Speed Demons

February 14, 2025Newsletter Archives

The 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is one special driving machine. At a test track in Germany a few months back, General Motors President Mark Reuss drove the ZR1 233 mph, the fastest speed achieved by any current production car priced under $1 million. Cranking out 1,064 horsepower, the ZR1 when equipped with a performance package can go 0 to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds. 

Those were impressive feats. But we’ve topped them.  

As detailed in a series of stories on GM News, a team of ZR1 engineers set out to break production car lap records at four legendary racetracks around the country. In every case, the cars were driven not by professional drivers but instead by GM engineers who like to moonlight at the track. And every one of them pulled it off.  

Aaron Link set lap records at both the Full Course and the Grand Course at Virginia International Raceway. Brian Wallace notched a new production car lap record at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Bill Wise is now the record holder at Watkins Glen, the legendary track in upstate New York. Chris Barber now owns the lap record at Road Atlanta. All four are GMers, and all four drove the mighty ZR1. 

Each of the engineers had thoughtful things to say about their experiences; one thing that stood out from the interviews is that they all simply love driving the ZR1 – which they find to be approachable despite its world-beating performance. This car, in short, is a hoot to drive. 

“Think about someone who takes their ZR1 to a track day,” Wallace said in his interview. “They’re looking at lap times. If we know we can get this lap time out of this car, we’re providing that benefit to the customer. They can hang their hat on it - ‘I own this car, and it kicks your car’s ass.’”

– Eric J. Savitz, editor-in-chief, GM News