As the dust start to settle on the new Corvette Z06 at the Detroit Motor Show, more details start to trickle down from the top regarding the future of America’s finest sports car. According to Chevy officials, they are pondering a track-only version of the Z06 called Corvette Z06X. But there is no plan to develop a ZR1 version.
It was kind of obvious Chevy is not going to make a ZR1 when they announced that the Z06 has 630 horsepower. If they were going to make a ZR1, they would have left some room for improvement in the Z06. But as it is, the car is pretty much perfect in every sense.
As Corvette engineer Tadge Juechter points out, the Z06 is as good as the C7 generation Corvette is going to get. Developing a ZR1 would require a vast investment because it is going to need a new design and a new engine with even more power.
As for the Z06X track car, while it is just an idea for now, it’s not an old idea as Chevy has its hand at making a Corvette track car once before with a special concept car. What’s more, they have the C6R and the new C7R race cars which could be used as a template.
Corvette product manager Harlan Charles revealed to Car & Driver: “The idea was a non-street-legal, factory-built track car, and that is something that we are considering would be a great thing to apply to the new Corvette Z06. I mean that’s something we could see in the future. We’ve got a lot of ideas, but nothing to show today, unfortunately.”