On Friday, February 26, 2010, Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch set out to reach the 200 MPH mark. It was a cool, overcast morning with about a 10-15 MPH winds.

After Spring Mountain personnel loaded one of it's 2010 Corvette ZR1s on the flatbed truck, it was off to the dry lake bed. John Morris, Spring Mountain's co-owner and our helicopter pilot, set off to recon the area by air. What he found was a dry lake bed that wasn't completely dry. One side of the lake bed had standing water and a good portion was slightly wet. This forced the driver to start at the wet end of the bed and and finish on the driest section. Unfortunately, that meant driving directly into the wind and resulted in a path of less than 3 miles to complete the run.



After several low speed (150 mph) runs our driver, Dave Petrie (General Manager), navigator/lookout Mike Weeks (Sales Manager) and our range officer Victor Resendiz (Head Instructor) gave the green light.

Our team made 3 attempts but just didn't have enough space to make the magic 200 MPH. After reviewing the video and audio feedback, I estimate our speed at about 190 MPH (camera angle in the video wasn't straight at the speedometer, so estimates are adjusted matching speed callouts to camera information).

Only 190 MPH!? We aren't satisfied. We will learn from this event and are confident that we'll hit 200 MPH or higher on our next attempt. Stay tuned!



Special thanks to our Ground Crewman, Ricardo Apolinar, for preparing, transporting and cleaning our ZR1.



We shot much of the video from a helicopter so it's a bit shaky in spots. Hope you enjoy!

VIDEO: ZR1 High Speed Run



Spring Mountain's Ron Fellows ZR1 School is the only school where any driver (not just those lucky ZR1 owners) can learn to drive this amazing machine. To schedule your school, call 800-391-6891 and ask for Donna or Melinda.

 

WOW! Pretty Awesome. Thanks for Posting it up. Do you think it would have hit 200MPH if the test was on Asphalt? I'll bet there is a lot of Slippage / Resistance on that Surface. Pretty Cool though!

 

To do 200 on the asphalt, the surface would have to be pretty smooth. The car appears to have plenty of power.

On the lake bed the driver said the car felt like it was "floating" a bit around 165. It got better as the speed increased. I think that's due to the bed being dryer.

Given enough space, I think we can easily get over 200

 

very nice, indeed, how did it feel inside ?

 

video. And best of luck hitting that 200 mph mark.

 

Driver said it was very smooth

We are going to wait until we can get about 2 weeks of dry weather before we try again.

 

Very nice, What dry lake bed was that at?

 

Just outside Pahrump I'm not sure of it's name.

 

It kinda looked like the Black Rock desert we have north of Reno. Home of the burning man...
Bill

 

Bill,

Your pics look better than mine

Ken

 

Thanks, I was in your area last weekend when I went to Vegas for the race, I keep saying everytime I drive by the Pahrump exit off 95 that I need to turn there, One of these days I will make it.
I took my Vette on the Black Rock and got it up to almost 160. There is a lot of room on the Black Rock, It is so long you can see the curve of the earth...

 

Great try best of luck next time

 

awesome video bro and love that color too

 

god that music was annoying.

Beautiful car though

 

Very cool! Thanks for the video.

Good luck next time!

 

With all that drag on the damp sand I would say you will easily break the mark next time.
Good luck.

 

I see 200 mph in your future.

 

Why not try Speed Week at Bonneville Salt Flats? Last year the long track was 7 miles.

 

Some GPS's will save MAX speed. No need to look at speedo or video it.

Don't know if it'll work on a C6 but the Window Valet for C5's stores max speed between key-on/key-off intervals.

I enjoyed the video.

..rickko..

 

Enjoyed the video, thanks. That must have played hell on the paint I would think.