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I\u2019ve been very fortunate and very blessed and in many ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My dad always taught me to do the right things, behave, tow the line, be responsible, do your homework; and life would be a lot easier and more likely to go my way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I scoffed then. Much later, I\u2019ve often said I\u2019ve had a sheltered adult life. So many rewards bestowed upon me. I\u2019m finally realizing how blessed I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Corvettes have been just one aspect, albeit material, but to me Corvettes are part of my life, almost spiritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m fortunate to own two ZR1s, a C6 and a C7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I bought a new 2008 base Corvette in the depths of the \u201908 financial debacle that bankrupted GM. Amazingly a few months later the magazines covered the \u201909 ZR1. I hungrily read those previews and, a bit later, road tests, like a kid looking over the fence \u2013 admiring from afar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2016 rolls around, my business is doing better, my parents are, sadly, both gone, my kids are grown and graduated. I\u2019m watching the ads for a C6 ZR1. Prices are coming down. They\u2019re \u2018used cars\u2019 now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I find an ad for a \u201913 ZR1 in my favorite color, Crystal Red at a Chevy dealer in Washington, IL, near Peoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a really nice late January day I drive the 200 miles to see it. Maybe to test drive it. Maybe to buy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I meet the sales guy, a young man, respectful demeanor, office with Corvette memorabilia: sales schools, driving schools. He takes me to their delivery show room, clean, shiny tiling, and there it is, deep finish, great luster. Yes, there are some \u2018wide-body\u2019 stone chips on its hips. A small chip on the windshield. I\u2019m not too put-off, \u2018cause I want a driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But pretty darn nice and for something over half the original MSRP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We take it for a test ride. I ask the salesman to drive first so I can focus on the car. He drives it carefully, timidly. Nothing especially impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I drive. We\u2019ve got a red light on the dash. I\u2019m not too worried, thinking it\u2019ll help me get a lower price. Turned out to be an unplugged connector under the seat. I hadn\u2019t driven a manual trans in some years, so I\u2019m a little tentative. The car feels much wider than my \u201908 base Corvette, and the steering is weighted heavier. I dip into the throttle a little, and WOW! what a torque monster! (and said that out loud to the salesman, there went my aloof impartiality). It feels like a brute and reminds me of my first car, a 427-435 Corvette roadster, but much faster, much tighter, and far less twitchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OK, this is for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We make a deal. I think they were glad to get rid of it \u2013 this was January, 2016 and they\u2019d had it since late summer 2015, taken on trade for a repeat customer who bought a new \u201916 Z06. Part of the deal were some spares, like new floor mats, front air dam, and a new carbon fiber splitter \u2013 the original splitter was fine, but I figured if I had a spare then nothing would go wrong with the original. BTW, when I got the new splitter, and in a box almost as tall as me, the box feels empty, so light is the large carbon fiber part inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the months that follow, I get better acclimated to the \u2018torque-monster\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some idiosyncrasies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You get in. The car senses your fob and you get the green \u2018halo\u2019, you press the button: and nothing happens, and you think \u201cShit, it\u2019s dead,\u201d but half-a-second later, it cranks over and starts properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it starts with a dual-mode muffler bark and settles into a very smooth idle. Too smooth. A little lope, or chop would be nice, but supercharging means there\u2019s little need for an aggressive camshaft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If your window\u2019s open, or if you get out to check things under the hood, there\u2019s a peculiar \u201cchittering\u201d sound at cold idle which I\u2019m told is due to retarded ignition timing (hotter exhaust gas) after a cold-start to light-off the catalytic converters quicker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You learn to slam the hood a little because if you just drop it, the hood is carbon fiber and it\u2019s so light, it doesn\u2019t latch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You push in the clutch, which is easy \u2013 it\u2019s a dual disc \u2013 and slot into gear, also easily. If you\u2019re backing up, be super careful \u2018cause the view out the rearview mirror is pathetic, like looking through an old mail slot. No rear-view camera on a C6!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You ease out the clutch \u2013 it\u2019s perfectly smooth, no juddering; perfectly aligned. But, when you\u2019re backed out and ready to go forward, you have to give it a little more throttle to avoid stalling, and it\u2019s surprisingly easy to stall. The compression ratio is only 9.2:1 which provides less off-idle torque than a base Corvette, first gear is a little taller than in a base 6-speed,and the dual disc clutch means smaller diameter clutch discs for less flywheel effect. And if you lug it, you get more of that weird \u201cchittering\u201d noise. So don\u2019t drive it like a truck \u2013 like a couple of friends have when I let them try it. Give it a little throttle and you\u2019re on your way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, and if you\u2019re turning tightly in your driveway, do not muscle the wheel at a stand-still! The tires are wide and sticky and need an enormous amount of force to steer them at a standstill\u2026 only turn the wheel when the car is roiling. Anybody who\u2019s driven a non-power steering car understands this! And a tight turn forward or backwards causes a strange bumping and chattering from the front tires: called wheel-fight. Apparently Chevrolet decided the usual Ackerman-effect diminishes maximum cornering