up it makes the result even more impressive IMO.

Yes, these are listed as a specialised component in some reviews , Corvette lists the rear suspension as: "transverse-mounted composite leaf spring's with monotube shock absorbers."

The list of old technology by our standards goes on much further than that, pretty amazing, can't argue with the time though

[JAS-25T]

Yeah - I'd have a guess to say it still uses pushrods too!

[IOWNU]

Nice.

More 'soul' than the GTR too!

[Roy]

Yes, these are listed as a specialised component in some reviews , Corvette lists the rear suspension as: "transverse-mounted composite leaf spring's with monotube shock absorbers."

The list of old technology by our standards goes on much further than that, pretty amazing, can't argue with the time though

Just like how Porsche have engineering a good result out of a floored rear engined layout (does have great power down and braking stability) It is interesting to see how Chevrolet are doing the same with the leaf springs.

Back when Callaway were in collaboration with GM over the twin turbo C4, the reason they kept the pushrod configuration and the leaf spring rear was mostly packaging. The C4 ZR1 has a quad cam 32 valve V8 but was expensive to make and also presented even more packagign problems then the narrower more compact pushrod small block. Likewise the leaf spring rear end, it allowed them to impinge on the rear bot/passenger area less. So main reason was packaging and making the car compact, but i dont doubt for a second the cost to manufacture came into a hell of a lot as well. But interesting all the same, at the end of the day and spring is a spring, and you need a damper to control it.

[R34_T88_Widebody]

lol if you can afford this, you can definitely afford to go over to america, pay for 1 year storage fee or live there for a year then ship it here as a private import.

I'm not so sure on this personally. I was thinking of taking the missus and I over for a 12-month sabbatical (in which case we could private import TWO cars), but I've looked into this in some detail, to find;

* To my knowledge, despite an FTA between Aus and US, we still pay duty on car imports from the U.S

* (and here's the big one) customs will actually assess your taxes and duties based on your ORIGINAL purchase price, not on a 'depreciated asset' price at the time of import.

* As you still need to convert it to RHD, whilst you can avoid RAWS loopholes, try finding a reputable workshop who can do a quality mirror conversion. My quote.....$30K (that's right, only saving $5-10K on normal RAWS price).

* In the first several months, everyone is expecting these things to fetch way over sticker (MSRD) price. I think MSRD is set at $103K USD, so dealers are being tipped to get as high as $115K, at least for the first 18 months whilst they have pent up demand and oversupply has not taken effect.

* Lastly, there are as many FOREX 'experts' tipping downside risk to the AUD/USD exchange rate as upside.

What this means is, if you went stateside and paid $125K USD drive away for such a beast (and I don't think you can just store the thing, I am told DOTARS do some pretty significant research to verify you've been domiciled continuously for 12 months in the U.S), by the time you imported it, you're up for $130K AUD, plus container shipping, plus 10% duty (??), plus GST, plus LCT over and above $57K, plus $30K mirror conversion and on and on - likely to be a $230K AUD import. By this time, you'd probably be better off just importing straight from the states, because the $5K or so you save by skipping RAWS would be blown away firstly by depreciation, secondly by opportunity cost (whatever else you could have invested in), and thirdly by the 'unforgiving' customs charges as they would be based on your original purchase price.

For my money, you'd be much much better off buying a Z06 (Lingenfelter or Hennessy mod job even better!), which are now common as ar*eholes over there, whereby you can probably get a good Cali or AZ model for circa $60K and - because you have less exposure to LCT, would end up costing more in the range of $125K AUD. In fact, by the time you had your ZR1 here, I reckon you'd have the Z06 down to $110K. Still, because of the issue around taxes being based on transaction price, it is actually fraught with risk for any depreciating vehicle. Given this, we're now tending towards something which may not even be a RAWS vehicle at all - have the market all to one's self. Stretch Hummer anyone?

But back on topic......this is a ridiculously mad car and frankly, I can't wait to take one for a spin (lol).....(dreams of turning up at a dealership in 90210 dressed in Mick Dundee cork swagger hat....looks to Z06....'that's not a sportscar'......looks to ZR1....'now that's a sportscar'. I'll probably just end up getting mugged and being left destitute on the west saeeed).

BTW - if I have my info incorrect, I would appreciate the advice, as I am looking to depart in Feb next year!

[lingeringsoul]

all i gotta say is ......farrrrrrrrrkkk.

[R338OY]

Video of the ZR1 in the link (not on burgerring though... )

I'll probably just end up getting mugged and being left destitute on the west saeeed.

[phunky_monkey]

lol if you can afford this, you can definitely afford to go over to america, pay for 1 year storage fee or live there for a year then ship it here as a private import.

It's not a million dollar car mate!

[scathing]

It looks awesome, but in typical American fashion, they just put stupid sized engines in to make them quicker. Brute force.

The ZR-1's standing start stats are almost identical to a base GT-R's. Even with its massive power and torque to weight advantage for better rolling acceleration, without cornering ability it'd still get smashed at the Nurburgring.

Its even moreso considering its rolling on UTQG 220 tyres, not the GT-R's UTQG 140's. Harder tyres, 2WD and a traditional manual gearbox. Its got plenty of brute force, but it still has to have some chassis and setup nous to put that power down to only 2 wheels with a slower gearchange.

[Dick Wadd]

Just hope they go on sale in rhd in UK ...hehehe, i just got a firm job offer from the UK So Vettes or TVR Sagaris i dont care either way. But converting one would be pricey, so here is to hoping they are made in RHD

And let me guess, you can thelp but love this car because its the same colour as your ride

Don't give up hope, Roy. They will probably be available in the U.K. in LHD. Vauxhall used to sell 'official' (as opposed to grey import) LHD Corvettes and Camaro z28's in the UK and dodge used to sell LHD Vipers there too. There is no problem with driving a LHD car in the UK, they are much less conservative about what you can drive on the road over there legally; as long as it has treaded tyres, working lights and somewhere to bolt a numberplate onto, you can get everything from an Ariel Atom to a full tube-frame dragster registered.

Just means you won't be able to bring it back to Oz...and you'll need someone in the passenger seat to stick their head out for you if you want to overtake a truck!

[sewid]

The ZR-1's standing start stats are almost identical to a base GT-R's. Even with its massive power and torque to weight advantage for better rolling acceleration, without cornering ability it'd still get smashed at the Nurburgring.

Its even moreso considering its rolling on UTQG 220 tyres, not the GT-R's UTQG 140's. Harder tyres, 2WD and a traditional manual gearbox. Its got plenty of brute force, but it still has to have some chassis and setup nous to put that power down to only 2 wheels with a slower gearchange.

I think you'd find that the ZR-1's Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires are a lot more suited to setting lap times than the GT-R's shitty run flats.

[scathing]

I think you'd find that the ZR-1's Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires are a lot more suited to setting lap times than the GT-R's shitty run flats.

The ZR-1 was not on Sport Cups. It was on Sport PS2's, which have a UTQG of 220. The Bridgestone RE070's that the GT-R uses are UTQG 140.

The GT-R is on softer rubber, with a slightly more aggressive tread pattern.