What’s The Chevy Corvette ZR1’s Record-Breaking Top Speed & How Much HP Does It Have?

When General Motors (GM) announced the 2025 model year Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 back in July 2024, the company claimed that it is the “fastest, most powerful Corvette ever,” with an estimated top speed of 215 mph. Three months since the announcement, it’s now become evident that Chevy’s top speed estimates for the 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1 were conservative at best.

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GM recently conducted a speed test run at a high-speed test track in Germany, where the car achieved a staggering top speed of 233 mph, easily surpassing the estimated top speed claim made by the company a few months ago. The Corvette ZR1’s new record was confirmed after the car did two test runs on the track. 

Apart from making the 2025 Chevy Corvette ZR1 the fastest Corvette ever and the fastest car to ever come out of GM’s stables, this test run has also ensured that the vehicle is now the fastest car ever made by an American automaker, all thanks to its brand new 1,064 hp engine.

What makes the achievement even more special is the fact that this speed record was achieved by General Motors President Mark Ruess at the wheel. Chevy did, however, confirm that Ruess was accompanied by a GM engineer who analyzed real-time data from the car for this run.

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It is not uncommon for automobile companies to make several enhancements to stock cars during performance demonstrations such as these. Chevrolet claims that wasn’t the case with this particular top-speed run. The car involved in this top-speed run was in stock condition and featured an unchanged chassis. It came with a standard spoiler with a short wicker and ran on standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires clad in aluminum wheels.

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One change the company did make, however, was to use a dedicated “Top Speed Mode” developed by GM engineers. This mode was customized for the track — ATP Automotive Testing Papenburg — located in Papenburg, Germany. Armed with these improvements, the car achieved the 233 mph top speed figure while redlining in the sixth gear.

While the car was mostly in stock condition, GM did confirm that it chose Paperburg as the site for this test, as it had the optimal conditions in terms of temperature and air density for a top speed test run. The location has also been the venue for other top-speed runs by GM cars, including the likes of the sixth-generation Camaro ZL1 and the older Corvette ZR1 models (sixth and seventh generation).

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All the credit for the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1s record-breaking speed run goes to the new 5.5 liter twin-turbocharged DOHC flat-plane crank V8 engine of the car. As outlined earlier, this engine makes 1,064 hp at 7,000 rpm and claims a peak torque figure of 828 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm, easily making it the most powerful engine to ever feature on a stock Chevy Corvette.

With this car only hitting the showrooms in 2025, Corvette fanboys will need to wait for a while before they can experience this all-new supercar.