capability, so the steering geometry has the wheels steered about the same number degrees, instead of having the inner wheel steered tighter than the outer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fussy part\u2019s over. You\u2019re out onto the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Warm it up carefully, there\u2019s about 10 quarts of oil to heat up, but after that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The big Michelin Pilot Sports spin easily in first and second gear. Also pretty easily in third gear. Which means wheel spin as you cross into triple-digit speed. Things happen fast, there, so traction and stability control are definitely your best friend and savior. Yet the electronic \u2018nanny\u2019 allows some slip and spin before cutting back the power. So, you get plenty of practice with throttle control \u2013 and easily buzz the rear tires. You\u2019ll wish for more grip. And you can hang the tail out, discretely, sort of, and easily controlled at every low-speed corner \u2013 just like my old 427-435. What a treat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But don\u2019t spin too much, or traction control finally cuts in and really cuts back on the power, especially if you then short-shift up a gear and you\u2019re then way down on the torque curve, rich as it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But work it right, which is easy, and you catch each next gear, like a motocross bike, pulling crisp and hard, no waiting for nuthin\u2019. And there\u2019s hardly any noticeable reduction in pull in each higher gear \u2013 it pulls each gear with gusto. And on top of that the ZR1 has a wonderful, ripping exhaust note that excites every time. Really, really satisfying!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know that particular, hard-to-describe scent you smell when a car in front of you gets on it with modern gasoline? Well, you get some of that scent when you get on it in the ZR1 \u2013 in the ZR1! Something about the airflow and the higher pressure out of the exhaust, I guess, you smell your own fumes. But it\u2019s not offensive at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I gave my daughter-in-law a ride one lovely, cool Fall morning, and BTW, Pilot Sports are summer tires, with far less traction when cold, so don\u2019t bother trying a drive at temps under 40 F. We had warmer temps and lots of open, wide, long-view roads in northern IL. I got on it about halfway, just surfing the rich torque curve up to fourth gear. She was stoic and said nothing. I let her drive the car and she drove it with very early shifts, kind of like a truck (well she is a truck driver and tower crane operator). Again, she said little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when we got home, she bubbled over to her husband, my son. \u201cThat thing doesn\u2019t push you back in the seat. It HURTLES you back in the seat!\u201d And she\u2019s right. I noticed her head snapping around on her neck during the ride, and her torso shifting forward against the seat belts, then back against the seat each time I eased off th throttle, upshifted and got back on the throttle. It reminded me a little of Apollo 13 when one rocket stage burned out and the next stage lit \u2013 though I know the ZR1 Gs are a small fraction of a Saturn V\u2019s. But it\u2019s still a ton of fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acceleration in the ZR1 is like \u201c Who cares?! This is easy.\u201d Traction is always the issue. Sometimes the car feels almost alive \u2013 like it\u2019s clawing for traction like a wild animal on the run. Shift up and it pulls hard in every gear. No bogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dual-disc clutch is perfectly smooth. The Tremec six speed shifts easily, with great synchro action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The car does feel wide, but the steering effort is well-weighted. As easily as this car spins the tires on acceleration, I sort of expect a lot of slipping and sliding on corners, but cornering Gs build smoothly and dependably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A couple of my favorite YouTube videos are of the \u201909 ZR1 and \u201912 ZR1 lapping N\u00fcrburgring.
The resolution of the \u201909 video shows its age but the \u201912 video still looks good:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k6mEirkQN8o
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=q9tyopZfHWg<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One major difference in these two C6 ZR1s is the tires. The \u201909 has Michelin Pilot Sports (like mine) and the \u201912 has Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 tires. Notice how much less the driver \u2018saws\u2019 at the wheel in the yellow \u201912? I want that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amazing for a low-production (482 ZR1s in 2013, only 27 in Crystal Red: https:\/\/www.corvetteactioncenter.com\/specs\/c6\/corvette-zr1-registry\/ , designed over 15 years ago, that might never have been released in an era that nearly killed GM. A Corvette that gave you a lot at list price and is simply incredible at used car prices. The C6 ZR1 includes exotic stuff I heard of as a boy but rarely made it to street cars, like:
Aluminum chassis.
Aluminum cylinder block and heads.
Cross-bolted main bearing caps.
Supercharging.
Intercooling. BTW, I changed all the fluids in the car, and when scan-tool commands the intercooler pump \u2018on\u2019 to bleed the system, it sounds like a toilet flushing! Lots of coolant flow though that intercooler.
Six speed transmission.
Transaxle.
Foot+-wide tires.
200+ MPH top speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plus, equipment and features I never imagined when I was a boy:
Carbon fiber body parts!
Carbon ceramic brake rotors \u2013 light, heat-resistant and long-lived.
Six piston front calipers.
Dual disc clutch.
Titanium connecting rods.
Titanium intake valves.
Sodium-cooled exhaust valves — sodium is a highly reactive and conductive liquid metal at room temp and above. It\u2019s trapped in the hollow stem of the exhaust valve and sloshes up and down with valve motion to conduct heat away from the valve head to the liquid-cooled valve guide. (I didn\u2019t know of this technology as a boy, but it was used in WWII aircraft engines.)
Over 1 G cornering. The \u201912 Nurburgring YouTube shows 1.7 peak Gs, numerous times.
Cruising easily, I can get well over 20 mpg!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is my favorite car of all time, even including the C7 ZR1 and I\u2019ll tell you about that next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n