Automotive: Watch new Corvette C8 ZR1 top out at 233 mph

Chevrolet announced that the Corvette ZR1 would have 1,064 horsepower, but we did not know what the top speed would be….until now.

Chevrolet took two ZR1s to the high-speed oval track at Automotive Testing Papenberg, a banked 7.8-mile test track in northwestern Germany.

Each ZR1 rode on the standard suspension with aluminum wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires.

With GM president Mark Reuss at the wheel and a GM engineer alongside, the ZR1 averaged over 233mph over two runs, one in each direction, at 7,000 rpm.

The 2025 C8 Corvette ZR1’s tremendous output is the result of engineers squeezing as much power as possible from its small-block V-8 engine. “The reason they’re odd numbers is because we didn’t set a target horsepower ahead of time,” executive chief engineer Tadge Juechter said. “We want the most power technology will give us.”

The LT7’s eight forged pistons spin a flat-plane crankshaft that unlocks a quicker- and higher-revving engine. For a flat-plane-crank V-8, 5.5 liters is positively huge.

Blowing the engine with two turbos rather than a supercharger keeps the inertia low to preserve the flat-plane high-rpm character. Torque peaks at 828 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm, the 1,064-hp max hits at 7,000 rpm, and redline is reached at an awesome 8,000 rpm.

At full chat, the engine runs on 20 psi of boost with so much air pumping through the cylinders that the exhaust exiting the four tailpipes pushes the car with 37 pounds of thrust.

Juechter insists the LT7 isn’t just a boosted version of the Z06’s LT6 engine. Development of the two V-8s nicknamed Gemini began in tandem and share a block casting, but Chevy says the ZR1 is built with unique internals, cams, and cylinder heads plus additional cooling measures, an extra oil scavenge stage, and a supplementary port fuel-injection system.