Even though your brain tells you the engine will blow up, it won’t.

[NNN0LHI]

http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/autos/2111950,CorvetteZR1-031910.article

Corvette ZR1 roars onto streets

March 20, 2010
BY REX ROY- SearchChicago-Autos Correspondent

Now that it’s March, I can be forgiven for my seasonally driven schoolboy daydreams. Those pleasant, wandering thoughts take me into rolling countryside that’s green and peaceful. There, the asphalt is smooth and winding, traffic is nonexistent and all police officers are contentedly eating doughnuts while I unleash the most powerful production Chevrolet ever. snip

After the on-road driving, I hit one of Milford’s test tracks to experience what separates the ZR1 from any other Corvette. The ZR1 uses a special engine designated the LS9. It is essentially a hand-built small-block Chevy motor with a supercharger. The air is cooled with a compact air-to-liquid intercooler that features a hand-welded reservoir located just forward of the driver’s-side front tire. It looks like a custom-built race-shop piece because it is.

To support the 638 horsepower at 6,500 rpm, this engine also produces 604 pound-feet of torque at a low 3,800 rpm. Ninety percent of this torque is on tap from 2,600 to 6,000 rpm, so you can be a ham-fisted shifter and still drive pretty quickly – provided you can drive a manual gearbox. No automatic is offered. snip

It’s worth mentioning one upgrade Chevy made to the ZR1 for 2010. This Corvette comes standard with performance traction management (PTM) technology. The software and hardware help keep the car going where you point it. A new PTM function is the launch control feature, which optimizes traction so that wannabe race drivers can actually launch this rocket instead of just turning the tires into molten globs of rubber.

Here’s how the PTM system works. A button activates the system. After the driver presses in the clutch pedal and floors the throttle, the engine holds a predetermined engine speed. Even though your brain tells you the engine will blow up, it won’t. The next step is for the driver to quickly release the clutch. The engine then modulates its torque 100 times per second to maximize the available traction. The system is capable of approaching a skilled driver’s best effort and repeats it consistently.

[flvegan]

1. And you'll need to spend 5 times as much on a car to even touch the ZR1.

Ferrari doesn't build anything that will outperform it (well, that they'll let you drive on the street, so the FXX is straight out). Neither does Lamborghini. A Zonda is a million bucks, as is the Koenigsegg. A Veyron is more. Yeah, you could buy a Caterham or Ariel Atom, but we're talking cars, not go-karts.

For the price, the GT-R comes close. But IMO, you'd only buy one if you hated yourself.

[Blue_Tires]

2. I remember dreaming about the ZR-1 back in 1990

I still dream on now...