While it is not commonly known, the origins of “CORVSPORT.COM” date back to about 2010 when two (somewhat younger) automotive enthusiasts had an idea to build an automotive website that showcased the decades long rivalry between the Corvette and the Porsche 911. The name “CORVSPORT” was originally developed as an abbreviation of the phrase “CORvette VS PORsche” (with a T thrown on the end to give the name some additional character.) Unfortunately, Porsche wanted nothing to do with the project and threatened legal action against our fledgling company if we didn’t eliminate the Porsche factor from our website, and so the name was repurposed to “CORVette motorSPORTs.”
However, the Corvette / Porsche rivalry has always been part of the heart and soul of this website. It fueled its creation and its evolution, even if much of the content surrounding Porsche was muted due to the threat of a lawsuit. As time has passed, and the internet has matured, those concerns have largely abated,….and it is for that reason that I (as the founder on the Corvette side of Corvsport.com) thought it would be fun to turn back the clocks a few years and look at one of the great rivalries from days gone by….and so, without further ado, I give you the 1991 Corvette ZR-1 versus the Porsche 911 Turbo rivalry!
The content of this story, much of which originated in the April 1991 issue of Car and Driver magazine, is the kind of storytelling that has helped fuel this rivalry for generations.
The 1991 Corvette ZR-1 and the 1991 Porsche 911 Turbo (Image Courtesy of Car and Driver)
The rivalry between Porsche and Corvette actually started in 1965 which, by no coincidence, is also the year that the Porsche 911 came on the scene. As both Chevrolet and Porsche recognized that building a track-capable sports car would win the imaginations of consumers, each set about developing a machine that could dominate at the track. The old adage “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” came roaring to the forefront, even if both manufacturers were “officially” banned from producing factory-built race cars at that time.
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