Motor Trend Pro Driver Takes 2019 ZR1 to Road Atlanta Race Track
Randy “The Rocket” Pobst broke the previous Dodge Viper ACR lap time record in the new 2019 Corvette ZR1. Sorry, Mopar fans.
A number of years ago, a 2016 Dodge Viper ACR set a production car lap record at Road Atlanta at 1:26.54. We’ll confess that’s a blisteringly fast lap, considering anything under the 1:30 mark is really hauling the mail. However, Randy Pobst, alongside Tadge Juechter, Executive Chief Engineer for Corvette, managed to beat it by 0.1 second with vigorous hot lapping, per an Instagram post from his personal account.
If you need someone to wheel a car for a quick lap time, Pobst is certainly at the top of the list. Having driven almost every sort of sports car under the sun, racking up countless wins, and with more than 30 years of experience, his resume speaks for itself.
Some may wonder why an extra 100 horsepower was needed for the extra 0.1 seconds. It’s a valid point to bring up as well. But it becomes apparent when you put the two cars side by side. Dodge’s Viper truth be told, weighs less, but it also carries considerably more downforce and aero elements than the ZR1. Oh, and the ZR1 is an automatic and you can drive it like a normal car.
Even if it is faster by just 0.1 second, there’s still one other elephant in the room. Dodge doesn’t have a player in this game anymore since they killed off the Viper. So as much as the “Mopar or no car” fans want to laud the ACR, it’s no longer being built, and the ZR1 is. Unless Ford decides to show up with their GT (which was slower than the ZR1 around Virginia International Raceway), lap records will continue to belong to the ZR1 for the foreseeable future.
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