ZR1, (or ZR-1), is a designation that has been used on several different generational models of the

Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a line of American two-door, two-seater sports cars manufactured and marketed by General Motors under the Chevrolet marque since 1953. Throughout eight generations, indicated sequentially as C1 to C8, the Corvette is not ...

. #For the 3rd generation (C3), the ZR1 & ZR2 were special engine packages. Only 53 of these packages were optioned during the 1970 to 1972 model years. #For the 4th generation (C4), the ZR1 was the top-tier package that was available from 1990 to 1995, with a special engine designed in partnership with Lotus, after

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

acquired

Group Lotus Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars) is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles. Lotus Group is composed of three primary entities. Lotus Cars, a high-performance sports car company, is ba ...

, and with the objective of creating the world's fastest production car. Other upgrades included steering, braking, specially designed Goodyear tires, and changes to body fascia. # For the 6th generation (C6), the ZR1 was a top-tier model package, the centerpiece of which was a new

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically powered (usually by ...

engine, with the supercharger visible through a window in the hood. There were numerous other upgrades to virtually every aspect of the car. # For the 7th generation (C7), the ZR1 was again the top-tier variant available, beginning in 2019. While improvements were made and there were significant changes to the body styling, the engine retained the same displacement and was again supercharged, with the unit visible through a hood window. # For the 8th generation (C8), the ZR1 was again on offer as the top variant for 2025, but major changes had been made to the car, not the least of which was to the Corvette layout, switching from a

front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout A front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout (FR), also called Système Panhard is a powertrain layout with an engine in front and rear-wheel-drive, connected via a drive shaft. This arrangement, with the engine straddling the front axle, was the t ...

(FMR) to a

rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout In automotive design, an RMR, or rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout is one in which the rear wheels are driven by an engine placed with its center of gravity in front of the rear axle, and thus right behind the passenger compartment. N ...

(RMR), moving the engine to the rear for the first time since the Corvette was first introduced 65 years prior. Major changes were also made to the engine's

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a reciprocating engine, piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating Shaft (mechanical engineering), shaft containing one or more crankpins, ...

, the displacement was reduced, and in place of the supercharger, the motor now sported a pair of turbochargers. All this combined made for the most powerful engine in the company's history.

See also