I am an engineer. My job is to create things that are as functional, as beautiful, as durable, as reliable, as light and as cheap as possible. So there is a very delicate balance between all these criteria and, apparently, the people from Kentucky have found it while designing and building the ZR1. My hat is down to them.
Dude your totally right man, every turn the tires are screaching riding the edge of the zr1's ability to grip. I have always read or heard that the corvette takes mad skill and is a drivers car, some cars will handle some challenges for you but the zr1 requires mad skill to drive like this guy. Big ups to this guy, stone cold beast.
Personally in my experience I think the corvette is hands down one of the best handling cars, the driver experience is truly amazing and if your a decent enough driver, have good throttle control watching the rpm’s and basically lugging the vette thru the corners, it just responds so well, point and shoot kind of feel! As for the tires screeching, most would when your pushing 100mph thru corners 🙏 as for this video, A superior handling car paired with this phenomenal drive= full bald eagles
Jim Mero really is an incredible driver. He is very relaxed behind the wheel and makes close to zero mistakes. I'm fairly certain that, with more time, he could have a lap between 7:20 and 7:25. I've seen other onboard videos showing much faster laps, but this one is more satisfying to watch.
It's amazing how truly fast this car gets up to speed. I think what's even more amazing Is how fast he brakes down from 179mph off that last straight away...Damnnnnn!!!
Awesome lap, that driver has some BALLS. I'd give mine to race a Vette on the ring. GTR is cool and all but just how do you beat the feel of throwing the shifter, hearing the roar, and seeing the barriers blur by? You can't....... Vette all the way.
GTR fanboys: go away. The GTR is a good car, so is the ZR1. They're also wildly different. If you can't see why someone might choose the ZR1 over a GTR, you're not a real enthusiast. Think about how ridiculous you sound hating on a fiberglass, RWD sportscar with a 640hp supercharged V8 and manual transmission. Get off your weird moral high horses and realize that value for money isn't only measured in performance figures.
I driven both of them and stock I like the zr1 better. the GTR doesn't have a hot and the speedometer is really jacked up they really need to update the interior plus the turbo lag sucks now it is a very fast car from 1st. again was kind of disappointed with it though because the interiors a little bit dated. honestly I would take the zr1 over the GTR.
If a modern electronically-fuel injected turbocharged vehicle has "turbo lag" its the driver, not the vehicle. You keep a turbo "spooled" so it's not starting over from scratch at an engine speed too low to produce the exhaust volume next to spool it rapidly. An you don't wind a turbocharged engine out to the limit before shifting gears. You upshift when acceleration starts to fall off because that's the volumetric efficiency limit of the engine is reached and the upshift should put the engine back in its sweet spot so the load and residual turbo speed and exhaust gas volume are sufficient to bring the turbo right back online again. Overall, since a turbo can not "lag" and is ALWAYS spinning and required exhaust gas energy to accelerate and pump larger and larger amounts of air to a higher and higher level, most "turbo lag" is the driver not being smart enough to use the turbo or thinking the turbo is the only thing that makes power and that "boost = power" automatically. It doesn't. Boost doesn't make power until its sufficient to charge the cylinders with additional air and/or fuel sufficient to produce enough extra exhaust gas energy to first drive the turbo, second overcome the RESTRICTION the turbo and coolers are on the intake airflow, overcome the EXHAUST restriction they add and THEN finally begin making a net power increase. The other situation is when a turbo is mismatched to the engine and vehicle and operating conditions and that usually means TOO BIG. A smaller turbo that spools and reacts quickly will make more USABLE power than one too large and hard to spool unless everything is just right every time.
The main thing I notice is how well-behaved is the rear end. I started out with a Porsche in 1978 and have been enjoying driving ever since and here you see a machine you can ''Drift'' around Nuremberg and still beat most other production cars costing several times the price, and have fun while you're doing it.
Impressive stability under braking in cambered corners and over crests and bumps, progressive straightline and cornering grip loss control including during sharp turn ins, excellent high-speed downforce to go flat out on the back straight, all without track wings splitters winglets etc just mechanical grip and clean body aero, also manual gearbox and rwd which maximises driver skill, probably could have gone 7.20 without errors, great car.
