Ride along for a hot lap at Laguna Seca in Chevrolets stunning Corvette ZR1
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:07 If ever a sports car needed no introduction, it's this one.
00:11 Easily the most talked about automobile for 2009,
00:14 this is Chevrolet's awesome Corvette ZR1.
00:18 A front mounted V8, 6.2 liter supercharged, making 638 horsepower,
00:25 driving the rear wheels through a six speed manual transmission.
00:28 It's gonna be spectacular to watch Chevrolet's blue devil tear up
00:32 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
00:34 Let's check it out.
00:34 [MUSIC]
00:44 [MUSIC]
00:54 [MUSIC]
01:04 [MUSIC]
01:14 [MUSIC]
01:24 [MUSIC]
01:49 [MUSIC]
02:14 [MUSIC]
02:24 Well, Randy, if our Motor Trend readers have a favorite car,
02:39 it's probably this one, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.
02:42 638 supercharged horsepower, the ultimate Corvette.
02:45 What'd you think?
02:46 >> That was one wild ride.
02:49 This CR1 had a pretty happy tail.
02:53 It would move around a fair amount.
02:54 In fact, it's one of the very few cars I've ever driven here at
02:57 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca where I didn't wanna keep my foot down over turn two.
03:02 I just was not getting messages from the car that it was gonna be stable enough
03:07 to go right over that brow, still flat on the floor.
03:11 Now, part of the reason is that it's so powerful.
03:14 It was really rocking up that hill, but it is not as stable as the Audi R8.
03:21 So it's a driver's car in the sense that the driver must be very,
03:27 very involved, but not in the sense that it's extremely rewarding.
03:32 It is still not a finesse car.
03:35 It is a powerful, brutal, both hands on the wheel car.
03:40 Very satisfying getting wheel spin in third gear corners.
03:45 Drifting the car required a lot of skill.
03:47 You better be good.
03:48 Don't turn off the active controls in that car unless you have had
03:54 years of skip barber work on the skip pad.
03:57 The power is fabulous.
03:58 I like the shifter.
03:59 It throws kinda long, but it's accurate.
04:01 The brake pedal was a little mushy, but stopping was very strong.
04:09 A lot of brake dive in the car, which is not necessarily a bad thing,
04:13 but it was obvious, whereas in the Audi it was invisible.
04:17 Never felt it.
04:18 It is a very much a car where you've gotta be paying attention and
04:23 be being on your game if you're gonna drive this car fast.
04:27 To find out where the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 finished in our 2009 Best Driver's
04:31 Car Competition, make sure to visit MotorTrend.com on Wednesday, August 19th.
04:35 [MUSIC]