Oh great, another Nissan GT-R wannabe. Give it up America, you're only embarrassing yourself now.

Someone has been drinking their haterade today.

Corvette's were cool in the 80's...

cheap and terrible hp/displacement

Lot of hate already on this post!!!! I do not think that GT-R buyers are the same target audience as Corvette buyers. Both are blistering fast, but go about their speed in a different fashion.

It might beat the GT-R. But it most likely wont beat the GTR V-Spec

Hey, I have an idea. Lets throw the the Viper SRT10 ACR in to the mix.

quote:
" dennisil:

cheap and terrible hp/displacement"

not that I'm a huge fan of corvettes, or even American cars for that matter but it seems to me that 638hp and 604 lb-ft of torque are pretty good numbers for a 6.2L. the only engine that comes to mind in the same pricerange is the 6.2L from Mercedes and thats at 525 and 465 lb-ft of torque, which, granted its unboosted, but still falls far short of the numbers put up by the ZR1, and both engines show up in cars that cost in the 100K range. Now, I'm not saying that the hp/L is excellent(that would be 700-750hp), but it is still quite good. Would I be more impressed if they got 638hp from the car without a supercharger? Sure, but then you wouldn't have the mountain of torque on tap that this car has, and you might wind up with a peaky engine.

quote:
" dennisil:

cheap and terrible hp/displacement"

not that I'm a huge fan of corvettes, or even American cars for that matter but it seems to me that 638hp and 604 lb-ft of torque are pretty good numbers for a 6.2L. the only engine that comes to mind in the same pricerange is the 6.2L from Mercedes and thats at 525 and 465 lb-ft of torque, which, granted its unboosted, but still falls far short of the numbers put up by the ZR1, and both engines show up in cars that cost in the 100K range. Now, I'm not saying that the hp/L is excellent(that would be 700-750hp), but it is still quite good. Would I be more impressed if they got 638hp from the car without a supercharger? Sure, but then you wouldn't have the mountain of torque on tap that this car has, and you might wind up with a peaky engine.

quote:
" dennisil:

cheap and terrible hp/displacement"

not that I'm a huge fan of corvettes, or even American cars for that matter but it seems to me that 638hp and 604 lb-ft of torque are pretty good numbers for a 6.2L. the only engine that comes to mind in the same pricerange is the 6.2L from Mercedes and thats at 525 and 465 lb-ft of torque, which, granted its unboosted, but still falls far short of the numbers put up by the ZR1, and both engines show up in cars that cost in the 100K range. Now, I'm not saying that the hp/L is excellent(that would be 700-750hp), but it is still quite good. Would I be more impressed if they got 638hp from the car without a supercharger? Sure, but then you wouldn't have the mountain of torque on tap that this car has, and you might wind up with a peaky engine.

quote:
" dennisil:

cheap and terrible hp/displacement"

not that I'm a huge fan of corvettes, or even American cars for that matter but it seems to me that 638hp and 604 lb-ft of torque are pretty good numbers for a 6.2L. the only engine that comes to mind in the same pricerange is the 6.2L from Mercedes and thats at 525 and 465 lb-ft of torque, which, granted its unboosted, but still falls far short of the numbers put up by the ZR1, and both engines show up in cars that cost in the 100K range. Now, I'm not saying that the hp/L is excellent(that would be 700-750hp), but it is still quite good. Would I be more impressed if they got 638hp from the car without a supercharger? Sure, but then you wouldn't have the mountain of torque on tap that this car has, and you might wind up with a peaky engine.

Something to be said about a 638hp car with a warranty. My guess is that the aftermarket will come out with a smaller pulley pretty quick to make more boost. I think its only set to 8psi stock. Both are nice cars, but I really hope the vette wins. Is Nissian making money on the GT-R? I would take either car without complaining!

Why is Torque Report posting nothing just to get people to argue about the ZR1 vs GTR with nonsense comments AGAIN?

This post has no purpose. Please TR, post real news. Not something random for idiots to squabble over.

