Clearly the Easter break was a busy one for certain manufacturers! If the
Dallara
isn't really your fast car bag then here is a big, bad V8 interloper. Hopefully you will excuse another set of spy shots for the best look yet at the next Corvette ZR1.
Faster than an 812 Superfast maybe?
Remember the last ZR1? It was a brute of a thing, packing 640hp from a supercharged V8 and said to have 200mph potential. Of course back in the late 2000s the Z06 made 'just' 505hp from its 7.0-litre V8 and so a 640hp ZR1 made (some) sense; now the C7 Z06 is the supercharged 'Big Nasty', producing 650hp. Where on earth does that leave the ZR1?
If this disguised car is anything to by, it promises to be even more extreme. There's a spoiler that wouldn't look out of place on the GTE car, a front splitter that barely clears the car park kerb plus all manner of eff-off intakes and vents too. Oh yes, and the oddly engorged bonnet - will it get a glass cover again, like the previous ZR1?
As for power, to expect another 135hp from the ZR1 seems optimistic. Especially when the Z06 adds 195hp to the standard Corvette. That same gain would put a ZR1 at 845hp... Somewhere around the 700hp mark seems likely.
Big power, big wing, big presence
Note as well for this car the aero flics ahead of the front wheels and the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres. Already this generation of Corvette has proved itself as a track car, so presumably the ZR1 will take that further still. Could it be after the Viper ACR's host of lap records perhaps?
There remains plenty to be answered as far as the ZR1 is concerned, though a lot to be very enthused by too. It's a Corvette with more than 650hp and a huge rear wing, which is a pretty good start after all!
[Photos: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien]