Corvette ZR1 at Viginia Raceway: Time For Tea?

A few days ago the Ford GT set a lap record at VIR; now Chevy has gone and beaten it...

Yes, this does look like another lap record fiasco. And at the Nurburgring, too. Or rather the Nurburgring of the United States, as Virginia International Raceway is affectionately known.

See last week Ford claimed a new production car lap record there, a GT lapping in 2:38.62 when driven by Billy Johnson; that beat the previous record of 2:40.02, set in a Dodge Viper ACR. Like damn near every American production car lap record there is.

Only now Chevy has taken the new Corvette ZR1 there and gone faster still, its dynamics engineer Jim Mero recording a 2:37.25. And as you can see in the video, that's ruddy quick - even if you're not familiar with the track. In Chevy's rather humble vid description, the lap is assigned "new benchmark" status.

Of course, as is always the problem with these laps, we don't know just how close to production standard these ostensibly unaltered cars are; Chevy says it's a regular ZR1 with the ZTK Performance Package (Cup 2s, big wing, more aero gubbins) plus a five-point harness (with bar) required for the record attempt. That's it. Says Chevy...

Let's hope there's no skulduggery at work, and that every version of this outrageous Corvette really is as absurdly rapid as the VIR record car. Bet those lucky buyers can't wait to find out. Ford, your move...