Earlier this week, our spies sent us a bunch of images of the hotly anticipated 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 undergoing testing at the Nürburgring. You can see dozens of photos depicting several prototypes in the adjacent galleries, but a new video features a different car judging by the license plate. It also happens to have a weird exhaust with extensions coming out of the four familiar pipes mounted in the center of the bumper.
The modified exhaust system might have something to do with the spy video’s excellent soundtrack. Professional spy photographer Stefan Baldauf from SB-Medien told Corvette Blogger the prototype may have exceeded the noise limit of 130 dB imposed at the famous German circuit. Whatever the case may be, this ZR1 is ferociously loud and appears to have the pace to match its alluring soundtrack. The music delivered by the engine is believed to come from a 5.5-liter flat-plane crank V8 borrowed from the Z06.
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While the Corvette Z06 rocks a naturally aspirated setup with 670 horsepower on tap, the ZR1 is believed to adopt a pair of turbochargers. Forced induction is rumored to bump output to a colossal 850 hp but nothing is official yet so take this number with a proverbial pinch of salt. The LT6 engine inside the Z06 screams all the way up to 8,600 rpm and offers a peak torque of 460 pound-feet (626 Newton-meters). Adding two turbos should bring a considerable boost in torque. An internal document published by Hagerty in April 2020 said torque would grow to a whopping 825 lb-ft (1,118 Nm).
As seen in the spy shots, Chevy tested different wing designs this week at the Green Hell. The illusion of a split rear window à la 1963 Corvette C2 we saw last month on a heavily camouflaged test car at a gas station in Colorado appears to have vanished since these prototypes have regular glass.
Expect to see the ZR1 launch next year as a 2025MY. It won’t be the highest-performing Corvette C8 for long since Chevy is also believed to be working on a twin-turbo Zora hybrid with as much as 1,000 hp, 975 lb-ft (1,322 Nm), and all-wheel drive. In addition, a fully electric variant on the Ultium platform has been officially confirmed. Meanwhile, the mid-engine supercar has already been partially electrified with the E-Ray hybrid.