Bah I've tried hating on Corvette for several years, but you have to admin they are coming up and BOSSING on this one in particular... esp for the money. Yeah the materials aren't as exotic, but they PERFORM. And shit it even looks tough! Def not that whimpy (styled) C6 Z51 shit. The interior gripes... yeah but an Ferrari @200K and 911@130K... vette at around 80-90... toss in 5-10K in custom interior, and some other good mods and for the same amount of money, you've got better performance, BETTER quality interior b/c custom is way beyond some mass market in-house ferrari/porsche. And it'll smoke them both. Course those cares are about status, but a custom 100K vette actually IS better quality than both of them combined.

The GT-R/911t, even the GT3 are starting to lean on the portly side. Tooo fucking heavy these days. Dollar for dollar and toss in the extra cash for the price diff and the vette IS the better car regardless of prissy ass rich trust fund babies and stock coke addicts. I'm voting vette. GT-R is faster, but it's a pig and not very "driver" oriented with paddles and bullshit computer everything. Oh and of course gas mileage doesn't matter to that social-class of owner, but it's still a nice perk. Vette gets my nod (I thought I'd NEVER EVER say that ever, I've HATED vette for min 10yrs...) *sob* An ACE is an ACE - TRUMP!

The ZR-1 will probably demolish all on acceleration above 60mph.

But, any aftermarket tuner can make a large displacement V-8 a drag racer.

Put it this way, the ZR-1 is heavier (in the nose) than the Z06 = lower handling numbers.

The question is, can the extra power overcome shittier handling on the toughest track in the world?

bet the Corvette will keep the coffee safe in its cupholders at 300mph

ha, ha, strange that nobody noticed, but the nissan has the steering wheel on the wrong side.

Stupid Japanese...

no you retard... thats the japanese production version...>.>

then how do they reach the pedals if they sit in the other seat?

It takes a special edition Corvette to match a base model GTR?
Dollar for dollar (or yen), the GTR is the better buy. Despite being heavier, we do live in a time where suspension can make a large handling difference and somewhat compensate for weight and balance.

Also, "driver friendly" is dependent on the driver. I, for example, have some experience in this field. I've been riding motorcycles for a few years now and thought the shifting mechanisms were perfect. Then a few months ago I rode an enduro Yamaha with a clutchless-shift device installed. I didn't think it gave me more control at first, but did notice that it allowed the bike to shift way faster than I could have. Since then, There have been many times while riding that I wished I had that device on my bike. Maybe not while at a stop light, but definitely when ripping through my favorite twisty. My bike is an 03 R6, so it's fairly new and definitely race oriented, just about one click down from race prep. Just like these cars, the paddle-shift is designed to not allow human error, like a mis-shift at 6k rpm. Remember, no one is perfect.

dennisil, just give it up already on the hp/L. I think more then a few of us have bashed that theory on performance already.

Noya, despite what you think again, the weight balance of the ZR1 is 52/48. But that extra bias doesn't hurt apparently since it still great then 1g like the Z06. Same grip plus an extra 133 hp and huge brakes should make for a very quick car, around the track.

And I believe your beloved Jeremy Clarkson said it best, "Just get on the throttle and power your way out of trouble." That was with the Z06.

Alex, peak boost on the ZR1 is 10.5 psi. And as for making money on the GT-R, Nissan says they are, though I doubt it. All those techno goodies cost a lot of $$.

It will be interesting if GM revises the Z06 with an LSA. They are apparently cheaper to produce then the LS7 and it makes more power, 550 vs 505.

Why is 638hp/6.2ltr horrible, while 400hp/4.4ltr represents some kind of acheivement? (Because the later is in a BMW, maybe?)

What the ZR1 and the BMW550 have in common is that they are both suitable as daily drivers. The GT-Rs are street legal, so they don't have to be trailered to the track, but I don't think we'll be seeing any parked at the local Piggly Wiggly.

For the amount of Corvette haters out there, I'm pretty sure that any one of you would take one if you had the chance. Where else you going to get a 600 HP car that goes 200 MPH for the price? Ferrari, No!, Lamborghin No!, Porshe No! It's a "cheap" way to the 600 hp club. I'd rather have a Corvette any day over any of the other supercars. You ever price common wear parts on Ferarris or Porshes such as brakes, rotors, and other misc. stuff. Wallet breakers for sure. Who really cares anyways if the Nissan or Corvette has a faster time around the ring. Is the car fun to drive? If it is than its success in my book.

