I don’t know what I was expecting to hear — I was pretty bleary from a monster EV road trip. But when the Chevrolet engineer said “1,064 horsepower,” the words “holy shit” escaped my mouth. I really try not to give that kind of feedback, but the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 warrants it.
A four-figure horsepower number isn’t the exclusive province of sketchy tuner cars anymore; there are a handful of warrantied engines and electric motor arrays making over a thousand horsepower, but mostly they do it in cars that weigh as much as a full-size pickup or more. The new ZR1 weighs 3670 pounds in coupe form and 3758 pounds in convertible form, which is within around 100 pounds of a Porsche 911 Turbo S. This mega-powerful powerplant is going to live in a relatively lightweight car, built by some of the best chassis engineers on the planet.
The ZR1’s power figure is the headline, but things get wilder as you dig through the rest of the specs. The twin-turbocharged 5.5-liter LT7 V8 engine will also deliver 828 pound-feet of torque, and it’s mated to a strengthened 8-speed dual-clutch automatic sending power to the rear wheels. That means it has 394 hp and 368 lb-ft more than the naturally aspirated Z06, and 409 hp and 233 lb-ft more than the E-Ray hybrid. It should run the quarter-mile in under 10 seconds on its way to a 215-mph top speed. Downforce at that top speed is at 1200 pounds.
Buyers who opt for the track-intended ZTK package will get the big woven carbon-fiber wing you see on the yellow car above, plus carbon dive planes, Gurney lip and underbody strakes. Magnetic Ride springs are stiffer with the ZTK package, and instead of the standard Pilot Sport 4S tires you get Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R rubber, pictured below with a watch for scale because they’re quite huge, measuring 275/30ZR20 up front and 345/25ZR21 at the rear. You can get the aero pieces on the standard ZR1, but don’t.
The carbon-ceramic brakes have 15.7-inch rotors with six-piston calipers at the front and 15.4-inch discs with four-piston calipers at the rear. Chevy says the ZR1 will go from 80 mph to 200 mph and back to 80 in 24.5 seconds, 22 percent quicker than the C7 ZR1. Wheels are available in aluminum, which can be painted in Edge Blue to match the engine cover, or carbon fiber, which is to match all the carbon fiber. To keep things cool, there are massive carbon intakes on the hood and rear fenders, and on the coupe on the the rear hatch. The coupe also gets a cool split-window engine cover, a design feature last seen on the C2.
As Tadge Juechter said while I walked around the ZR1 cutaway, we’re getting a look now because to do further testing, the camo had to come off. Expect to hear more unfathomable numbers from the ZR1 camp in the coming months, as the C8 ZR1 approaches its on-sale date sometime in 2025. Before you ask, no, we don’t know how much it’ll cost yet.
For now, here are my photos. PURPLE convertible!
