CTMP is a track where you've got to be brave, Fellows told GM News, noting it's so rewarding to get a really good lap time there with its sharp elevation and around 60 percent of the lap being high speed cornering. Fellows didn't just show up for nostalgia. The 66 year old retired pro has a driver's championship title in the American Le Mans Series, and notched wins at Le Mans, Sebring and Daytona. He's also a co owner of the circuit, which means he knows every bump, every apex, every trap waiting for the overconfident. Setting a record there means something.
The ZR1 gave him the tools to do it. At the heart of the beast is the twin turbocharged 5.5L V8 LT7, a boosted evolution of the Z06's 5.5L flat plane crank LT6, with output rated at 1,064 horsepower and 828 pound feet of torque, all of which is routed rearwards through an eight speed dual clutch transmission. Chevrolet has also equipped the ZR1 with an extensive aerodynamic package for high downforce that should provide plenty of stability through CTMP's long, high G corners. With the ZTK aero package, the car generates over 1,200 pounds of downforce at speed, allowing Fellows to brake later and carry more speed through the corners than he could in the Z06.
CTMP is just the latest conquest. Corvette engineers set five production car lap records with the ZR1, with chart topping runs at Watkins Glen, Road America, Road Atlanta, and both the Virginia International Raceway Full and Grand courses. Four different GM development engineers, not professional racing drivers, set these records. Bill Wise handled Watkins Glen with a 1:52.7, Brian Wallace took Road America in 2:08.6, Chris Barber clocked 1:22.8 at Road Atlanta, and Aaron Link set both VIR records at 1:47.7 and 2:32.3.
The Road America time is particularly brutal. The ZR1's 2:08.6 lap put it more than five seconds ahead of the 992 generation Porsche 911 GT3 RS, which set its record in 2023. Five seconds. In track terms, that's the gap between a good lap and absolute domination. It was here at Road America, on the front straight, that the ZR1 hit its top speed at all the tracks: 188 mph.
At Road Atlanta, the numbers get even more absurd. The previous production car record holder was the 991 generation Porsche 911 GT2 RS, which set a time of 1:24.88 in 2019, with the ZR1 beating it by two seconds. For some really juicy context, consider that the ZR1, a street car, came within five seconds of the Z06 GT3.R race car's October 2024 Petit Le Mans qualifying time at Road Atlanta. A production vehicle you can buy at a dealership running five seconds slower than a purpose built race car is the kind of achievement that makes everyone else reconsider their engineering priorities.
The VIR Grand Course lap of 2:32.3 pipped the 2:34.9 minute record previously set by the McLaren Senna, a limited edition 2019 supercar based on McLaren's Formula One technology that retails for $982,816. The ZR1 retails at less than one fifth the cost of the Senna, with a starting sticker of $174,995. That value proposition is classic Corvette. Maximum performance, American pricing.
Chevrolet recently confirmed that both the ZR1 and the all wheel drive ZR1X lapped the Nürburgring faster than the Ford Mustang GTD, making the Corvette the fastest American car around the circuit. The GTD was supposed to be Ford's answer to European exotics, proof that Mustang could play in the supercar league. The ZR1 showed up and beat it on every major circuit that matters.
What makes these records more impressive is who set them. The drivers, with a combined 65 years of GM Level 6 driving experience, each brought racing and high performance driving experience when joining General Motors, with all achieving Nürburgring Industry Pool certification. They're not hotshoe pros hired to extract every last tenth. They're the engineers who built the car, driving it themselves to prove what it can do. Link noted the capability they collectively demonstrated speaks volumes to GM's driver training and certification program.
The 1:52.7 at Watkins Glen puts the Corvette comfortably ahead of GT4 and TCR racing cars there, both in the 1:54s. At Road America it's as fast as a Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo and half a second ahead of a new 911 Cup car. Race cars. Purpose built, stripped out, slick tired race cars. The ZR1 is matching them on street tires with a full interior, air conditioning, and a stereo.
Fellows summed up the experience at CTMP. It's just getting comfortable with the pure acceleration, and also getting comfortable with how the car stops, Fellows said, noting that with the added downforce, it's all about getting people to trust the car's cornering capability. Trust at 1,064 horsepower isn't optional. It's survival.
Opened in 1961, the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park motorsport venue includes a clockwise GP circuit where the Audi R10 TDI racer is the king, with Marco Werner needing 1 minute and 5 seconds to complete a lap in the diesel powered Le Mans racing car. The ZR1, a street legal production car, is 13 seconds slower than a prototype race car that won Le Mans. Think about that gap. Then think about every other production car being even further behind.
The ZR1 has made its point across six tracks and seven records. American engineering, American power, American value. Fellows and the GM development team didn't just set fast laps. They redrew the performance benchmark for what a production car can achieve. The previous records held by Porsches, McLarens, and even the Z06? History. The ZR1 arrived and made them all irrelevant. At 66 years old, Fellows proved he's still the Magician. The ZR1 proved America still builds the fastest cars on the planet.
