https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a65553563/chevrolet-corvette-zr1x-nurburgring/
So GM has posted times for their ZR1 and ZR1X Nurburgring runs and they both set times faster than the Mustang GTD. What I’m confused about is GM’s refusal to use actual professional drivers to set lap times, I stead opting on using staff members of their engineering team. Can anyone explain why? If the manufacturer is investing time and money to rent the track and set lap times and then proceed to brag about said lap times, why not do it properly? GM has also stated in the past that they aren’t located in Stuttgart, so they can’t test cars as often or select better weather windows when to set lap times, which makes this decision even more baffling.
Maybe they want to showcase what an “average joe” can push the car to? I could see some people saying “yeah it set X time, but it’ll never get close to that on the street with John from Finance driving it”
These engineers are pretty close to pro drivers. It’s not like you put one in there and the lap time drops 20 seconds. It’s prob a few seconds at absolute most.
This stuff is largely performative anyway. Is anyone really buying a zr1 because of its ring time? Think these times are a little underwhelming tbh. Cornering speeds gonna be nowhere near the gt cars and it’s mainly making up time due to immense hp. Too heavy and needs better aero.
Right, but isn’t the whole point of setting lap times bragging rights? It’s just a d***-measuring contest, so you’d imagine you’d want the person behind the wheel that would give you the fastest time. Nobody who owns a ZR1 or a ZR1X are going to go to the Nurburgring on their own to set lap times, they just want to brag to their neighbor that the car they bought was X fast on Y track and Z much faster than the ABC car the neighboring schmuck has.
