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The go-fast United States market is whooping up the launch of the Chevrolet ZR1, saying it's about time General Motors cashed in on the celebrated history of Corvette and came up with something to challenge offerings from Germany and Italy.
Talk about the soaring price of fuel is taking a back seat in supercar circles - the ZR1's price of US$103,300 ($135,396) and top speed of 330km/h has Americans heaping praise on GM's bold move to build the car.
The carmaker is claiming sprint times for the ZR1 of 3.4 seconds from zero to 100km/h and seven seconds from zero to 162km/h. As well, the ZR1 reached the quarter-mile (400m) in 11.3 seconds at 212km/h (131mph).
It is the fastest street-legal Corvette GM has ever built, its supercharged LS9 6.2-litre V8 engine putting out 476kW (638bhp) and 819Nm of torque and ranking it among the global supercars for outright oomph.
But, says Chevrolet's North American vice-president Ed Peper, none of the rival supercars equals the ZR1's performance-per-dollar ratio.
"The ZR1 is an incredible machine by any measure," says Peper. "There's simply no other vehicle in the world that does a better job of balancing performance, price and fuel economy."
GM claims the ZR1's fuel economy of 20 litres/100km in the city and 14 litres/100km on the open road beats competitors such as the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Murcielago and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
The ZR1 is a development of the Z06 Corvette, the premium model in the generation C6 line-up.
But it was never part of the original C6 plan. The story goes that GM chief Rick Wagoner was so impressed with development of the US$60,000 Z06 that he wondered aloud what a US$100,000 model would look like.
Chief Corvette engineer Tadge Juechter put in place plans to find out. He and his development team dubbed the unofficial project Blue Devil, a reference to Wagoner's Duke University days, where its sports teams are known as the Blue Devils.
Juechter initially used a turbocharged LS3 generation 6.2-litre V8 for the project, on the basis that the cylinder walls in the LS7 engine were too thin to cope with boost.
But he switched to supercharging when Eaton unveiled its latest four-lobe Roots-type blower. The company says the new unit boasts thermal efficiency by about 16 per cent over three-lobe blowers to provide near-turbo efficiency with no lag.
To offset the extra weight of the supercharger, Juechter and his team lightened up the front of the car by using carbon fibre in many of the body parts, including mudguards, bonnet, roof panels, front fascia splitter and rocker mouldings.
The result was a car weighing around 90kg more than the Z06 with a front/rear weight split of 52:48.
Chassis developments included adjustable suspension, bigger tyres and the use of Brembo calipers and carbon-ceramic rotors designed for Ferrari's Enzo and FXX.
Component specialist Delphi re-engineered its magneto-rheological shocks to withstand the temperatures of track testing and to allow, says GM, the ZR1 to ride like an entry-level and outhandle the Z51 and Z06.
Now Americans are waiting to hear if the ZR1 can burn off supercar rivals around the ultimate test circuit - Germany's Nurburgring.
