It’s no secret that plenty is not good enough when it comes to the all-conquering mid-engine Chevy Corvette. The base coupe is a performance bargain, a 490-hp rocket that is already knock-knock-knocking on supercars’ doors. Order a Z06, and with an extra heaping of horsepower, better aero, and a harder edge, you have a half-priced supercar with one of the greatest-sounding V-8s to ever exist. The Z06 pumps out a full 670 hp, and it was a shoe-in for MotorTrend’s 2023 Performance Car of the Year award—a Corvette absolutely swimming in “the kind of special sauce that makes the car seem worth it regardless of price, a sense of total desirability, the feeling that nothing was left on the table.”
Well, what was left on the table was a pair of turbochargers. That’s what the ZR1, which Chevrolet just teased on social media, is bringing to the party. “No #Corvette has ever moved quite like this,” the copy reads. “The #ZR1 is coming this summer.”
So while the news is expected, it’s also (of course) welcome. Here’s a refresher on what we expect from the (probably) ultimate C8 Corvette. First of all, the power: 900 or so ponies, courtesy of a pair of turbochargers bolted onto the already fantastic 5.5-liter flat-plane-crank DOHC V-8. And that’s not all, the hackneyed game show host voice in our head says. Because we’ve got a source that’s claimed that the front axle will gain an electric motor for even more performance, pushing the ZR1 to (or over) the 900-hp mark.
We don’t know exactly how the ZR1 will differ from the Z06 (and its optional Z07 track package) in terms of handling, but presume it’ll be no boulevardier. If it is basically a Z06/Z07 with much, much more power and nothing else, that seems amply sufficient. Expect a meatier brake package and perhaps some additional brake cooling to help bleed off that extra speed.
We’ll know more this summer, of course, because Chevy’s made a promise it can’t afford to break: sun’s out, ZR1’s out.
