I think it’s fair to say the days of ‘American cars can only turn left blah blah’ are well and truly behind us. It’s not like we’re short of proof, either. Just look at the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse which, thankfully, will be making its way across the pond (albeit watered down somewhat) very soon. And while we never got the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, the fact that Mike D called it “a better car than the BMW M5 Competition or the Mercedes-AMG GT63S four-door” just goes to show how US carmakers have come to competing with the Old World's favourites.
That goes for the new stuff, anyway, but the worm has been turning for a good while now. The C6 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 felt like a step in the right direction when it arrived in 2009, with its 647hp supercharged V8 and a heap of chassis upgrades garnering praise from reviews on this side of the Atlantic, which was almost unheard of at the time. The follow-up C7 marked another major step forwards, while the even more lairy Z06 once again received the European seal of approval. Then there was this, the manic ZR1: one of the cars that completely altered our understanding of American-built performance.
First off, it was easily the most extreme road-legal Corvette we’d ever seen. Looking like a slightly slimmer version of the thunderous C7.R Le Mans racer, the ZR1 introduced a new front end with an ultra-deep splitter, while the rear gained a giant GTE-style adjustable wing. This example is a bit tamer, as it does away with the optional high-wing aero package for a more subtle low-wing set-up - meaning it’ll blend in with UK traffic a smidgen better than the full-fat version (well, a bit better). The revamped aero profile was calibrated by Corvette Racing’s official race team Pratt and Miller, so high downforce pack or not - there was still a bucketload of WEC and IMSA knowhow that went into the ZR1’s development.
That’s the only major difference you’ll find between this and the ZR1s that were plastered all over the mags, so you still get a firmer suspension set-up with magnetic dampers and carbon ceramic brakes as standard. Then there’s the heavily upgraded 6.2-litre supercharged LT5 V8 up front, developing a monstrous 765hp and 715lb ft of torque thanks to a 52 per cent larger blower than the Z06 and a new fuel injector system. Chevrolet also chucked in four (four!) more radiators to improve cooling, bringing the total up to 13. That’s more than a Bugatti Chiron.
It’ll come as no surprise that we never officially got the C7 ZR1 in the UK; we wouldn’t get an honest-to-god, right-hand drive ‘Vette until the mid-engined C8. Good thing people are willing to import one into the UK. And with the enlivening kicker of a manual gearbox, too. Interestingly, this car was originally purchased by its original keeper in the Middle East, before it was brought to the drizzly land of Blighty in 2021 and has stayed here ever since.
Remarkably, it’s barely covered any miles. The odometer reads just 1,100km (or 684 miles in our currency), suggesting the previous owner wasn’t all that keen on seeing what 765 all-American stallions would feel like on a greasy, pot-hole-laden British road. But you can, providing you’ve got £139,950 spare and don’t mind sitting on the wrong side of the car. Sure, there are plenty of more sensible and more glamorous options at this price, but you don’t buy an orange Corvette to fit in with the golf crowd - you buy one to park outside the clubhouse and royally cheese them off.
SPECIFICATION | CHEVROLET CORVETTE ZR1 (C7)
Engine: 6,162cc V8, supercharged
Transmission: seven-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 765@6,300rpm
Torque (lb ft): 715@4,400rpm
MPG: probably not a lot
CO2: probably a lot
Year registered: 2021
Recorded mileage: 798
Price new: $121,000
Yours for: £139,950
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