The Corvette ZR1X Is A Tech Powerhouse, But It Still Needs A Skilled Driver

When General Motors introduced the Corvette ZR1X last year, it didn't reveal what the exact 0-60 and quarter-mile numbers would be. What the automaker did reveal were expectations in the form of "0-60: under 2 seconds" and "quarter-mile: under 9 seconds." Now, however, things are official — the Corvette ZR1X set an 8.675 quarter-mile time with a trap speed of 159.57 mph. The 1,250-horsepower hypercar-slayer managed 0-60 in 1.68 seconds (with rollout), making it America's quickest production car ever.

Sure, it was a prepped surface and there was a professional driver behind the wheel, but the record-setting ZR1X was in street-legal spec, running pump gas and Michelin PS4 tires. While the car itself is an engineering tour de force, Stefan Frick (the driver) played no small part in the achievement. In a YouTube video by GM and Chevrolet, Lead Development Engineer Keith Badgley notes that Frick has years of experience doing this kind of stuff and understands how to prepare and place the car before the run. Finding the right spot after the water box (where you perform the burnout) is crucial — you don't want to be too close to the lights, according to Badgley.

That, however, doesn't discount the electronic wizardry happening inside this hybrid Corvette. Per General Motors, Frick had some help from the Corvette's Custom Launch Control feature (standard on all C8s), allowing the driver to adjust launch RPMs and wheel slip targets. The ZR1X's computer brain certainly played its part, helping the hypercar manage wheel spin and control the various engine, transmission, and traction parameters.

It helps that GM shared the 0-60 and quarter-mile times had the ZR1X been on an unprepped surface, albeit with the ZTK Performance Package. As it turns out, the car's still fast, with 0-60 in 1.89 seconds and the quarter-mile in 8.99 seconds (both with rollout). To put this into perspective, internal combustion production cars with quarter-mile times in the eight-second range and sub-two-second 0-60s 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 weren't aware, the ZR1X uses the ZR1's 5.5-liter LT7 twin-turbo V8 and pairs it with the E-Ray's hybrid hardware, making it quite literally a Frankenstein of a car. Combined system output rockets to 1,250 hp from the ZR1's 1,064 hp. As for the hybrid side, the front motor churns out 186 hp and 145 pound-feet of torque, a decent jump over the E-Ray's front motor, which is down by 26 hp and 20 lb-ft. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the ZR1X's electrified front axle played a crucial part in its record-breaking quarter-mile run.

GM points out that the computers inside constantly monitor driver inputs and vehicle conditions to optimize traction and response from its eAWD system. Not only that, but the PTM Pro setting (which turns off traction and stability control) gives drivers access to the purest ZR1X experience while still keeping some of the electronic nannies like the ABS on. Managing 1,250 hp is no small feat, and it takes a lot of skill to make the most out of this series-production all-American hypercar.