ZtwentyATE

I forgot to mention. I saw a red ZR1 at a track during 1996 or so. He only had bolt-ons and nitrous and was hitting high 10s. That was insane then.

UP2 180

Somebody posted this kill over on another forum so I jumped over to have a read ...Its nice to know you guys can talk about a friendly speed run without being banned from your forum..
Anyway what speed did you guys run to ? The Zr1 was never ment to be a quater mile car, but more of an open road brawler It also has a 7,000rpm rev limit, which gives it a bit of advantage in that it can pull each gear just a bit longer...stock to stock there is no way a stock c5 or camaro will pull a Zr1 from a roll ..say 40mph now from a standing start you may have an edge but after the quarter mile mark passes a Zr1 will walk on by ...
Just my 2cents ...I do own a 91 zr1 and by no means am I trying to start anything cause I like all the cars mentioned ...Just thought I,d give my 12 year old, over weight corvette its due ...Keep up the Kill Stories ..GRreat Forum you guys have !!!

Red Shift

Nothing here but respect for the mighty ZR1!!

King02SS

Nice kill. The ZR1 is the stuff I wish there were more of them on the road. I never seem to see them except at car shows and in pictures.

99C5JA

Well as I said before, I raced my buddies ZR1 from about 20MPH to about 160MPH. Again, my 99 C5 only had a blackwing and an x-pipe for power adders. The ZR1 had a Corsa catback. The ZR1 put about 2 car lengths on me until about the top of 2nd. By 3rd we were even. 4th gear I pulled slightly ahead and continued to pull in 5th. Now technically neither of these cars were stock, but they're about as close to stock as you'll find. The ZR1 is a great car, no doubt about it. It is both rarer and more exotic than my C5. But it can be pulled on by a (nearly) stock LS1 car over 100MPH.

SloppyRob

Well I'll add some more comments since this thread is busy. I have never posted any kills or racing stories on a board for the simple fact that I do not street race. My racing is usually kept to the track but the other night was an exception. I am not a liar nor do I post bullshit threads. The zr1 I raced is a bone stock 1990 zr1 with 20,000 miles on it. My z28 is not stock but without nitrous (did NOT use it during the race) it's not too heavily modified. A short list of the mods would be...slp lid, holley filter, flp longtube's with cats, tb bypass, lca's borla exhaust w/ cutout open (during races).
We raced several times becuase we wanted to compensate for the lack of traction his tires had (probably dry rotted). From a 40mph roll i had him by about a car length. From a stop I pulled away pretty good.
I respect the lotus designed lt5 motor and would buy the car if I had the cash...(friends dad might let it go for the right price!) but this particular zr1 went down by my 2002 z28 w/ some mods. Oh and we ran to about 120-130 mph.

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

SloppyRob,
I don't think anybody should doubt your story since it adds up just fine IMO. I agree with you and I've had both cars. Although I never got to take my ZR1 to the track in the 5 years I owned it, I feel comfortable that my 2000SS (stock for stock) would have hung in there. When I sold the ZR1 it had B&B TriFlo, DRM tuning, and 4.10 rear, so nothing more than minor mods.
As great as I think the LT5 was for its time, the LS1 certainly stacks up very well based on my experience. People must remember that the LT5 technology dates back at least 20 years and it could hold its own against anything in the world at that time. Times, however, change. This is a major reason that I get a chuckle whenever I read the rags talking about how superior OHC technology is. Nothing more than a different approach IMO.
Now if GM had the sack to build a modern day ZR1-type Corvette that had the performance gap that the ZR1 had over the standard L98 in 1990 (50% more hp) things would get interesting

Vendetta

If GM built a newer-age LT5, it would be insane. Imagine what that kind of tech would do nowadays? Gm was just breaking out of it's 80s slump with the L98, and the LT5 put out 375 horse. Imagine now? It'd be like, around 550 in a 3100 lb car. It'd shut up the ricers real good, even better than the Z06.

Hybrid Slow

Good kill. The ZR1 is an awesome car.

Red Shift

Check this out camaro. It's not quite a lt5 but the ci's vs the hp output is pretty impressive. GM 3 ohv Check out their other powertrain concepts too.

FLYNLO

I think GM learned its lesson with the ZR1....they did not sell well at that price point. It goes against their business philosophy to get into limited production cars....they have no interest in going that route. This is also where I think the Ford GT(40) will fail. When that car was first released in the press it was coming in at under 100k. The price on that thing right now is over 140k.......for a FORD!!!!!!!!!....a 500hp one at that. I am not slamming the car but I think it will not live up to all the hype at that price. Anyway, I am rambling. I will wait for the new ZO6 that should come in under 3000lbs(they are working on more weight reduction) and close to 500hp at under 60k. To me, that is the winner.

