C6 Corvette ZR1 With 950 HP, Automatic Swap Slays the Competition

This C6 Corvette ZR1 still has its stock bottom end and creature comforts, but also far more power than before.

The C6 Corvette ZR1, or the “Blue Devil” as it’s otherwise known, is already a formidable machine in stock form. Its supercharged LS9 powerplant cranks out a healthy 638 horsepower and 604 pound-feet of torque, incredible numbers for its time and still impressive even by today’s lofty standards. But as most are well aware, it’s not terribly difficult to coax more power from the C6 Corvette ZR1 and make it even quicker. And that’s precisely what Nick Marks has done to his car, as he explains in this video from That Racing Channel.

Marks is actually still running the stock bottom end in his Z, though he’s added a few go-fast goodies to the mix including a Kong 2650 supercharger, 5-inch intake, billet tensioner, a custom ground cam, headers, ported and polished heads, and a 103mm throttle body. On the dyno, that combination translated to around 950 horsepower on 24 pounds of boost, at which point Marks called it good and decided to see how that translated to track performance.

To help in that department, Marks also decided to ditch the original manual gearbox in favor of an RPM Level 5 gearbox that’s been fitted with a U.S. Shift controller, trans brake, and a Circle D 4,200 rpm stall converter. Marks notes that while his C6 was obviously built for track performance, it’s also quite tame on the street, which is never a bad thing because who doesn’t want to drive their race car to the grocery store every now and then?

On a test drive, it’s clear that this ZR1 is a total handful on the street when you give it the beans, which isn’t a surprise since the stock version of this car enjoys the same sort of reputation. As Marks says, he just likes to put it in third and “let it eat,” which is all the more pleasant when the stock heated seats are still operational, along with all of the car’s factory creature comforts. The fact that it’s insanely fast, well, that’s just an added bonus.

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