Chevy creates its most powerful V8

Chevrolet has turned the Corvette ZR1 into the most powerful V8 produced in America by a carmaker by adding “mind-bending specs” and a new design in order to challenge the world’s best supercars in coupe and convertible variants. 

The King of the Hill returns with a 5.5L, twin-turbocharged DOHC flat-plane crank V8 engine dubbed the LT7.

The LT7 engine produces 1,064hp at 7,000rpm and 1,123Nm of torque at 6,000rpm, per SAE guidelines, with those figures the most power from a factory Corvette.

Corvette ZR1 boasts a GM-estimated top speed of more than 346kph on the racetrack and will dispatch the quarter mile (402m) with a GM-estimated sub-10-second time.

A carbon fibre aero package for the car creates more than 540kg of downforce at top speed.

ZR1 also revives an iconic style of Corvette history, the split rear window.

“The team that revolutionised Corvette with a mid-engine architecture took on another challenge: take ZR1 to the next level,” says Scott Bell, Chevrolet vice-president.

“Corvette ZR1 is about pushing the envelope with raw power and cutting-edge innovation.”

The model’s V8 engine starts with the same architecture as Z06’s LT6 but adds twin turbochargers – a first for a factory Corvette.

Corvette ZR1 will enter production in 2025 and will be built at General Motors’ Bowling Green Assembly Plant in Kentucky.