Red Shift

It did give them a little heartburn. I think they have to do better than a 100hp jump for a 26k$ (I think) option package.

Greybeard

This thread was posted over on the Corvette Forum. A lot of ZR1 owners are chuckling at some of the statements made.

I'm glad the original poster doesn't street race a lot because the next ZR1 he meets may have the power key turned on, and he'll get spanked.

Seriously, I can't tell from the mods listed on the Camaro whether he would win in a heads up drag race, but the end of the quarter mi. is where the ZR1 just STARTS to come on. Over 150 all you're going to see are tailights.

Greybeard 91' ZR1 white/black, stock motor, 4.10's headers, 3' exhaust, X pipe, BFG Drag Radials. 12.06@117mph. 1.74 60ft.

"pushrods?.....we don't need no stinkin' pushrods!"

Fulton 1

iTrader: (9)

Not disputing that GM won't go that route - I agree that it would be surprising if they did. The key point that is being missed IMHO (and I've mentioned this before) is that they were trying to make money on the ZR-1. That was a mistake. I think Chrysler did it right with the Viper - they do not (to my knowledge) make money on the Viper (probably lose money), however, it provides them with a halo car that ends up associated with the Dodge brand. Combine that with the Ram, Hemi, and V8 Dakota and it has earned Dodge a reputation for power and toughness that they lacked 10 years ago.

So, what you do is stop looking at each vehicle individually, instead you look at the entire line of cars and trucks. Let's say GM builds a 2005 ZR1-type Vette with a 575hp 427 ("C5R inspired"). A real bad *** that will run right with the best Lambos and Ferraris in all aspects. Then they sell it at a slight loss - say $70k. That undercuts the Viper by $10k and the GT by $50k or more. Performance is on par or better in all categories. I guarantee that this will result directly in sales of "standard" Corvettes. How do you put a value on a halo project? Its like goodwill - very hard to quantify. Then GM makes up for the loss on the new ZR-1 by potential increase in sales for the standard Vettes and the killing they are making with SUV's and trucks. Also at the same time they make some changes to their fleet (e.g. V8 RWD Monte Carlo, AWD turbo 4-banger to compete with imports like WRX, Evo, etc, put a version of that 427 in a revamped Silverado SS to compete with new Lightning, etc, etc). Yes, it would be a change in accounting practice I imagine, but then again with all the bean counters at GM they should have a hey day. Don't underestimate the morale that it would bring to GMPT and the designers on something special like this either.

Oh well, those are just my ramblings that really shouldn't even be in this thread...

Vendetta

Fulton, very interesting. I never really thought of it too much that way.

93Polo

iTrader: (5)

Many have turned 400 rwhp with headers $1g, B&B dual 3" $1g, Port & Polish plenum and injector housing $1,600. The and a K&N and open airlid. So for possibly $4g and easily $5g gets 400 rwhp with untouched heads and cams.

Also 90-92 ZR1s can be found for $18 to 23g with reasonable miles and the LT5 is arguably the most reliable V8 Chevrolet has ever released. The total cost to 400 rwhp maybe more than a cam only F-body but will have nearly stock drivability.

The ZR1 is not a 1/4 mile car where they really shine is the hwy runs. Many of my LT4 friends with strong cars have run even with LT5s both having very mild mods until the LT4 hits 4th and the LT5 is still running out 3rd. My dream is a 402 or 415 run these car are just 500-575 rwhp pump gas monsters. But cost about 20-30g to build depending on how crazy you want it not cheap, but a 550 rwhp 415 can have great street manors.

Sorry for the rambling reply I am by no meens saying you did not win the race and don't want to start the great debate on if the ZR1 is the king or not. Many people have not seen these cars outside the hands of a stereotypical old man vette owner who never runs them hard.

MarkP

Incorrect. LT5 engines had 11.0:1 compression:

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/specs/zr1/lt5specs.html

ZtwentyATE

yeah, the compression thing was corrected earlier in the post.

30th TA 0219

Scoggin Dickey had some crate LT5s for $14,800 a few months back! They are awesome, cars and motors, but really right on par with thexotic that it truly is. $$$ to work on, 9 quarts of synthectic every oil change (12q total capacity) unobtanium replacement parts, $1200 starter replacement cost (installed, due to it being under the leak prone intake manifold) and of course the squeaks and rattles of the horrible outdated C4 chassis.
Now don't take this as an insult. I'd have one in an instant. Kept my friend's 92 in the grage for a while, and it looked real nice next to the 30th I'm just saying it's very close to a true exotic, and all the $$ and quirks that come along with owning an exotic.

2001TA

your right about the old man stereotype. My buddy works at a chevy dealer and he said that 1/2 of the lt5's that come in for drivability problems have a major carbon buildup!