chevy corvette zr1

2019 Chevy Corvette ZR1 from Hennessey makes 1,200 horsepower

The 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is the ultimate Corvette, and now that Chevy is going the mid-engine route, it will forever be the best traditional front-engine Vette you can buy. If you thought 755 horsepower and 715 pound-feet of torque would be enough to keep Hennessey from wanting more, you’re sadly mistaken.

These guys tend to be on the extreme side of power, and they’ve managed to extract 1,200(!) horsepower and 1,066 pound-feet of torque out of the Vette’s 6.2-liter supercharged V8. This one is called the HPE1200, and it’s one of three versions of the ZR1 you can upgrade to. The other two are called the HPE850 and HPE1000, with 850 and 1,000 horsepower respectively.

If you decide to go with the 1,200-horsepower monster Corvette, you should know that it requires race fuel to get all 1,200 ponies. You’ll still get 1,100 horsepower running on 93 octane, though. Hennessey does a whole lot of modifications to get the ZR1 up to this power output. They use a ported factory supercharger, lower and upper pulley upgrades, a custom camshaft, ported cylinder heads, upgraded intake and exhaust valves, better valve springs and retainers and a billet high-flow throttle body. All the exhaust gases get pushed out through stainless steel headers and high-flow catalytic converters. Hennessey upgrades the optional automatic transmission to handle the power, but says the stock manual seven-speed doesn’t require any changes. There are no suspension or braking changes, but it’s not as though the ZR1 is lacking in these areas. Lastly, your stupid fast ZR1 gets a 3-year 36,000-mile warranty direct from Hennessey.

Hennessey doesn’t quote acceleration numbers for the 1,200-horsepower car, but the HPE1000 is rated for 0-60 mph in 2.3 seconds with the optional drag radials. It does the quarter mile in 9.4 seconds at 147 mph with those same tires. Top speed is a ridiculous 230 mph. The 1,000-horsepower ZR1 has almost all the same upgrades as the HPE1200, but drops the ported supercharger, high flow throttle body and race fuel capability. The HPE850 is mostly just bolt-ons, with no internal engine modifications to speak of.

Pricing and timing is available upon request from Hennessey.

First Ford GT and Corvette ZR1 built heading to the same auction

You probably won’t need to worry about depreciation with these ones. Barrett-Jackson will be auctioning the very first current-generation Ford GT and new Corvette ZR1 to roll off their respective assembly lines. The gavel will fall Jan. 20 with proceeds for both going to charity.

The Ford GT is especially worth a look, since not only is it the first example, it will be easier to get via auction than hoping to get an application approved from Ford. It’s a great color, too, as Liquid Blue (sans stripes) was the hue it wore for the reveal and in promotional material. It was also exclusive to it and several show-car versions of other Fords. Odds are this GT will go for more than a new one from Ford, though, since all of the proceeds will go to charity. Specifically, the Autism Society of North Carolina. Obviously, whoever buys it should be able to use the car as a tax write-off.

The same high-cost, double-edged sword will apply to the ZR1 as well, though in this case the proceeds will go the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation that supports seriously injured emergency first responders. Unlike the GT, though, the buyer of the ZR1 will have the opportunity to spec out the first example however he or she likes, since the car isn’t out quite yet. It will be available as either a coupe or convertible, and with the seven-speed manual or eight-speed automatic. Chevy will also include an option package that adds carbon fiber interior trim, leather-wrapped instrument cowl and the performance data recorder.

The Chevrolet Corvette has always stood out as a bastion of reasonably priced performance, and the latest ‘Vette has that in spades. And while its expected starting price of around $120,000 certainly isn’t cheap, it’s an undeniable deal in the supercar world – remember, this thing’ll do 210 miles per hour thanks to its 755-horsepower supercharged V8 engine. And did you get a load of that massive rear wing?

Team Corvette’s longtime foe, the Porsche 911, is similarly hellbent on ultimate performance. And as a reminder of how long the Corvette/911 rivalry has been melting tires we present the 1990 Porsche 911 as reimagined by Singer you see below. It’s beautiful, it’s green, and it’s packing 500 air-cooled horsepower.

You don’t have to burn gasoline to go fast, as proven by the second-generation Tesla Roadster, which was revealed as a surprise late last week. Elon Musk says it’ll be the quickest car in the world with a 0-60 time of just 1.9 seconds. And while you may not think of a semi truck when you think speed, the Tesla Semi can do 0-60 in 5 seconds flat unloaded, or in 20 seconds with a load of 80,000 pounds. Compared to today’s crop of diesel semis, that’s amazing.

Continuing the truck theme, we present an artists rendering of what the next-generation Ram 1500 pickup may look like. Spoiler alert: Ram’s mini-semi look is giving way to something much more modern. There may even be a first-of-its-kind split tailgate at the rear. And if you don’t think the Ram 1500 has anything to do with performance, we should remind you that it’s one of the cheapest ways to get a tire-shredding Hemi V8 engine in America.

All posts in “chevy corvette zr1”

2019 Chevy Corvette ZR1 from Hennessey makes 1,200 horsepower

First Ford GT and Corvette ZR1 built heading to the same auction

Sunday Drive: Performance comes in many shapes and sizes