When General Motors introduced the Corvette ZR1X last year, it wasn’t revealed what the exact 0-60 and quarter-mile figures would be. What the automaker did reveal were expectations in the form of “0-60: less than 2 seconds” and “quarter mile: less than 9 seconds.” Now, though, things are official: the Corvette ZR1X posted a time of 8.675 quarter-mile with a pedaling speed of 155.57 mph. The 1,250-horsepower hypercar slayer did 0-60 in 1.68 seconds (with coasting), making it America’s fastest production car ever.
Sure, it was a groomed surface and a professional driver was behind the wheel, but the record-breaking ZR1X was in street-legal form, with pump gas and Michelin PS4 tires. Although the car itself is a technical tour de force, Stefan Frick (the driver) played no small role in the performance. In a YouTube video by GM and ChevroletLead Development Engineer Keith Badgley notes that Frick has years of experience with this kind of thing and understands how to prepare and position the car for the run. Finding the right spot after the water box (where you’ll perform the burnout) is crucial: according to Badgley, you don’t want to be too close to the lights.
However, that does not detract from the electronic wizardry that takes place in this hybrid Corvette. Per General enginesFrick had some help from the Corvette’s Custom Launch Control feature (standard on all C8s), which allowed the driver to adjust launch speed and wheel-slip targets. The ZR1X’s computer brain certainly played a role in helping the hypercar manage wheelspin and monitor the various engine, transmission and traction parameters.
Loaded with technology, but still produces 1,250 hp
It helps that GM shared the 0-60 and quarter-mile times if the ZR1X had been on an unprepared surface, albeit with the ZTK Performance Package. It turns out the car is still quick, with 0-60 in 1.89 seconds and the quarter mile in 8.99 seconds (both with coasting). To put this in perspective, production internal combustion cars with quarter-mile times in the eight-second range and 0-60 seconds under two seconds are the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut and Bugatti Tourbillon.
The 2026 Corvette ZR1X starts at just over $200,000 – a fraction of the price of a Bugatti or Koenigsegg. And in case you didn’t know, the ZR1X takes the ZR1’s 5.5-liter LT7 twin-turbo V8 and pairs it with the E-Ray’s hybrid hardware, literally making it a Frankenstein car. Combined system power rises to 1,250 hp, compared to the ZR1’s 1,064 hp. On the hybrid side, the front motor makes 186 horsepower and 145 pound-feet of torque, quite a jump from the E-Ray’s front motor, which is down 26 hp and 20 lb-ft. It should come as no surprise that the ZR1X’s electrified front axle played a crucial role in the record-breaking quarter-mile run.
GM points out that the computers inside continuously monitor driver input and vehicle conditions to optimize the traction and response of the eAWD system. Not only that, but the PTM Pro setting (which disables traction and stability control) gives drivers access to the purest ZR1X experience, while still keeping some electronic nannies like the ABS enabled. Managing 1,250 horsepower is no small feat, and it takes a lot of skill to get the most out of this all-American production hypercar.
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