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Payne: Flat out on Circuit of the Americas in the 1,064-horsepower Corvette ZR1
Posted by Talbot Payne on May 31, 2025
Circuit of the Americas, Texas — RAAAAAWWWWWWRGH! At 155 mph, the glorious sound of my 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1’s V-8 echoed off Circuit of the Americas’ pit straight grandstands before climbing 13 stories into the Formula One race track’s iconic Turn 1. At the 150-foot marker, I buried the left pedal, and massive brakes slowed my rocket ship to a crawl for the 90-degree hairpin — the automatic gearbox downshifting rapidly from 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd – WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!
At the turn’s 133-foot summit, the King of Corvettes seemed to pause, as if surveying its domain, before plunging down to Turn 2.
This is rare air.
With an astounding 1,064 horsepower, ZR1 is the most powerful ‘Vette ever and the latest member of an elite club of quadruple-digit-horsepower supercars. Down the slope through Turn 2, the ‘Vette’s acceleration was ballistic. With the V-8 howling behind my ears, I stormed towards the technical Turn 3-4-5-6 esses complex like a four-wheeled tsunami. Powerplant engineer Dustin Gardner says it “feels like you’re strapped to an aircraft carrier. You’re getting fired off in a jet plane.” I’ve never been launched off a carrier, but ZR1 feels like it must be close.
Credit the addition of the largest pair of turbochargers on the planet to the screaming, 5.5-liter, flat-plane crank engine out of the Corvette Z06/C8.R GT3 race car. But this is no stoplight drag queen.
At $174,995, King ZR1 goes toe-to-toe on the world’s greatest tracks (like COTA) with $1 million-plus cyborgs like the 1,063-horsepower, $2.7-million Mercedes-AMG One and 1,160-horse, $3.5 million Aston Martin Valkyrie.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
The ‘Vette’s secret sauce? The same mid-engine chassis that undergirds the standard, $70,195, Corvette C8 — the first ‘Vette in eight generations to move the engine from front to rear. Then Corvette engineers weaponized it.
This thing has more artillery hanging off it than an F-15 fighter jet.
Sticky 10.8-inch wide front/13.6-inch rear Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires (Pilot Sport 4S standard). 15.6-inch carbon-ceramic brakes (the largest in Corvette history). Towering rear wing, dive planes and a wing-shaped front splitter for sucking the beast to the ground. Then there’s the LT7 engine — turbos wrapped around its sides like a pair of pythons.
The result is the ‘Vette changes direction through COTA’s esses like Cade Cunningham doing a dribble cut down the lane for a slam dunk. This dexterity of power and nimbleness enables inane performance (not unlike 6’6” guard Cunningham).
The ZR1, driven by its own engineers, has clobbered production-car lap records from coast to coast.
Road America, Wisconsin: 2.08.6 minutes. That’s seven seconds quicker than the Sports 2000 SCCA race class I compete in with 1,350-pound, bespoke race cars that weigh nearly a third less than the 3,950-pound ‘Vette (but ZR1 has seven times the horsepower).
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Watkins Glen, New York: 1:52.7 minutes
Virginia International Raceway: 1:47.7
Road Atlanta, Georgia: 1:22.8. To put that in perspective, Lead Development Engineer Chris Barber’s lap time was just shy of the fastest race lap of 1.22.1 recorded last October at the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Series Petit Le Mans race by the 2,700-pound Corvette C8.R race car on racing slicks driven by pro factory drivers Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia. I’m not making this up.
Want more numbers?
I hit 176 mph on the back straight at Circuit of the Americas. That is 40 mph faster than both my Lola S2000 racer and the standard, 495-horse ‘Vette Stingray.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
It’s 20 mph faster than the Corvette Z06 equipped with similar tires and 670-horsepower V-8 engine revving to 8,600 RPM.
At Road America, the ZR1 hit 188 mph on the front straight, faster than an IndyCar’s 185 mph. Lucky the ZR1 pace car pulled off after its pace laps at this year’s Indy 500 — or it might have won the race.
Yet, thanks to its 1,200 pounds of downforce, magnetic ride shocks, electronic limited slip differential (eLSD for short) and other performance toys, the ZR1’s ballistic power was surprisingly easy to drive fast around this high-speed F1 circuit. It’s predictable and well balanced, with linear acceleration courtesy of no discernible turbo lag.
Just respect the 828 pound-feet of torque.
Unlike my, ahem, Lola’s normally-aspirated 2.0-liter engine, the beast behind your ear in the ZR1 must be let loose progressively, not all at once (or be prepared for lurid slides).
Take it to a track day, and ZR1 won’t wear you out. Neither will it wear out — a key competitive advantage of Corvette’s development by one of the world’s best manufacturers.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
This is a point of pride to Porsche GT2 and GT3 owners as well. Those cars run like trains, which is why you find so many at race clubs. Porsche (and Corvette) put their cars through extensive, grueling 24-hour, high-speed durability tests. There’s nothing worse than buying your expensive, exotic dream car and taking it to the shop all the time.
After finishing a track day on America’s premier F1 circuit (or M1 Concourse in Pontiac), King Corvette is comfortable commuting home with the rest of the peasants.
The interior houses the same luxurious stitched leather and digital screens that you’ll find in the base Stingray. It’s a personal favorite (only to get better with a 2026 update) with its square steering wheel for better viewing of the instrument display, thoughtful ergonomics, and camera mirror to see out of the narrow greenhouse. Magnetic ride shocks come with a variety of drive modes for everything from track performance to comfort on the street.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
That’s a contrast to Porsche GT3 cars — my benchmark for the best handling supercars — but that come with compromises like harsh suspensions, stiff rides, uncomfortable sets. Corvette engineers call them “20-minute cars”: they’re supreme for 20 minutes on track, but drive them any longer than that on street and you’ll be black and blue.
Corvettes are big cars made for big folks. Like me. The rear hatch will swallow my big tennis bag — or your golf bag. Need more storage? There’s a frunk like a Porsche 911.
Purchase a ZR1 and you gotta track it. Allow me some suggestions: 1) Buy the coupe for better headroom (over the convertible); 2) set aside money for tires (Cup 2 Rs don’t last long channeling 1,064 horses); and 3) sign up for the Corvette Racing school in Pahrump, Nevada (free for ZR1 buyers).
Because you’ll never know the envelope of quadruple-digit horsepower until you’re at triple-digit speed on a racetrack.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Vehicle type: Mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-passenger supercar
Price: $174,995 base including $1,395 destination ($189,680 LT1 coupe and $200,180 convertible models with ZTK Package as tested)
Power plant: 5.5-liter, twin-turbo V-8
Power: 1,064 horsepower, 828 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 2.3 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 233 mph
Curb weight: 3,800 pounds (Coupe est.)
Fuel economy: EPA 12 mpg city/18 mpg highway/14 mpg combined
Report card
Highs: Ballistic acceleration; state-of-the-art interior
Lows: Will drink the Permian Basin oil field dry for a track day
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.