Another Opportunity to See and Hear the C8 ZR1 In Action

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New footage of the new C8 ZR1 testing on the Nurburgring reinforces the belief that it will use a turbocharged LT6.

The newest Corvette obsession is the C8 ZR1. There was incredible hype over the new C8 Stingray a couple of years ago. Then the world began to shift focus to the hot C8 Z06. The Z06 remains in the limelight, but the E-Ray grabbed headlines recently as the quickest-accelerating Corvette ever. And now, we are all tripping over ourselves anticipating the C8 ZR1. Every sound clip and camouflaged sighting becomes big news. What engine will it use? How much power will it make? Will it set production car lap records? And of course, how rich will dealers get thanks to six-figure markups? We will get answers to all those questions in due time. But for now, we have some more images and video clips to whet our appetite some more.

A recent post in Corvette Forum titled Corvette (ZR1?) Footage from the Nurburgring Ring from Today includes a link to a Reddit video showing the ZR1 at full chat, an Instagram video showing the ZR1 heading to the track, and for good measure an image of Tadge Juechter harnessed into a Z06. Let’s get right to the good stuff.

ZR1 at Speed

The Reddit video clip is just 9 seconds long but it does let us see and hear a development ZR1 racing along the course. The rumor going around for a while was that the ZR1 would use the flat-plane crank LT6 from the Z06 but enhance it with a pair of turbos. This video clip does nothing to change our minds. It sounds like the LT6, but it is muffled a bit thanks to the turbochargers. It sounds great and is going to produce some crazy power numbers. Every clip of this thing being tested is exciting.

ZR1 Following Z06

This Instagram clip is great because we get to hear the C8 Z06 first, and then the ZR1 right behind it. This is a low-speed pass, but it helps us get a good sense of the sound signature of the ZR1 compared to the Z06. Again, the ZR1 sounds very similar to the Z06, but the forced induction sounds come through loud and clear in this clip.

Tadge and Oliver

This one is just for fun. British racing driver, and Corvette Racing star Oliver Gavin shared an image on his Instagram page of himself and Juechter strapped into the cockpit of a C8 Z06. What is not clear is where the picture was taken. They are clearly about to lap a circuit somewhere, but the track is not specified. Was Gavin looking to set some sort of lap record in the Z06? Was he there to test a new component? We may find out someday, but it is always cool to see Juechter out there on the front lines.

Images: reddit u/steinersdoor; Instagram @joelre98; Instagram @olivergavin

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