• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

General Motors is touting its new claim to fame as the fastest American manufacturer to traverse the legendary German road course, the Nürburgring Nordschleife, in a production vehicle. 

The Chevrolet Corvette Z06, ZR1 and ZR1X took over the 12.9-mile Nordschleife circuit where, for the first time in the track’s history, an automaker brought three different cars with three non-racecar drivers to record three lap times in a single visit. 

Three of the Chevrolet engineers who helped develop these cars, and have extensive experience and advanced driving credentials, piloted them during the fast laps.

“Homegrown Speed: A Corvette Story” goes behind the scenes and showcases the journey from GM’s Milford Proving Ground to Germany, illustrating the intensity and precision of pursuing three lap times with three separate Corvette variants and three different drivers. 

The 17-minute film was created by Weber Shandwick. Chevrolet CMO Steve Majoras wrote about it on LinkedIn. 

“In my personal and professional life, there’s some stuff I just won’t (or can’t) do,” Majoras writes. “Excel? Not my thing. Rough carpentry? I call my brother. And one thing I for sure wouldn’t do (and am smart enough to not even try) is take a leisurely drive around the Ring going 190MPH, clocking a lap under 7 minutes. But just like Excel and carpentry, I know a guy. Well, three guys. And countless women and men behind them that have built and told a story that only Chevy can tell. Nürburgring is another chapter of an amazing Corvette, Chevrolet, and GM story. And while the finish time said under 7 minutes—this is just the start.”

Corvette ZR1X vehicle dynamics engineer Drew Cattell completed a 6:49.275 lap in the electrified all-wheel drive ZR1X and now has the fastest lap time of any non-professional racecar driver at the Nürburgring in the list of official record laps. ZR1 vehicle dynamics engineer Brian Wallace set a 6:50.763 time in the 1,064-horsepower ZR1.

The Corvettes at the Nürburgring were all U.S. production-spec vehicles, with the only modifications being the safety equipment recommended by the track. This includes a roll hoop, full containment race seat, fire extinguisher, and a six-point safety harness. All three set lap times for the Prototype/Pre-Production category, since the ZR1 and ZR1X are not sold in Europe and the Z06 was a North American variant.

The 670-horsepower Corvette Z06, with the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 ever put in a production car, set a lap of 7:11.826 with vehicle performance manager Aaron Link behind the wheel.

“No auto manufacturer has done a Nürburgring lap attempt like this before,” said GM President Mark Reuss, who also appears in the short film. “From development through production, and now at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the Green Hell, we have clearly shown there is no limit to what our GM engineers and vehicles can accomplish. These are the best Corvettes in history, period.”

The track offers unique road dynamics that challenge both the drivers and vehicles, and it is an important part of tuning Corvettes to deliver the on-track performance Corvette customers expect, according to the automaker. 

Since 2019, lap times have been officially recorded, confirmed and published by the Nürburgring, with carmakers providing video proof from the world’s most demanding racetrack.