Corvette Accidentally Sets Lap Record at VIR

Less than a week after news of a Ford GT setting a record at Virginia International Raceway, Chevrolet has announced that the 2019 Corvette ZR1 has gone around the track even more quickly.

Ford's lap record came from a pre-production GT a few months ago, although it wasn't reported on before last week. Driver Billy Johnson called it somewhat of an accident, telling Road & Track that "we just happened to turn a fast time when we were testing something else." After all, who hasn't been out for a leisurely Sunday drive and accidentally set a production car lap record on one of the toughest tracks in North America. Oh, and the car you beat was a Dodge Viper ACR plus you beat it by more than a second.

Well, it turns out that Chevrolet was doing "routine validation testing" of its own last month, with vehicle dynamics engineer Jim Mero driving. The car was finishing up a 24-hour at the limit endurance test.

So what lap time did it turn in routine testing? 2m37.25s. More than a second under the GT's 2m38.62 and well ahead of the Viper's 2m40.02s lap.

The record-breaking ZR1 was wearing stock Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires and had a factory alignment. The ZR1's 755 hp 6.2L supercharged V8 was backed by an eight-speed automatic gearbox. It also had the ZTK performance pack that adds the Michelin rubber, an adjustable rear wing, front splitter, and revised magnetic shocks.