Geiger Cars Corvette ZR1 is a Matte Gray Track Day Monster [w/ Videos]
Lots of car geeks, particularly in our age bracket, like to rag on the Chevrolet Corvette. They love to moan about the Tupperware party interior materials, the Victorian technology behind the transverse leaf springs in the suspension and the pushrods in the engine, and the neck bling and hair plugs that adorn the stereotypical Vette buyer. And the seats, oh how they love to bitch about the…er, on second thought, they do have a point there. But on a pure smile-per-dollar basis, Chevrolet’s soon-to-hit-the-big-6-0 sports car is almost impossible to beat.
This is especially true of the current Corvette ZR1. Its lightweight construction, trick electromagnetic dampers and brawny supercharged engine are all in cahoots to deliver the kind of acceleration, braking, speed and cornering capabilities you’d find on cars costing at least two or three times as much. And if you want a ZR1 with an even wider performance envelope, you might want to get on the horn to Geiger Cars.
The German firm specializing in importing and tuning American cars, trucks and SUVs put the beast you see here together for the 2012 Tuner Grand Prix at Hockenheim. Much of the body has been refinished in matte gray, while the roof (which is clearcoated carbon fiber on a stock ZR1) and the side mirrors are now matte black. The stock wheels have also been turned to black, and there are red arrows for the front and rear towhooks, a fighter-jet-esque warning message on the front engine air scoop, and Corvette Racing’s mascot Jake on the rear bumper and the now-opaque window on the hood. Lastly, revisions to the suspension lower the ride height in addition to sharpening handling. Yes, it looks like an even meaner mamma-jamma than a standard ZR1.
Open the door, and you’ll notice the much-maligned stock chairs and three-point belts have been binned in favor of a pair of hug-you-all-over Recaros and Willans four-point harnesses. Those harnesses attach to a partial rollcage, which does eat into trunkspace. But it is a necessary sacrifice.
Why? Because there’s considerably more power under the hood, meaning most of us will run out of talent that much sooner. The Geiger folks add ported cylinder heads, a more aggressive camshaft, lighter pistons, and better-flowing intake, exhaust and intercooler components to the supercharged 6.2L LS9 V8. The result is an increase from 638hp to 720hp, and torque jumps from 604 lb.-ft to 701 lb.-ft. The transmission remains a three-pedal 6-speed manual; no wussy paddles or double clutches here.
The top speed is not wussy, either. Geiger Cars claims its ZR1 will hit 221 mph, and after watch how hard it pulls in the videos below, we don’t have a whole lot of reason to doubt them. Of course, when you’re plunking down the equivalent of roughly $304,000, you kind of expect to get a 220+ mph top end as part of the deal. At least, we’d expect to get one if we were making that kind of dough.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rwZo25WkRY[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAEiFITWWIY[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bxtweVKxQc[/youtube]
Source: Geiger Cars