Yeah he's pissed , probably more pissed as it was near the end of the lap. Making a mistake on a 7 minute lap pisses you off more than on a 90 seconds track.
+Le Tigidou DUDE! Ikr. the moment when I spin out at the last carousel after my thirtieth attempt trying to perform a clean hot lap .... I just wanna throw the joystick at my screen. and scream lol
This guy used a modified seat with cutout and a soft, plush pillow below to support his massive balls. Coming into turns at 175 and revmatching to perfection down to 110 is the masterful part.
almas09 I don't expect it to be much better, they've only adopted more of the GT's version's designs and equipment. Maybe it might be about 3 or 6 seconds better at most.
The sound of the shifts in this car....they remind me of why I love cars so much! Like the one at 1:00 :drool: And the driver....hats off to Jim Mero. A full lap of the 'Ring where you basically never go below 60mph, let alone in a base-model Corvette, makes you a legend in my book
This isn’t a base model corvette. It was the fastest c6 you could buy off the floor. It’s the zr1 with a 6.2l supercharged v8 making 638hp and a top speed over 200mph. This is not your base model corvette. Lol
If you're going to correct others then make sure that YOU note that the record you are quoting is not on a street legal car, on a different variant of the track, and with different track regulations.
And I assume You are the official Track Time keeper. I guess that Corvette has to make up its own track regulations to have a record. If you want to correct someone maybe You are the one that has to do the research. Google Track records, and then go visite the Ring in person, I, contrary to other people have lived there and raced on that track.
Looking good. Admirable for the budget friendly corvette. We all know what we really want is a Huracan Performante, but this car emulates the Lamborghini driving experience pretty well, which was the whole point of the corvette to begin with. GM made it to do that. Even tge Zr1 is too pricy, but a grand sport can be built into a DIY zr1. All it needs is a procharger, the zr1 calipers and a good aftermarket sport set of shocks (from Koni or Penske) and nice set of sway bars. All that can be had for $50,000 these days on the used market for a low mileage c6 as a base.
The car is actually going slower due to the size of his balls. 99% of the time it kept on the edge. After my visit there I can only appreciate how insane this is. Unreal.
Jimmo! Mate. That means this thing would still run a dead rat flat time of 8 minutes for us mere mortals. That's still the benchmark for crapping one's pants around the Green hellish 'Ring..
took a giant leap forward for readily available production sports cars in America, and smashed the European competition on Nürburgring lap times, cost of maintenance, and show-room floor price tag. I know a lot of people who were displeased because the ZR1 had a smaller, supercharged V8 compared to the massive block in the Z06, completely disregarding the notion that the ZR1 is faster than a car that Farrari liked so much they named it after the company founder and THAT is a bold statement.
WOW! I am, generally, not a great fan of American cars. There are a couple of stand outs and this car is certainly one of those! This driver is truly of stellar capability and has driven this car to the absolute limit. Normally, on this particular track, you don't hear anywhere near as much tire screeching. Here we see the driver wringing every single ounce of performance out of the car and getting an amazing result on the clock! A WIN for American cars!
Oh, I'm sorry, I thought "Muscle cars are only good for straight lines, and when you hit a turn, you're done." I hate people who say this because do they think muscle cars have no brakes? What do you have to say now, this is a muscle car, and holds one of the fastest times on this track.
This car is the reason for believing in our American auto industry... it can happen. I never realized how many sharp humps there are on this track. He's practically catching air half the time.
If I was born into money, Id had mastered that track! Sadly I was born into being disabled and never got the chance to prove my driving skills I gained from driving the back roads of east Tn. I was racing on the "tail of the dragon" when I was 16.... In a Chevy G20 Cargo Van!
Also, note that this lap was not done on normal road tires. It was done on special Michelin soft compound tires made especially for Corvette and for usage on tracks in dry conditions, and it shaves off 10-15 seconds a lap. Find the other version of this video which has a G-meter on it, and you'll see that the car pulls 1,7G lateral in some corners, as oppose to 1,1-1,3G possible with usual high performance tires. Those tires are basically useless in any conditions other than a dry track.
