Corvette ZR1 does the 'Ring in 7:26

However, with 150 more hp and 1000lbs less to tow than the GTR plus having monster ceramic brakes----it's only 3 seconds faster round the ring. To Chismillionaire, it shows more the brilliance of the GTR than the monster nature of the ZR1. If you watch the GTR video it looked like a Sunday drive whereas the ZR1 drive looked like trying to kill a large man with your bare hands and some twine.







If a 2009 Corvette ZR1 does a lap of the Nüburgring Nordschleife in 7:26.4 and there's no video of it, did it happen at all?

Well, ponder no longer. Here, in full color, is GM development engineer Jim Mero's smoking hot lap of the 'Ring from Friday, June 27.

As per usual, General Motors (in the person of Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter) says the car in the video is "bone stock" except for communications and safety equipment. Yes, it's emissions-compliant. Yes, the chassis alignment and ride height are stock. Yes, it's running on pump (not racing) fuel. And yes, it ran on the production Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires that all ZR1s will wear — though they weren't necessarily a fresh set.

Predictably, the keyboard jockeys and armchair racers of the Web have claimed all sorts of inside knowledge about how GM cheated the car for this lap. Or alternately, the same kind of guys (on the other side of the domestic/import divide) imply Nissan cheated a GT-R to run a 7:29 a few months ago. Many of these theories involve pixie dust, pulse detonation wave engines or garden-variety lying.

There is no sanctioning body to verify these sorts of manufacturer claims and no specific set of rules by which a run should be made. So, it is a buyer beware deal.

Or you could just forget all the nonsense and just watch this video of a 638-horsepower Corvette drive really, really fast.