Corvette ZR1 Takes Over Bristol with Bolt-on Power
Corvette ZR1 Takes Over Bristol with Bolt-on Power
Built by Ohio’s Total Performance Racing, ZR1 beats on all comers, hitting the nines with only pulleys and header upgrades.
Drag racing season is in full swing, and not just on the national level, either. Every weekend in any city or town with a quarter- or eighth-mile strip and a few stands, there’s quite a few horsepower heroes bringing their finest machines to take home a win, whether it’s a trophy and some cash, or simply a personal best.
Of course, there’ll be at least a few Corvettes at the strip, too, like this orange C7 ZR1 YouTuber Jesse Kleiber (aka BigKleib34) happened upon during the Street Car Takeover at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tennessee.
Campaigned by Total Performance Racing of Fairfield, Ohio, their ZR1 is ready to go against its older sibling, a ’57 Bel Air. The older Chevy was too quick off the line, red-lighting while the ZR1 roars off to a victorious 9.682 seconds at 142.34 mph.
“We’ve got our lower pulley on it, made by Innovators West,” said TPR owner Rob Morse. “We helped them develop the pulley. It’s got our upper pulley that we worked with ZPD on… [the] car makes 22 pounds of boost, and it made 823 on gas, 913 on C16… stock motor never been opened up.”
ALSO SEE: 2019 Corvette ZR1 Drive Review: 755 Horsepower of American Excess
Morse says the ZR1’s newest performance tuning software arrived at their shop a week prior to their trip to Bristol. Thus, “the car was on the dyno basically every day, all night, for a week” to get the performance down on his company’s orange rocket before making its first pass on the new setup.
Later on that evening, the ZR1 took on a Mustang GT of similar vintage. This time, both hit the green light off the line, but immediately after, the Mustang just drops dead, coasting to a stop while the orange missile takes the win once more with a time of 9.679 at 141.95.
