Corvette ZR1 - Jay Leno's Garage

well here once again in the Corvette section of my garage if you've been on this website before you know I'm a huge Corvette fan the fact we probably have more Corvette accessories on this website than any other vehicle it's probably the most accessorized vehicle other than Harley Davidson you can buy and this is the ultimate Corvette this is the zr1 2009 the most powerful Corvette ever made the most powerful car ever made by General Motors let's take a look around it I really like this color there's a new color for 2009 car weighs about 30 350 pounds the shape is similar to the standard Corvette although there's a lot of little subtle things you can't see fender flares things of that nature got this clear plastic window here as you can see the ls9 supercharged engine in their 638 horsepower unlike the zo6 which is a 427 cubic inch block this is 376 cubic inches the secret is that eaton supercharger but we'll talk more about that later 20 spoke 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels michelin pilot sport two tires around their standard carbon ceramic drilled disc brake rotors you got the standard magnetic selective ride control with track level suspension got the wider carbon-fiber front fenders with zr1 specific dual vents on there you know there's a story going around this clear coat over this carbon fibers $60,000 a gallon I thought well I can't be right then I checked it out and yeah it is true it's some special high-tech thing to keep the Sun from cracking or bleaching out the carbon fiber so $60,000 a gallon you don't want to be going in trying to get a little bottle of touch-up because it's not going to happen as you see the interior is a bit upgraded over your standard Corvette and you've got controls on your steering wheel here you know for volume and things like that you've got a adjustment there for your suspension for touring or sport you can see the more expensive the car the nicer the bong here we know it's with a cheaper car you open it make that a point in the scale a car Cadillac it's like angels hitting a little Gong bong oh my keys in it let's open up the hood let's show you what we got in here as I said it's all-new ls9 supercharged point two litre v8 producing a minimum 100 horsepower per liter 604 foot-pounds of torque top speed is 205 to 210 you can tick the limiter off that you can probably go to 15 that's a sixth generation supercharger / Eaton pretty bulletproof engine there's no oil leaks there's no mist anywhere on the engine it's got a brand new six-speed manual transmission twin disc clutch I really love the fact that they put a lot of time and effort in developing a proper six-speed transmission the top speed is achieved in sixth gear not fifth gear you know in most six-speed transmissions the sixth gear is an overdrive here and this it's a top speed gear this is your heads-up display right here that flashes RPM speed water temperature flashes it on your windshield so you can literally see through it which is kind of a cool safety feature Corvette's the only car I know that has that and it's and it's not a gimmick it's really beneficial the coolest thing about the zr1 the piastres lazy stalls oh right here can you read that serial number the very first zr1 come on let's take it for a ride people think this little pushrod v8 is somehow not very sophisticated and although it might not be as sophisticated as a Quattro valve European car is proven technology taken to the 10/10 I mean it's a pretty amazing motor tremendous amount of torque over six hundred foot-pounds of torque which is a huge huge amount that's probably a hundred or hundred sixty foot pounds more than the Lamborghini or the Ferrari because we Americans we like that low-end grunts and that's what this has and then of course once that superchargers pulls up it pulls like a foot this Corvette is also the most powerful sports car built in America the Viper had the title for a while with their 600 horsepower v10 this is now 638 that's a pretty substantial jump and it's a lighter car I think a better handling automobile I like my Bruce but as I mentioned earlier you've got the carbon-fiber brakes the same brakes that are on the Enzo Ferrari not similar not kind of like the same brakes like all contemporary Corvettes you have three selections here your regular just normal driving you have your traction system off and competition mode I always drive a competition mode I that's what I like it just seems best to me magnetic shocks fantastic you know GM pioneered those I think even Ferrari and some other companies use them as well they won't give GM credit but that's where it came from and it really makes the car ride very nicely I mean when you're in the touring mode not in the competition setting it really does ride like a Cadillac whatever you used to think about Corvettes to get about with this car I mean this has 638 horsepower McLaren f1 is 627 the SLR Mercedes has what 617 they asked it Martin only has 510 this is the performance bargain of the decades car will easily run in fact if I'm not mistaken at least at the time of we're doing this video this car on stock tires holds the record at Nurburgring what is it 7 minutes 26 seconds something like that pretty amazing I love these things I love the fact that that built in America I love the fact that built Bowling Green Kentucky I like the fact you can call up a guy on the line and talk to the guy who built your car that's pretty cool they couldn't be prouder to build them I mean it's a real dedicated workforce down there they love these cars and it shows in the workmanship have you never been to the Corvette factory in Bowling Green Kentucky you got to go it's a real treat we had John Fitch here recently at my garage he was one of the guys who started the Corvette race team with Briggs Cunningham wanted Sebring that all the races in the early 50s and 60s there's a lot of Corvette heritage and it's all down there at the Museum I've got about four or five Corvettes I've never had any problems with them at all bulletproof car and if you do have a problem like I say it's a Chevy you fix it with a hammer or Chevy dealing and you know you got an exotic supercar at Chevy Cobalt prices really in terms of repairs I'd have to take the cut to fix a Ferrari or a Lamborghini you know whenever I think we've reached the pinnacle of high performance and street cars a few years goes by the coasts higher iron I think with the upcoming emission standards and you know a lot of the environmental stuff that's happening this is probably the most powerful Corvette you'll see for a long long time and I'd be surprised if anybody breaks this Corvettes numbers many times it's the greatest Corvette in history and I think it's well it is the most powerful car Joe like the zo6 core of that this has the trick muffler system with the solenoid that opens up over three grand and makes it a bit more some people might say louder I say melodious you just punch it and you go you realize this is the greatest American car in the history of our country this is what the Founding Fathers wanted us to be driving this is what they did that whole a constitution thing for one of these all right maybe exaggerate you get no I know what you can do to this car to get more power out of it but since its seal number zero zero zero one I'm going to keep it just the way it is well that's about it for this week I'm going to drive on down a Bowling Green Kentucky and thank the men and women have built my cup personally see you later

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 558,281

Rating: 4.9295673 out of 5

Keywords: Jay Leno, Automotive, Cars, Garage, horsepower, Jay, Leno, mods, custom car, Speed, Fast, modded cars, mechanic, fastest car, Jay Leno's Garage, cars, exotic cars, interview, custom, Leno car, funny, Leno funny, car show, Rare, Motorcycles, racing, jay leno interview, auto, drive, power, fast, amazing, cool, the cars, vehicle, Corvette, Corvette ZR1, Rick Wagoner

Id: -eqtxX3G-7A

Length: 9min 15sec (555 seconds)

Published: Thu May 23 2013