ZR1 Not much fun

[patrick]

I feel C5 is the best yet out of all the Vettes. The new design LS1 and LS6 engines are being modded out to over 600 hp. The style of the car is futuristic but tough looking. It's comfortable and affordable. Take the ZR1. It's uncomfortable, massive dual overhead cam that costs tons to fix and only in production for five yrs. Very expensive to mod. Also, the front to rear weight ratio is not as well balanced as the C5. So if you have to rebuild the engine after 200,000 miles on the C5, it's very affordable. I think the ZR1 was a joke. Just my opinion. When I sell my C3 I definitely will buy a Z06.

[vincec5]

Wait til DavisZR1 catches your *** buddy. The ZR1 was good in it's time and is part of Vette history. Naturally, the C5 and Z06 is a better engineered car and less costly to work on. But I wouldn't sneeze at the ZR1. The overhead cam engine can go 180+ and hold 175 mph as it proved to in the durability tests.:nono:

[DavisZR1]

Hmmmm...knocking the ZR1 already! Well I'm not gonna fall into your trap. The car speaks for itself. AND, I am man enough to admit when another Vette is better. Although Z06 is a better Vette all around, I still have the car they went after and everyone trys to live up to.....the King!:nod:

[Gerry]

Davis !!! I'm proud of your reply !! You didn't get to fired up!!
All Corvettes have thier place in history and I love them ALL..
I would put any year or model in my Garage. :wiggle:

GERRY :chevy: :usaribbon :usaribbon

[Y2KFRC]

this is not a flame, but down the road the repairs on a ZR-1 motor may be a problem. With the limited number of units produced and limited # of parts it may be difficult to repair/ restore. Our club is raffleing away a 1990 ZR-1 with around 6,000 miles. ( www.CorvetteRaffle.org ) The ZR-1 is and will always be the "KING" other high end cars used the ZR-1 as goal to meet from 1990 untill the C-5.

[HT99+63]

Everyone talks about the ZR1 being an outrageous car. The argument back is well, for it's time it was. But look at the '67 427 L88, or the '69 427 and you can see that these will be classics. But they have a certain character that the ZR1 doesn't have.

I feel that the mistake they made with the ZR1 is that it's just still a C4 body style on a unitized chassis that flexed like crazy when the roof panel was off, and even when it was on. If GM thought that this was a money making car and they feltl that they couldn't design anything better, then they would have kept it, engine and styling. They used it as a fill in until they were ready for the LS1 and LS6 engines. Who wants to go 175 mph for 75 hours straight anyway. Our pushrod engines get pounded in NASCAR like crazy and they hold up pretty good. I guess you know what I'm saying. The ZR1 is overrated. I would rather have a '96 LT4 sitting in my garage than a '95 ZR1.

What does the future hold in regard to the rarity of the ZR1? I read somewhere that "yes the Z06 is a greater car, but the ZR1 is rarer. " Will that be the deciding factor for the outcome of the Z06? No. Because it won't overcome the Z06 performance edge, styling and structure of the car. If you think about it, the production #'s by the time they stop producing Z06's will still be lower than many vettes and the demand will be greater. The younger generation really seems to favor the Z06 over the ZR1 tremendously. Well, only time will tell, over the next 10-20 yrs, but my personal opinion is that the Z06 performance and styling will win over the rarity of the ZR1.:spin:

[team-zr1]

Originally posted by patrick
I feel C5 is the best yet out of all the Vettes. The new design LS1 and LS6 engines are being modded out to over 600 hp. The style of the car is futuristic but tough looking. It's comfortable and affordable. Take the ZR1. It's uncomfortable, massive dual overhead cam that costs tons to fix and only in production for five yrs. Very expensive to mod. Also, the front to rear weight ratio is not as well balanced as the C5. So if you have to rebuild the engine after 200,000 miles on the C5, it's very affordable. I think the ZR1 was a joke. Just my opinion. When I sell my C3 I definitely will buy a Z06.

Clearly many have neither owned, drove or raced a ZR-1.
The ZR-1 broke many speed world records that still have not been won by other nameplates. ZR-1 has been in pro racing, ZERO for Z06.
Weight ratio, weak statement, ZR-1 52/48 where as a C5 even with the trannie in the rear it still is 51/49 so not much of performance gain and for those of us driving fast forward, the bit extra LT-5 weight keeps the front end from lifting where a C5 is getting *** happy.
I know of LT-5s with over 120,000 miles on them and they still kick butt where C5s with blown up engines is normal.
I own and race both ZR-1 and C5 and the ZR-1 is still the king where the C5 even GM does very little with other the the C5r and interesting GM dod not even use a Z06 body.

Bring a stock C5 to an open road race, I'll bring a ZR-1 and we'll see which one maintains 160 MPH average over 100 miles of a windy 2 lane road. I know the results since I have won several ORRs with a ZR-1 but not with my C5.
13 year old ZR-1s are still racing, never rebuilt, now lets see what 99 C5s look like in 13 years

So the joke is really not the ZR-1 or even a C5 it is people who like to pick on a ZR-1 when they never even drove one much less used them for what they were designed for, going fast,
Real Fast. . .