I cant lie man it would be a very hard choice for me ZR1 vs ACR lol. Both are very sick. I agree the Viper just has that nasty, mean looking quotient that the ZR1 doesnt quite match as much visually. But the ZR1 more than makes it up with the go pedal and then some. Id be a jack wagon and would need therapy to make the choice

BTW heres an excerpt from R&T about the 7:22. Appologies for not finding the link:

"We can safely report that the time of 7:22.4 is absolutely bogus. We finally got confirmation from Tadge Juechter (Corvette Chief Engineer) that Jan Magnussen was State-side during the time period that the car was at the 'Ring, thereby completely negating the possibility of him driving the car during that session.


When we went to print, we couldn't get anybody to deny the time, and due to the margin between Magnussen's time and Merro's 7:26.4, we felt the '22.4 lap time was entirely plausible.


Thanks for revisiting the issue and we appreciate you bringing it to our attention."-



Road & Track Magazine

 

I forgot that they said that they believe the 7:22 time to be possible but that the actual time was 7:26. I stand corrected, and man I hope that God himself makes the car choice evident in the clouds if I ever have to face the decision between the 2. The LS9 gives me a hard on because it will make 700 rwhp with a pulley change, and tune and 1,000 with twin turbos.

 

So somebody at Chevy is creating bogus 'Ring times?

Former Nissan exec perhaps?

(That's where that guy ended up)

 

Nah, that guys is perma banned!

But for his severance pay he got a Nismo 500R, a Nismo Z tune and the 700 hp GTR that they ran that " Ring " time with!

 

Don't worry, your secret is safe right here, right on these internet forums...

MAN! I'm in a good mood, just took my 4yr old to see Iron Man 2 - again.

 

 

In the GTR? Doesn't it have more computers than the Iron Man suit?

I kid, I kid.....If I did not like rain drifting your car would make the most sense where I live!

 

^ Yeah, he loves the GT-R. On the way home, though, we saw a trailer with a yellow Z06 on it - and he says,"I like that Corvette."

 

Am I the only one that thinks 4 seconds difference around a 12.9 mile long road course is negligable at best? Seriously, who buys a car based on a .18 seconds per mile of road coarse difference?

 

I think the ZR1 will run as fast as the ACR has at the " Ring ", also the ZR1 has much better acceleration at higher speeds due to not having near as much downforce. There are pros and cons to both cars!

 

Lets be fair to both sides here though. We cant post about the speculation of the ZR1 being a possible 7:22 car without posting about the woes the ACR had to contend with that "held" it to only 7:22. Quite a few racer and tester have acknowledged the ACR is a 7:1x car with ease if they can address the gearing problem. They have for 2010. I really dont want to rehash this discussion lol. We had some dooseys back in the day on Viper/Vette forums about this. I try to be fair minded.

The facts are that the ZR1 was developed on the Ring the Viper wasnt. Video evidence shows the ACR's gearing and aero were woeful on the Ring yet it still put 4 secs on the ZR1's time. So to me when you put things in that perspective you begin to see they are not really close on a roadcourse. On that 7:22 run it had gearing issues, aero issues and a wicked headwind that prevented it from getting near to max speed on the long straight. ZR1 Im sure more than made up time on the ACR on the back straight alone.

As I mentioned before the ACR put 4 sec on the ZR1 stateside at a much smaller track at VIR 4.2 mile roadcourse so it seems pretty consistant that they are not really close. Imho it seem like a track with a long straight will make it look closer than it really is because of the ZR1's ungodly top end.

When you realize the ACR is a streetlegal racer and the ZR1 is a GT car with race car abilities it really makes you smile. The fact that they are being compared speaks volumes about the ZR1. I think I talked myself into picking the ZR1 now if I had to make the choice lol.

 

Wasn't the ACR driven to the track on well used tires, and with not only minimal testing, but with a driver that didn't know the car? I recall seeing the post run interview with the driver and he acted like it was the first run he had ever made in a ACR. As stated above, everything I've read suggested there was a LOT of room for improvements...

 

I don't know about the tire issue. Seems a bit far fetched to believe any streetlegal car can beat a ZR1 by 4secs on bad tires. I cant see any sane person running a course like the "Green Hell" without proper condition tires. I'd have to see irrefutable proof of that before I believe the driver risked his life to set a good time on used up tires.

I did read the Viper driver was a Zakspeed Viper racecar driver. I did also read it was his first time in an ACR Viper and he did have considerably less seat time in the ACR than Mero and Jan in the ZR1 that's why the 7:22 initially seemed too good to be true to me. But it should be no surprise as it was purpose built for this dicipline.

I'd love to see a Clubsport run the Ring. Or better yet a ZR1 with downforce
take a stab at the Ring. There's no question a ZR1 with an ACR setup would be a 7:1x car or better.

 

No, dont think the tires were "use up". I believe I had read they drove the car there on these tires and they were not 100% fresh for this event. I think they just left plenty of room for improvement in regards to the tires they used...