With four NASCAR Cup Series championships and 93 wins in the top series—including three Daytona 500 victories—there’s little Jeff Gordon can’t do with a steering wheel in his hands. But what about a wrench?
The NASCAR Hall of Famer recently visited the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to help build the twin-turbo 5.5-liter LT7 V8 for his ZR1X. It’s an experience Chevrolet is offering to all Z06, ZR1, and ZR1X buyers—not just racing legends. As documented in an Instagram reel, Gordon and his father arrived at the factory at 9:39 AM on build day, began assembling the short block at 10:09, and had the long block assembled and ready for a cold test at 1:27 PM.
Following the cold test—in which the engine is spun by an electric motor to check for manufacturing defects—the LT7’s distinctive blue intake manifold is installed at 1:55 PM, followed by the turbos about 30 minutes later. Finally, the engine is fully assembled and ready for inspection at 3:10 PM.
The LT7 makes 1,064 horsepower and 828 pound-feet of torque in the standard ZR1, but the ZR1X adds a hybrid system contributing 186 hp and 145 lb-ft, for a total of 1,250 hp and 973 lb-ft. The electric motor drives the front wheels, as in the E-Ray, giving the ZR1X all-wheel drive.
That’s likely the only way the flagship Corvette can turn its staggering horsepower and torque figures into a zero to 60 mph time of 1.68 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 8.67 seconds at 159 mph. That was done on a prepped surface, but Chevy also ran a ZR1X on an unprepared surface and got an 8.99-second quarter mile and 1.89-second zero to 60 mph time.
Not that Jeff Gordon—who made his name driving Chevy stock cars—was going to pass on the ultimate Corvette, but it’s worth noting that the ZR1X’s numbers match or surpass hypercars costing 10 times as much. At $207,395, the ZR1X is also about $120,000 cheaper than a Ford Mustang GTD, a car the Chevy can also hang with on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
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