Corvette Fever Magazine just got the chance to get up close and personal with the brand new ZR1 Corvette last week. Corvette Fever's editor Alan Colvin got the call late last week from GM to quickly come to GM's hallowed Milford Proving Grounds with a few other select journalists to test drive the ZR1 on their own terms. Many of the ZR1 gurus were there including Harlan Charles (Corvette Product Manager) and Kirk Bennion (Chief Body Design Engineer).
The primary purpose for the trip was to get some real seat time in the new ZR1. While I was at this event I took just a moment to reflect how great of a job I really have. Here I was..on the Milford Proving Grounds at the invitation of GM to drive the most powerful (and most expensive) car they have ever produced..a Corvette no less. WOW! And all for the purpose to drive the car on a test track. After we had been given the warning to not mess with the traction control, we were allowed to take two laps at a time on the track they had laid out for us. The two lap rule was no doubt instituted to keep journalists with better than normal driving skills getting cocky with the world's most forgiving supercar. Here is the bottom line: I could talk all day and give you very eloquent and descriptive prose on this incredible experience but I have decided not to go that route. Here are the facts: This Corvette can be driven easily to the edge of adhesion, left on that edge for as long as your courage lasts and then brought back within more sane limits instantaneously on-command. I would probably have to drive this car for a year or more to approach the driving skill level needed to drive this car correctly in a race track environment but that is not the ZR1's fault. Of the 2000 lucky people who will get to own this car each year, probably 1, 999 will never have the opportunity to really see what the car was designed to do. And for GM to warranty the powertrain 5years/100K miles is flat-out unbelievable in today’s' economy. Stay tuned for more about this incredible CF experience.