Bit by the bug

[Bob Eyres]

I've had my ZR-1 for a very long time, it'll be twenty years next year. From the time when it was one of the hottest things on the street, to now, when it will have a hard time keeping up with a base engine Corvette this year.

My wife's grocery getter is a little four door 335, and all she needs is a tuner "plug and play" unit to blow the doors off my supercar from the last century.

So what, there's always someone quicker. And now a lot of cars are waaay quicker.

But, you know what? if you're into Corvettes, you've got to realize that the C4 ZR-1 is not only one of the best looking corvettes ever made, it's got the finest, strongest, most beautiful, sweetest sounding engine ever put in a Corvette.
Whenever I think i'm getting bored with this car, I take it out and run it up to 7K.........YYYyyessssSSS.. I think I'll keep it

[Hotdogand6pack]

Not only does the the c4 ZR1 still rock, it's the power curve that puts the c5 405HP z06 to shame. Let alone the 444HP ford Boss 302, 550HP gt500, 470HP charger SRT8, etc. Being able to hit peak torque and maintaining it from 3500 to 7500 is beyond amazing. When everyone else is cycling gears, the c4 ZR1 doesn't need to. it is that virtue why the C4 ZR1 and LT5 are still pertinent.

[XfireZ51]

Lance,

I think that as a perfectly streetable and reliable vehicle, our Zs are still very competitive w modern stuff out there with relatively simple modifications. It just points to the potential with power adders. But frankly I like the KISS principle.

[LancePearson]

xfire, I agree that our Z's are amazing.

I don't know what I'd do with 800 hp since I can break every single speeding law in the US with my current Z in Second gear. However, for those situations where extreme speed and power are wanted it is very hard to deny the availability of twin turbos and what they can do. I'm headed for Colorado in a few hours to Denver to attend a Friend from college and their 50th wedding anniversary party Sunday and some other things Sat but during the day Sat I am going to probably drive down to Pikes Peak and look up some of the cars that are going to race up the mountain in the 91st running of the Hill Climb race there Sunday. Sebastian Loeb is running a Peugot 218 with a twin turbo v6 <4 litre and Rhys Millen is running a Hyundai Genesis 4.0 liter twin turbo V6. Both admit to about 900 hp but most think they run closer to 1,000 hp. Flat track times for Loeb who is the nine times world rally champion....0-62 mph 1.8 seconds; 0-124 mph 7.0 seconds; 0-149 mph 10 seconds and up from there. Small cars built as race cars but this is a dangerous race for 12.4 miles up the mountain now on all paved roads with NO guard rails and big drops off the mountain. These cars can really fly as some did at the Wannagofast Chicago 1/2's June 2,3.

If I wanted more power today I'd investigate adding boost rather than bigger cid nowadays after you've done porting and relieving, exhaust and cams. Have to do something about the radiator and water pump on the z as well at those power levels.

Let me repeat: I love my 1991 Z which is lightly tuned to somewhere around 450 hp as it is all I can personally handle.

Lance