U.S.-made Chevrolet Corvette sets a record in Germany

A Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X accompanied by two others lapped the Nürburgring in 6 minutes 49.275 seconds last weekend, coming nearly three seconds ahead of the Ford Mustang GTD and becoming the track’s fastest production car hailing from North America.

The ZR1X spec was introduced in June. It’s a maxed-out flagship with a 1,267-PS (1,250-hp / 932-kW) hybrid powertrain and a near-two-second launch time. The Mustang GTD that was dethroned had “only” 826 PS (815 hp / 608 kW) under its command.

The other two Corvettes were a ZR1 and a Z06. The former had 1,064 PS (1,050 hp / 783 kW) at its disposal and crossed the finish line in 6 minutes 50.763 seconds. The latter had 670 PS (661 hp / 493 kW) coming from its naturally aspirated V8 and completed the full 20.8-kilometer (12.9-mile) long track in 7 minutes 11.826 seconds.

Chevrolet insists that all vehicles were OEM spec with only minor safety-focused modifications installed, such as a roll cage, a bucket seat with a six-point harness, and a fire extinguisher.