[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by XabbaRus

...Sure I like the Mustangs and the Corvettes, but they tested them on Top Gear and when stacked up againsts equivalent european rivals they got whacked each time. Also if I want a sports car I want something that goes fast and can turn the corner.

The Mustand I know STILL has a live rear axle. I think the new vette might but not sure....

You must not have been watching in the last couple years. The Vette has smacked down all European cars costing 2x to 3x as much. The 500+ HP Mustang can also do it on a budget!

Mr. Clarkston actually bought the ZR-1 Vette if I am not mistaken he liked it so much.

-S

PS. A Transcript. Notice what they say last -

Right, make no mistake. What we have here is one of the truly great supercars. Bragging rights ahoy: the ZR1 currently holds the production car record for the Nürburgring.

I feel like I've been tipped off the top of the Cresta Run. On rollerblades. And I'm blindfolded. Holy cow, this is scary. To clarify the situation, let's look at the issues.

One: the track I'm on, which is full of closing-radius sphincter-tightening corners, treacherous cambers, conniving double-apex curves and, most of all, blind traps that jump up at you from behind crests.

Issue two, the car. In the Corvette ZR1, we've got 638bhp, in a machine that weighs just 1,518kg fully fuelled and optioned. That's Enzo Ferrari territory.

I don't know the car, and I don't know the track. That combination is so intimidating, I feel like I've about 1,500bhp under my toe.

My first tickle had the rear tyres spinning up in second gear, in a straight line, with the ESP and traction control fully on.

"Oh, it'll do that," chief engineer Tadge Jeuchter told me later, showing only a slightly evil grin. It cuts in only when the car gets properly sideways. And that's in full-nanny mode: after that, there's a 'competitive driving' mode (I'll not deploy that, because I'm not competitive). And then an 'off' mode. If I used that too soon in the learning curve, I would indeed be off.

I'm not saying the ZR1 is dangerous. Far from it. After a few laps, I feel more comfortable. Comfortable? Hmmm, maybe not. Lightning-bolt alert, doing what I can to stay with a car that'll do 0-60 in 3.4 seconds, top out at 205mph and corner at 1g-plus.

More than that, it's gradually apparent that the handling is pretty damned sublime. That, and the brakes, and the grip.

Right, make no mistake. What we have here is one of the truly great supercars. Bragging rights ahoy: the ZR1 currently holds the production car record for the Nürburgring.