The GT-R is more drivable on the street than the ZR1. It has a better gear box allowing faster acceleration out of low speed turns. The ZR1 will beat it on the straight over 60mph and it is lighter. Cornering wise, it is very debatable which car is better, its very hard to tell.

We will see who wins

@CS

While I suppose one way to measure the streetability of a potential daily driver is faster acceleration out of low speed turns, I am hard pressed to use a measure that would make an F1 racer more streetable than a Honda Accord.

Other measures would have to include fuel economy and range, noise, luggage capacity, maintenance interval & cost, tire life & cost among other measures that don't matter on the track, but make the difference on the street.

I'm still at a loss at why these two particular cars have been pitted against each other. They aren't even really in the same class. The Corvette is, and has always been designed, to be a straight-up, straight-line, 2-seat sports car. The Nissan GT-R is a GT coupe. It just happens to be the fastest in it's category. While I don't mine challenges and seeing who wins, if the Corvette wins it isn't really a fair comparison. Granted the GT-R's back seats are pretty small (such as the much longed-for Toyota Supra), but it still has back-seats. If anything, it should be compared to whooping on any Mustang, or the up-coming (and poorly timed) Camaro. As far as comparing the ZR1 to a Ferrari...that too is flawed in my opinion. A ZR-1 will turn the heads of car enthusiasts who know the difference between a regular Corvette and a Special Edition Corvette. The Ferrari is a performance car AND a status symbol. It turns everyone's heads. I like the styling of the ZR-1, except for the hideous hood, but it is nowhere near the beauty of a Ferrari, Lamborghini, or other Italian sports (super) car.

I'm still at a loss at why these two particular cars have been pitted against each other. They aren't even really in the same class. The Corvette is, and has always been designed, to be a straight-up, straight-line, 2-seat sports car. The Nissan GT-R is a GT coupe. It just happens to be the fastest in it's category. While I don't mine challenges and seeing who wins, if the Corvette wins it isn't really a fair comparison. Granted the GT-R's back seats are pretty small (such as the much longed-for Toyota Supra), but it still has back-seats. If anything, it should be compared to whooping on any Mustang, or the up-coming (and poorly timed) Camaro. As far as comparing the ZR1 to a Ferrari...that too is flawed in my opinion. A ZR-1 will turn the heads of car enthusiasts who know the difference between a regular Corvette and a Special Edition Corvette. The Ferrari is a performance car AND a status symbol. It turns everyone's heads. I like the styling of the ZR-1, except for the hideous hood, but it is nowhere near the beauty of a Ferrari, Lamborghini, or other Italian sports (super) car. Everyone says the Corvette is cheaper...well it is still high enough where many of the people interested in it can also afford a Ferrari. If I was that rich I wouldn't be talking about "saving" money on a Corvette...despite it's power numbers. I'd be all over the Ferrari and getting laid by a supermodel every night of the week.

@ Avatar,

Sure, you can put very WIDE tires on any real sports car and pull close to 1.0g on the skidpad, but the slalom will not improve (over the Z06). The Z06 pulls about 70mph, while the GT-R does 73.5mph through the cones...which is a huge difference and also why it demolished the Z06 and 911 Turbo in the Road&Track comparison test by like 4 seconds! a lap (even though the Z06 out accelerated the GT-R from 70mph+ and pulled the same skidpad number).

Any added weight will (especially in the nose) will lower handling performance.

And I don't like that douche from "Top Gear", bro. In fact, I prefer "5th Gear".

Of course the ZR1 engine is cheaper than the LS7, it's just a V-8 with a blower while the LS7 is a high compression V-8 (a la F430 and M3, though a "low-tech" OHV design).

@ bubba551:

Why is 638hp/6.2ltr horrible, while 400hp/4.4ltr represents some kind of acheivement? (Because the later is in a BMW, maybe?)

BECAUSE one has a blower...duh.

seems the haters here all failed math and physics alike...

this should be no contest. 600+ hp and 3300lbs mass vs. Nissan's lower hp and much higher mass

at this point only things that keep the Nissan in the game are its fairly advanced AWD system and pretty low gearing.

