ZR-1 at Nurburgring 1992

[conesare2seconds]

Was watching an interview with John Heinricy and found a ZR-1 tidbit I hadn’t heard before: in late 1991 GM planned to debut the 1992 LT1-powered base car to the press in Europe and wrap up the intro with a sub-8 minute lap of the Nurburgring by the ZR-1.

John said GM was keen to cement the ZR-1’s bona fides as a world class performance car by throwing down the gauntlet in Europe. Unfortunately, the plan was scuttled due to the beginning of the first Gulf War.

The interview was done 01-17-2018 in for the the weekly “GRM Live” webcast by Grassroots Motorsports magazine. John talks about Corvette extensively, especially the C4 and C5 programs. GRM’s latest project car is a 2003 commemorative Z06. Click the link to watch the video on their YouTube channel (segue into 'Ring disclosure is around the 39:00 mark)
https://youtu.be/s8jhVvKH5wE

[XfireZ51]

25 years later, sub 8min. Ring time would still be impressive for 1992 car. Altho we see some sub 7min Ring times now.

[BecauseEYEgotta]

That would have been so cool!

[S.hafsmo]

Wonder if it's actually capable of a sub 8 minute laptime. That would've been quite impressive.

[RussMcB]

Our cars sure do have an interesting history. Always interesting to hear about the development and roll out. I still smile when I think about the nightly faxes between GM and Lotus. :-)

[Meanmyz]

I am enjoying the video (not all in one session). Thanks for sharing!

I remember reading about the Caprice with the Corvette motor. It was actually an L98 powered "chase vehicle".

Well before LT1 powered sedans.

[Hog]

Originally Posted by Meanmyz

I am enjoying the video (not all in one session). Thanks for sharing!

I remember reading about the Caprice with the Corvette motor. It was actually an L98 powered "chase vehicle".

Well before LT1 powered sedans.

An L98 square bodied Caprice would have been nice. I had a 1989 Caprice with the TBI LO3 305 stock 200R4 trans and 2.41 rear gears. It was a highway cruiser for sure.


The GEN 2 SBC LT1 came in 1994 for the Caprice/Roadmaster etc, but only came with iron LT1 heads rated at 260 hp @ 5000rpm/ 330lb/ft torque @2400rpm.
It used a 191º/196º duration 0.412"/0.428" lift 111ºLSA roller cam.
The same cam was used in the 4.3 liter Vee-eight in the Caprice from 1994-96 as the base engine using RPO L99. It was rated at 200hp@ 5000rpm/ 240lb/ft torque @ 2400rpm.
The aluminum headed GENB 2 SBC LT1's from 93-95 were 275hp @5200rpm/325 lb/ft torque with single cats while the 96-97 F-body with dual cats was 285hp of 305hp with the SS or WS6/Ram Air packages.


92-96 LT1 Vette was always 300hp/330lb/ft @4000rpm even though they had different cams over the years.
1996 LT4 manual trans cars in "base", Collector and Grand Sport were 330hp @ 5800rpm/340lb/ft @ 4500rpm.