Thanks to the Internet, the Corvette ZR1 hasn’t been much of a secret. However, it’s time to dispel the myths and get the facts straight.
It apparently started five years ago when Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner posed this question in a staff meeting: If GM could build the stellar-performing Corvette Z06 for $59,995, what could the team do for $100,000? And so the Corvette Team, led by then-Chief Engineer Dave Hill and Assistant Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter, began investigating a super Vette. Its internal name was Blue Devil, said to be in homage to Wagoner’s alma mater, Duke. Thus the rumors started. Since then, Hill retired and Juechter is now Chief Engineer of the Corvette and XLR.
But blue isn’t just part of the code name. Because the accents on the Z06 are red, and yellow just isn’t as pretty as blue, the color will be used for the badges, engine rocker covers and brake calipers. And in production, it won’t be Blue Devil, SS or Stingray; it will simply be called ZR1, which harkens back to the C4 ZR-1. Note the lack of a hyphen in the new car’s name.
Production will start in 2008 with final assembly cranking out cars in July. Capacity is physically limited to just 2000 cars a year. The ZR1 will be built on the same production line as regular Corvettes and the Z06 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with engines coming from GM’s Performance Build Center in Wixom, Michigan.
The chassis is the same aluminum structure used for the Z06. Additional carbon fiber is employed to offset the extra 100 lb. of engine modifications added to the nose of the car. The material is found in the unique fenders, hood, roof structure, splitter and rocker extensions. The hood itself has a 4.5-mm-thick polycarbonate window mounted on the power dome to allow space for supercharger components, and through the 19 x 17-in. window you can see the top of the intercooler. The visible carbon bits are sprayed with a proprietary clear coat that keeps the epoxy from yellowing and deteriorating in sunlight. Much of the front clip is the same as that from the Z06, as are the doors and rear bodywork. There is a larger spoiler that runs the full width of the rear. This balances the additional front downforce generated by the new splitter. There are now two large front fender vents to help dissipate excess engine bay heat.
Filling the wheel arches are larger wheels and tires, 19 x 10 in the front and 20 x 12 at the rear. The ZR1 sports forged wheels shod with custom Michelin Pilot Sport tires, size 285/30R-19 front and 335/25R-20 rear. Inside the wheels are the largest carbon-ceramic brakes to come standard on any car — massive 15.5-in. Brembos in front and 15.0 in. at the rear. To support the extra loads generated, larger bearings are used. If you could get them, the brakes, wheels and tires would be expensive bolt-on modifications to a Z06. An interesting tidbit: The front rotors are the same as those on a Ferrari FXX and the rears are off the front of an Enzo! The rotors are nearly identical to those on a Bugatti Veyron and optional on a Ferrari 599. Mammoth pads encased in the monobloc calipers double the surface area of those of a current Z06 and if used only on the street will likely last the lifetime of the car. If you do wear them out, a sensor molded into the pads alerts you via a dash indicator. Starting with the ZR1, Bosch components replace Delphi-sourced brake parts, a trend that continues with all 2009 Corvettes.
The heart of the ZR1 and subject of much speculation is the 6.2-liter supercharged LS9 V-8. The design goal was 600-plus horsepower. There are no official performance numbers at the time of this writing. The team started by looking at the Z06′s 7.0-liter LS7, but to reach that power level an 8.3-liter displacement would be needed, and deemed unrealistic for a small-block. A V-10 wouldn’t fit in the current Corvette, so forced induction was decided upon.
Sitting between the aluminum cylinder banks is a sixth-generation Eaton TVS R2300 Roots-type 4-lobe blower. It’s a departure from 3-lobe technology, which has traditionally been less efficient than a screw-type supercharger. The benefit of the extra lobe is greater efficiency and less parasitic drag, resulting in a power output of more than 100 bhp/liter. That’s more than 620 bhp, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 lb.-ft. of torque. That’ll make an LS9 the most powerful engine from GM — ever.
