GM Returns to the Nurburgring with the 2012 Corvette ZR1

Content provided by Keith Cornett of CorvetteBlogger.com

Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter said at the Corvette Museum’s C5/C6 Bash in April that they would be looking to make a trip to the famous 12.9 mile Nordschleife for final validation of the supercharged C6 ZR1. We just didn’t realize it would be so soon!

Judging from the new official video from Chevrolet showing test driver Jim Mero piloting the 638-hp Corvette to a time of 7:19.63, a 6 second improvement over the famous high speed run in July 2008, I would have to say that final validation was most definitely a success.

If you already watched the new video, you heard Corvette Chief Engineer talk about various aspects of the 2012 Corvette ZR1 vs the 2009 model that was tested previously. Those changes included the new sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires, while chassis and aero improvements have really improved the car over the last 4 years.

Driving the ZR1 on the Nurburgring looks to be a blast. According to the telemetry provided in the video, Mero hit a top speed of 183 mph and lateral Gs went as high as 1.7.

The new time of 7:19.63 beats the previous 2009 Corvette ZR1s run of 7:26.4 by over 6 seconds. The new time also puts the 2012 Corvette ZR1 ahead of the Dodge Viper ACR (7:22.1), the Porsche 911 GTS RS (7:24) and the Nissan GT-R (7:24.22).

Nice job Team Corvette!