Chevy can and will handle, aside from massive tires and carbon brakes, Chevy already celebrated success with the Z06 and it's ability to outrun much better cars and more expensive cars on the track (likes of 911 GT3 and Ferrari F430)...

my prediction: under the same conditions with a similarly capable driver, ZR1 will be ahead of the Nissan 5-10 sec a lap... if not, GM should just give up...

for the record I made my prediction before finishing the article.... :D

And with that attitude Noya, anyone can add an AWD system to a car and make it go fast around bends. And the ZR1 from a roll will walk away from the GT-R, too much power and a lot less weight. The ZR1 also has better tires then the Z06. And there is a reason for those fat tires, so it can convert all that torque to motion.

But I loved how Nissan had to under rate the GT-R to make it look better. If it is dynoing around 480 hp, at 15% drive train loss it is making 564 hp at the crank, 480/.85=564. So now it is making more power then the Z06, which dynos around 440 hp or 440/.87=506. It has it's transmission bolted right to the rear axle for less drive train loss.

Yes, the extremely high 11.0:1 compression ratio of the LS7 compared to oh, the LS6 with 10.5:1, the 10.9:1 of the LS2 which is faster then the LS6 thanks to a flatter torque curve, or the LS3 10.7:1. The LS7 has more to it then a high compression ratio. The LS9 is 9.1:1, because it uses boost.

And I also said LSA, which is a weaker version of the LS9, so the LSA is going to cost less then the LS9. For example, the LSA has a 1.9L super with one inter cooler brick compared to the 2.3L and 2 inter cooler bricks. The LSA uses the normal L92 heads compared to the specially designed heads for the LS9. The LSA also has cast internals compared to the forged internals on the LS9 or LS7. The LS9 and LS7 also uses more exotic materials like titanium when the LSA doesn't. They also have different cams. The LS9 is also hand built like the LS7 , the LSA is just assembled. So is the LS9 cheaper then the LS7, no idea. I would imagine it is around the same cost. The LSA is cheaper, cheaper parts and meant for the CTS-V and possibly the XLR-V, which aren't exactly tuner cars. The LS9 is built to be tuned.

Ashame the C7 was pushed back. It is suppose to be an evolutionary C6, smaller, lighter, more aerodynamic. If a C6 is keeping up with a GT-R, imagine what a smaller, lighter one with a Gen V small block will do.

@Noya:

Why is 638hp/6.2ltr horrible, while 400hp/4.4ltr represents some kind of acheivement? (Because the later is in a BMW, maybe?)

BECAUSE one has a blower...duh.

AND the other one is twin-turbo....d'oh

[like fish in a barrel]

The only Twin-Turbo BMW has is in the 335 which is a 3.0L not a 4.4. I am quite impressed by the 4.0L V8 producing 414 hp in the M3.

I believe bubba551 is talking about the new twin turbo 4.4L that is suppose to go into the new 555i and is in the xDrive50i X6. So yes, BMW does now have two twin turbo engines in the line up.

Noya, dennisil and all others alike...if you switched heads with a donkey the donkey would come out losing.

And you better talk to a good psychiatrist about that fixation with american cars and america.

BTW... M3 engine weights 445 and the regular Corvette engine 420 and has more power, torque, better power delivery and fuel efficiency...am i saying that the LS3 is better? No...im telling that HP/Displacement numbers are for dumb people thats all

Holy crap, all i hear is bla bla american cars suck. Dude, if you like your foreign cars so much, go move to damn country, and stfu. Have love for all vehicles, their both great cars. I love them both (even tho I'm a die heart Chevy guy) And everyone that says "wow the GT-R is SOOO ugly." everyone that comes to this damn site has no respect for any car. You look at all the posts, all it is, is dissing and hatred BOO THAT BOO THIS. I'd like to see ANY other car in these 2 cars class that can beat them besides the Viper.

is that 'time' including or excluding re-fueling?

AWD cars have more parasitic loss than RWD, so I think 15% is on the low side. I suspect the GTR is putting out close to 600hp to manage a 480hp awd dyno run, which makes the outstanding performance on the ring make more sense.

