For almost my entire career in automotive journalism, I’ve been having the “cars are getting too fast for normal people” discussion. Of late, that quarrel has extended to the enthusiast realm: Are cars getting too fast even for those who love them and presumably can handle the speed? Then along comes the Corvette ZR1X and the entire debate is completely obliterated. The ZR1X was literally too quick in the quarter-mile for its own software, as I’ll explain in a moment. Accept the new reality.
The ZR1X makes 1,064 horsepower from a twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8 and adds a 186-hp electric motor over the front axle, bringing combined output to 1,250 hp. The two motors aren’t connected, and the 1.9-kWh battery providing juice for the front wheels doesn’t need to be plugged in to recharge. Instead, it uses only “regenerative efforts” on the front motor. The estimated performance is staggering: 0 to 60 mph in under 2 seconds and a quarter-mile run in less than 9 seconds at over 150 mph.
Making changes for for the drag strip
The ZR1X takes its electric motor from the Corvette E-Ray but ups the oomph by 26 hp. Chevy’s engineers realized the ZR1X powertrain was going to make the car so quick that it would hit 150 mph before it completed the quarter-mile on a drag strip, disengaging the front motor in the process (as it does in the E-Ray). So in order to get through the quarter-mile with both drivetrains engaged, they had to juke the software so the disengagement happened at 160 mph, enabling the ZR1X’s “trap speed” to be registered with the full propulsion system activated. Road & Track has the full story, which is worth a read.
(Trap speed, just so you know, is basically a measure of how fast a vehicle is going when it crosses the quarter-mile marker on a drag strip.)
You might rightly ask yourself, “Of what use are these velocities in real life?” After all, the ZR1X, if you believe Chevy’s numbers, can hit the legal speed limit in much of the U.S. before you can say “Mississippi” twice. It’s technically able to accelerate quicker than an F1 car. Clocking 160 mph in 9 seconds or less is actually sort of terrifying. It’s not a gigantic step down from a top-fuel dragster or funny car.
Pulverizing speed at a relative bargain price
Still, the ZR1X’s ridiculous levels of power, as with all versions of the current C8 generation Vette, look incredibly affordable as we speculate on where the apex-trim will be priced. The ZR1 starts at about $190,000 for 2026, so we’re probably looking at something well north of $200,000 for the ZR1X. And yet, the pulverizing speed is a bargain. The Ferrari F80 makes a mere 1,183 hp and costs 4 million bucks.
Back in 2019, on a trip to Detroit, I drove the C7 Corvette ZR1 and was mighty intimidated by its 755 hp. I told a couple of top GM execs about this and they sort of mocked me, in a friendly way, for not reflexively craving the power. I realized then and there that the horsepower wars had left me in the dust.
On the horizon was the addition of electric motors to the hyper-tuned combustion powertrains, opening up new vistas of velocity. Not for me. But there’s no doubt that Chevy’s engineers deserve considerable props for their innovation. Even the quarter-mile drag strip had to bow down before their awesomeness with the ZR1X.