As perfect as this video is, I think the one little mistake he made was probably the best part of it. At 6:30 in this video he goes into a left hand corner but realizes the car doesn’t have enough traction and was gonna run off the track but somehow due to his second nature, fast response, and insane car control he saves it with just a bit of counter steer.
The Corvette is awesome because it competes with cars that cost 2,3 or even 4 times as much as it. Most have less features, like no radio, AC, power windows. Stuff like that. The Corvette ZR1 is a monster.
I guess the fact that ZR-1 was sandbagging by at least 20mph on that long straight wasn't an issue or maybe that the Vette was only cruisin. In a heads up race in the US the GT-R left with it's tail between its legs. lol
I'd say it lost its legs on the uphill at the end of the straight. Plus at the end of some long laps when those brakes were HOT. Just my opinion. Both cars are works of art, I'mm not choosing sides.
Viper just broke the record again... The ACR lapped the ring in 7 minutes and 12 seconds!!! The ACR-X (not street legal) lapped it in 7 minutes and 4 seconds! America for the win!!!!
1:08 Jesus that's terrifying. Landing on the front wheels is a code brown moment in a rally car. In a sports car designed to stay on the ground at well over 200 km/h... Straight out of a horror movie.
My Friend - "I have driven this track about 1,000 times in video games. However, nothing prepares you for actually driving it. The elevation changes, the other cars, it's all so different." You might think you know it, but being on this track is a whole different story. I shotgun yesterday around the ring and it was one of the most scary, but amazing experiences of my life.
@tverrenkamp Thing is this guy isn't even a pro driver. He is the engineer that helped design it. He even admits, and you can clearly see, he botches several corners. That car has probably a 7:24 flat in it with a proper driver behind the wheel. I am a Ford guy, but fuckinay! Well done GM. Well done, indeed.
@geterdonein01 The frame is magnesium and aluminum and the body panels are carbon fiber. The only bits of plastic is the front nose, interior and rear clip which Clarkson points out on Top Gear
Man europe has all the best tracks even the public roads are awesome but we in america have some great tracks to and i love how the corvette is one of the fastest cars around the ring for its class and even higher
"US brands have long traditions for touring the US tracks 'benchmarking' cars with race crews and modifications for publicity stunts." Right. And carmakers from other countries would NEVER even THINK of doing THAT!
Would love to see that somewhere . Can't find anything on the GTR better then a 7:38 but did see this on the vette The 2012 Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 was tested at the Nürburgring Nordschleife by Jim Mero on June 9, 2011. It was a base specification car with optional super-slick DOT track competition tires (Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Zero Pressure) and non-stock safety equipment. It recorded a time of 7:19.63 (Video confirmed), the 5th-best time ever for a production vehicle
Looked like a perfect run to me. Only one turn where he lost grip and slid a little more than it should but it was so miniscule. Looked like he threw his hand up in frustration
I like the GT-R a lot, but this car is mindblowing. I'm not actually giving a damn about lap time, you actually never know if its done with a genuine stock car or modified one. I don't really understand why ppl complain about its stability, i think you need time to master this beast, but its absolutly a super car with the handling and the grip of a super car. Its not a hi tech toy like GTR, its more beastly but not a '69 us muscle car. And the sound...OMG THIS SOUND. Btw. I'm italian.
Yeah right. They bothered to push the dislike button because they frowned on the quality of the resolution. If they pressed it because they dislike Vette's or the people that drive them then that's their misfortune. I have no dog in that fight about car groups. I just admired the guy's skills. That we're still sitting here discussing this is beyond tiresome. Goodnight champ...you're a winner. ;-)
This guy has no fear, there is a difference in driving a race car to it's limits and doing what he is doing, this is beyond that. What he doesn't have over the best on the planet he makes up for with the size of his balls, surprised if he doesn't need a shoulder strap to carry them around.
The Viper is basically a full on race car with no stereo, climate control, etc. vs. the ZR1 with navigation, power everything, and A/C. I'd buy the Corvette any day.