It's a well balanced car that while heavy, buys AWD performance for that weight. People constantly underestimate how significant an advantage AWD is on performance cars, but getting the power to the ground earlier and harder on every corner should not be underestimated. Audi was thrown out of Trans Am because it's AWD cars quickly came to dominate... and most series explicitly ban AWD.

The Vette on the other hand is in a more traditional vein... light and powerful. I suspect the ZR1 will prove the faster on the ring, because with more power than the GTR and significantly less weight, it's advantages will overmatch the AWD advantage.

There's other things to balance between the two, the ZR1 will be $30k more and far less streetable than the GTR... but it may prove easier to come by. Someone said that GTR's are being built by 16 guys - which means a very limited supply - not sure how many ZR1's Chevy is planning on but there may be better supply.

Personlly, I think the GTR will make the better year round daily driver... but I think the ZR1 will be close to the ultimate American summer car for a while (trailing the Ford GT but not by much, and for a whole lot less).

What is Nurburgring and where the heck is it? So I don't care. So a Vette that I'll never afford (or own) goes like stink around a course. Hey,... hook that Vette or two up to a Dodge ram here in America and let's have a tug of war...now that would impress me.

Ahh... a truck guy, we don't see many of them around here. I suppose we should thank him for paying such high margins on his vehicle that car companies can sell our cars for a reasonable amount.

I think that it should come close.

I agree Dodge, get your new Viper out there. Then I want to see the lap times with the traction and stability controls turned off. The Viper's time wouldn't change, now that is impressive.

No way will this thing beat the GTR.

When are you people going to learn - AMERICANS ARE THE WORLDS WORST CAR DESIGNERS/ENGINEERS. They spend to much of their time designing weapons to shoot rag heads with.

Yeah put the Viper on the ring - ROFL !!!!

Yea, guess that's why an Americans designed, engineered, and build the fastest production car in the world, for less then half the cost of it's closest rival.

The GT-R will get the better timing. A AWD system will do better coming out of the corners. Thats where the vette will lose precious time.

And to sum up all the comments above:

Nissan Sucks, no Chevy sucks. Import is better, no domestic is better.

Funny how some people are replying like they've actually driver either car. My money says that 98% of the poeple posting on here have never even taken a car around a track or driven anything with more than a 140 hp 4 banger.

Still nothing accomplished.

There is an in car video of the ring from a Porsche. You guys should check it out. This is a fast track average corner being in the 80-120mph range. A few of the straight are long enough to reach top end. That should give the vette a substantial advantage. It has a confirmed top speed of 205 compared with around 180ish. It should also be substantially faster accelerating above 100. Lastly the vette is no slouch in the handling department or braking so the corner speeds are not going to be drastically different. The main advantage for the GT-R is that you can get back on the gas earlier. Is that enough on this track, can't wait to see the results.

@RJ
The Viper's handling is on par or slightly better than last years Z06 which is among the best in world. You most likely will never drive anything that is close to that level. While I agree that little effort is put forth in handling on most US makes, these are not examples of that. In the hands of a professional driver it has bested the 997 turbo AWD and Z06 at tighter tracks. I tend to believe it would do just fine. The real kicker it doesn't have traction control like the other cars so I would say the engineering is pretty sound. None of these other cars would be close without computers helping you along.

"bubba551:

Why is 638hp/6.2ltr horrible, while 400hp/4.4ltr represents some kind of acheivement? (Because the later is in a BMW, maybe?)

What the ZR1 and the BMW550 have in common is that they are both suitable as daily drivers. The GT-Rs are street legal, so they don't have to be trailered to the track, but I don't think we'll be seeing any parked at the local Piggly Wiggly."

This has to be one of the most ignorant replies I've ever seen aside from the typical fanboyism. The sole purpose of the R35 GT-R is to be fast and comfortable (why would Nissan let older women test drive it, I can't imagine its to let them carve the mountains) while the V-Spec is supposed to be the race-oriented GT-R.

Even if the ZR1 beats the GT-R's time, there is still the V-Spec that it will have to compete against... not saying the V-Spec will for sure be faster but a lot better comparison.

Hey, along with the Viper SRT10 ACR, they should all so throw in some Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martons, Lotusses, Porsches, Alfas, Bugattis, Audis, Saleens, SSCs, and a Ford GT.

Wow, that'll be one hell of a race.