Vengeance Racing ZR1 Build
This Vengeance Racing-Tuned ZR1 Will Run Circles Around a Factory Stingray
Punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong — that’s the definition of vengeance. We’re unsure just who committed the foolish act that inspired the ZR1, but they’re about to be on the receiving end of a four-wheeled weapon of mass destruction.
Typically, tuner builds evolve around low-end models the blue-collar guy can afford, adding tasteful mods to make the car more competitive with its uprated sister cars. Occasionally, however, a crew like Vengeance Racing goes truly berserk and chooses to exploit the hellish power potential of a factory supercar like the ZR1. And when it does, it paints it jet black.
A Serious Power Trip
Until the launch of the new C7 Z06, the C6 ZR1 was the single-most powerful Corvette ever created. Generating 638 horsepower and 604 lb-ft of torque, the ZR1 was a blank canvas, and that may even be an understatement. For racing teams, it was like painting on unicorn hide.
Vengeance Racing clearly saw the potential to create a monster using the ZR1’s supercharged LS9 power plant, which enjoys the legendary reliability and love of mods that has made the Chevy small block perhaps the best-known performance engine in the world.
The land beast that is the Vengeance ZR1 has 805 rear-wheel horsepower. Assuming 12 percent line-loss, which is attainable with modern transmissions, that means it’s producing more than 900 horses at the crank, half again as many ponies as the stock car. Plus, this ‘Vette still enjoys the race-derived suspension the ZR1 comes with, including trick magnetorheological shocks.
More Than the Sum of Its Parts
Getting this kind of power out of nearly any other car would take a parts list that would fill this page, but the awesome power potential of the LS9 allowed the Vengeance team to pull it off with a relatively small set of well-selected parts:
- A set of ported heads
- A camshaft kit
- Upgraded intercooler bricks
- A pulley kit
- Some upgraded intake plumbing
- Burly 1000cc injectors
- A header-back exhaust
The cam, intercoolers and supercharger inlet are Vengeance’s own work. They didn’t even have to swap out the factory blower.
How quick is it? We’re guessing the Vengeance car should be capable of a low-10- or even a high-9-second quarter-mile … assuming it can get all that power down. Without the right rubber and a handy driver, it’s probably only as fast as a stock ZR1. So, it will be terrifyingly fast.
Chevy hasn’t recently produced a Corvette that anyone in their right mind could call slow, but this thing should be capable of running circles around a factory Stingray. That’s impressive.
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