Blown Motor and/Or Transmission at just over 1900 miles
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 951
Likes: 693
Blown Motor and/Or Transmission at just over 1900 miles
Well today was not a good day for my new 2026 ZR1. Not sure which components are out but a MAJOR failure one the first track weekend for my 2026 ZR1. Major popping sound and the motor went dead with lots of smoke that got Road Atlanta track workers running to put out a potential fire--no fire however. Talking to the track workers at Road Atlanta that had to clean the track mess up look like oil/tranny fluid and coolant all at the same time. Not a good sign!
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 951
Likes: 693
100% covered. Not worried about that at all. GM is excellent with this stuff. I also own 3 c8 Z06s that have had issues. And Road Atlanta is the factor that breaks all my C8s! I go to many other tracks but literally Road Atlanta breaks everyone of my C8s. But the C8 ZR1 is an awesome car WHEN it runs. Holly **** it performed nicely for a day at Road Atlanta--second day it took it's life!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,592
Likes: 810
From: Phoenix, AZ USA
So sorry to hear this but the good news is...with this being the first Public Drivetrain Failure, GM will be ALL OVER this and give you service like a King...please keep us posted!
Last edited by JMB; May 4, 2026 at 02:38 PM.
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 951
Likes: 693
Just arrived back to Pittsburgh PA from Road Atlanta (1 day of awesome fun and 1 day of missery)! Great relationship with my local dealer (they service my 3 C8 Z06s and the C8 ZR1) so they are going to help me get the 4k pound car brick off my trailer later today. So I don't know when they will dig into what the issue is but it sure sounded like a rod went through the block (I suppose it could have been the tranny locking as well and busting something that sounded like a pop of a gun). But who knows! The motor died on track and when the car did have power DIC stated service transmission.
FYI--I do have the tool to get the tranny into neutral but that worked for about an inch and the brakes came on and locked the car up. Truly a big brick!
FYI--I do have the tool to get the tranny into neutral but that worked for about an inch and the brakes came on and locked the car up. Truly a big brick!
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 951
Likes: 693
After unloading at the dealership (by the way GM should figure out a better way to deal with a no start car to get the car into neutral--I even have the tool to move the car but the brake kept coming on at the track and at the dealer so dragging the car with stakes was necessary) looks like catastrophic engine failure.
Initial look at the floor of my trailer at the end of a 650 mile journey from Road Atlanta to Pittsburgh indicates the blown motor with parts of the engine block on my trailer floor. Now we will see how much other damage and how quick GM can send a new ZR1 motor. Service transmission indicator was on at the display so now I am wondering how much damage was caused to the tranny and other parts.
Initial look at the floor of my trailer at the end of a 650 mile journey from Road Atlanta to Pittsburgh indicates the blown motor with parts of the engine block on my trailer floor. Now we will see how much other damage and how quick GM can send a new ZR1 motor. Service transmission indicator was on at the display so now I am wondering how much damage was caused to the tranny and other parts.
Heel & Toe
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
After unloading at the dealership (by the way GM should figure out a better way to deal with a no start car to get the car into neutral--I even have the tool to move the car but the brake kept coming on at the track and at the dealer so dragging the car with stakes was necessary) looks like catastrophic engine failure.
Initial look at the floor of my trailer at the end of a 650 mile journey from Road Atlanta to Pittsburgh indicates the blown motor with parts of the engine block on my trailer floor. Now we will see how much other damage and how quick GM can send a new ZR1 motor. Service transmission indicator was on at the display so now I am wondering how much damage was caused to the tranny and other parts.
Initial look at the floor of my trailer at the end of a 650 mile journey from Road Atlanta to Pittsburgh indicates the blown motor with parts of the engine block on my trailer floor. Now we will see how much other damage and how quick GM can send a new ZR1 motor. Service transmission indicator was on at the display so now I am wondering how much damage was caused to the tranny and other parts.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 951
Likes: 693
Road Atlanta HPDE
Day before motor failure was a first full track day after all full breakin miles including GM recommended track alignment by dealer and High Temp brake fluid put in by dealer. Car performed as expected--awesome! I believe top speed on the back straight away was around 173mph. What a track car!
Day 2 of track day--1st 30 minute track session track performed as expected--aweseome! 2nd 30 minute track session at the end of the outlap at corners 10a 10b lost some level of acceleration going upto the bridge just before the bridge before corner 11. Because I was at the pittin area to get off track I got off track and coasted down hill. At the bottom of the hill I heard a major pop and car came to a standstill smoking with all emergency works rushing over to put out potential fire due to smoke. Track workers at 10a 10b noticed smoke coming from the engine so they were ready to black flag me if I did not get off the track due to smoke from the engine area.
Lost propulsion at about 55mph low revs.
Day before motor failure was a first full track day after all full breakin miles including GM recommended track alignment by dealer and High Temp brake fluid put in by dealer. Car performed as expected--awesome! I believe top speed on the back straight away was around 173mph. What a track car!
Day 2 of track day--1st 30 minute track session track performed as expected--aweseome! 2nd 30 minute track session at the end of the outlap at corners 10a 10b lost some level of acceleration going upto the bridge just before the bridge before corner 11. Because I was at the pittin area to get off track I got off track and coasted down hill. At the bottom of the hill I heard a major pop and car came to a standstill smoking with all emergency works rushing over to put out potential fire due to smoke. Track workers at 10a 10b noticed smoke coming from the engine so they were ready to black flag me if I did not get off the track due to smoke from the engine area.
Lost propulsion at about 55mph low revs.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 951
Likes: 693
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,592
Likes: 810
From: Phoenix, AZ USA
Dang, I'm a little shocked at how "relatively" cheap the LT7 longblock is...according to the infamous GM Parts Book it's only $22,353.97 + $10K core...heck, a "NEW" old GEN IV LS7 longblock is still ~$18K today!