1990 Corvette ZR1

When General Motors acquired Group Lotus during 1986, Corvette approached Lotus with plans to develop the C4 Corvette in to the world's fastest production car. Under the watchful eye of GM, a new engine was designed by Lotus to replace the standard C4 power plant, the L98 V8. The 'LT5' engine was born, an aluminium block V-8 with the same bore centres as the L98, but fitted with four overhead camshafts and 32 valves. Lotus also designed an air management system that closed 8 of the 16 intake runners and fuel injectors to provide a wider power band when used under part throttle, whilst still giving the engine optimum BHP when running under full throttle.

GM also used input from Lotus when it came to designing the ZR-1's upgraded braking and steering package. In addition to helping with the suspension set up, the FX3 adjustable active ride control ensured the car was more than just a modern day muscle car but also a car that could perform well both on the road and on the track.

The 1990 Corvette ZR1 available here was bought by the current owner in 2002 from a performance car specialist in South Africa and imported in to the UK by marque specialists; Claremont Corvette.

Having covered just 13,000 miles from new, the car is presented with a comprehensive history file which includes all bills for work carried out as well as import papers. Following the purchase of the car, the current vendor spent over £25,000 seriously modifying and upgrading the car's engine and handling, turning the car into a phenomenal road and track car. The upgrades undertaken include front and rear Spax shock absorbers with fourteen way adjustable bump/rebound, coupled with uprated progressive coil springs. The suspension of this ZR1 also benefits from uprated Polyurethane bushes and has been set up with careful attention to camber and caster settings. The running gear also includes 18" Image split rim wheels with adjustable anti roll bars and camber arms which will allow the new owner to fine-tune the car to suit their own personal preference.

The upgraded braking system has a bias spring fitted to the master cylinder to tune the Jeal/Brembo front brake kit, which uses the front calipers and discs from a Porsche 993 GT2. Whilst the rear brakes remain as standard, apart from the fitment of EBC track day pads.

As with the running gear, the 368 LT5 engine has also been subject to substantial upgrades that include uprated race bearings and a steel crank rebalanced for the fitment of lighter JE pistons and connecting rods. The cylinder head, injector housings and plenum chamber have all been match ported, as well as the fitment of competition valve springs and the retiming of the camshaft. These upgrades mean that the engine is taken from the standard BHP of 375, to a whopping 509 BHP at 7000 RPM, with dyno sheets available to back this up.

A 'quick shift' kit and an alloy flywheel with stage 1 Kevlar clutch have also been added to further enhance the overall performance of the car.

This has surely got to be the cheapest high performance track day car, that has been properly prepared on a no expense spared basis, available today. It warrants a very close examination at the Sale.