Corvette History

C4 ZR-1 Flashback: King Of The Hill Takes On The World

A 1990 ZR-1 takes on Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, and an Acura, who comes out on top?

Douglas Barton··
Last updated:
Photo Courtesy of Car and Driver
Photo Courtesy of Car and Driver

My first impression after taking this nostalgic walk back to the supercars of the 90s was wow, look how far we have come. The Ferrari 348ts had “only” 296 horsepower and now our most powerful ZR1 has over 700hp, compared to 375 for this first-year model.

The birth of this “King of the Hill” Corvette was both glorious and ambitious, and ironically GM reached out to Lotus to help design that phenomenal 32-valve masterpiece. GM had acquired Group Lotus in 1986, so why not tap them for some supercar knowledge, right?

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