Lotus Engineering and the ZR1

[rcollum]

At the dealer this morning, I saw a 1995 Corvette ZR1 with what I assume is a reproduction of the original sticker. Lotus Engineering had a major role in the creation of this car. The Lotus Engineering office near Detroit (not sure if it's still there) worked on this for quite a while. Two of their engineers showed up at the Lotus Owners Gathering (LOG) held in Grand Rapids, MI in a ZR1.

It's interesting to look back to a Corvette in 1995, with a then-amazing 375hp. Note the sticker - this is a baseline Corvette, at $36,785, with the ZR1 option line item, at $31,258. What was called 'King of the Hill' back then does not have the hp of the base model now.

[chotto]

First, Lotus Engineering is still alive and well in Southfield and Ann Arbor. Second, the 1995 ZR-1 had 405hp, not 375 (still more than the base model of today). I'm surprised that on an Elise board, hp is even an issue.

[Flash G]

Originally Posted by chotto

First, Lotus Engineering is still alive and well in Southfield and Ann Arbor. Second, the 1995 ZR-1 had 405hp, not 375 (still more than the base model of today). I'm surprised that on an Elise board, hp is even an issue.

The ZR1 had 375HP up until 1993 when it was boosted to 405. And why would Elisetalk members not care about HP??? I'll take an extra 30HP.



.

[rcollum]

Glad to hear the engineering group is still in business.

I did a quick lookup earlier, and saw figures for the early version of the ZR1, 1990-92, which had 375hp. I just checked, and you are correct that the later model, 1993-95, had 405hp. The standard 2008 base coupe now has 430hp, with a list starting at just over $46,000. A 505-hp Z06 starts at $71,000.

My point was, we've come a long way in what we expect of cars like the Corvette, in respect to hp vs price. Especially when it's $68,000 for 405hp in 1995 vs current prices/power.

Is hp an issue? I think a lot of us on this site are interested in high-hp cars, even though most of us vote with our wallets for power-to-weight.

[Tristar Racing]

Lotus was responsible for the development and design of the engine. It was actually based on the design of an experimental Lotus V-8 that never reached production. The ZR-1 was a neat car in its day, and a one-off prototype convertable was discovered near Lotus land in England a few years back. Last I heard someone was trying to restore it...

Another odd fact, Mercury Marine got the contract to build the ZR-1 engine.

[Minnis]

My Dad currently has a modded ZR1 and that thing is sick!! It was definately faster than my 01 Viper. The twin sets of injectors, four cam, 32 valve motor definately is one sick biatch.

[Minnis]

That $31k included the high tech motor, a ZF transmission that costs between $8-10k new today, and a body that was three inches wider in the rear than a stock corvette. Plus all the other goodies. There was easily $30k in parts in this package but because the typical corvette buyer of the early 90's couldn't tell it apart from a normal one, the sales weren't so great. They did hit over $100k on the first new ones in 1990.

Now there is talk of the new 650+ hp Blue Devil being named "ZR1". At that hp it would be the new "King of the Hill".

[goldwing2000]

Originally Posted by chotto

First, Lotus Engineering is still alive and well in Southfield and Ann Arbor.

Yep. My brother works there.

I blame him for the current state of my finances...

There used to be another engineering center in Plymouth, right across from where I work, but they closed it down last year.

Oh yeah... ummm... Corvette. Yay.

(had to stay on topic)

[fireball111]

LT5 dual over head cam chevy 350 so much potentail but never did anything with it.

[Minnis]

Originally Posted by fireball111

LT5 dual over head cam chevy 350 so much potentail but never did anything with it.

Actually quad overhead cam but who's counting. We just pulled all 16 injectors and had them rebuit by RC. Thats a lot of injection.

Since GM owned Lotus at the time the call it a intercontinental "in-house" design so that the credit doesn't go to the wrong place. Gm had the design direction that counts right.


http://www.zr1netregistry.com/LT5tech.htm

[shay2nak]

the ZR-1 is a nice vette.

[MikeW]

Got a '90 that I raced about 2 yrs. They're a bit front end heavy. The 375 hp cars are somewhat underrated. You can get maybe 330 rwhp stock. 180 mph isn't unheard of. I went to the drags once, got a 111 mph trap speed on hard tires with a 13.7 et. I did some minor port work, ended with 355 rwhp, that's about 415 crank hp. It's easy to drive at speed as I'm told. I never got past 160. I had 2 friends with about 500 hp who ran the Nevada Silverstate open road event. Both saw 195 mph and said the car was boringly stable. Lots of myths about the Zr1. Many think Mercury built and designed the engine. Lotus designed it with stipulations from Chevrolet. Like no oil leaks!!! Lotus didn't see why it wasn't ok to leak.Chev. stipulated the bore centers to be the same as the old small block. Components were made here and in England. Merc assembled and dynoed the engines. Most dyno sheets sort of got stashed somewhere. The engine is very dependable. It was the most endurance tested engine GM had built at that time. The car set a 24 hr. endurance record running wide open the entire time. It blew a coolant hose but that was all. It has nikasil aluminum liners. The bore wear is very low. Finding parts can be a problem. I cracked a $3500.00 windshield at the track. You can't get the metalized ZR1 windshield with the radar detector cutout anymore. I bought mine used for $24,900. with 13 k miles. The original guy paid 10k over sticker. I got the better deal.
The 90 model price went as high as $90k before GM started releasing the'91.

[boxerman]

The easy upgrade was to eliminate the butterflys on the plenum and then siamese the intake runners(there were two per cylinder) The next step was to get an extra set of exhaust cams and replace the intake cams with them.

One thing about the zr1 motor that not even the current zo6 has, a worked zr1 just kept on pulling harder and harder to the redline, the powerband was huge, a new pushrod engine may make more peak power but the range is far more narrow. The zr1 was also incerdibly smooth. The calloway vette at the time posted better numbers but felt slower due to maybee a 2000rpm powerband.

The cars were very stable, but over 150 the rear hatch seal would lose it and there was suddenly a huge blow out noise as air got sucked out the cabin. At speed you could see the glass rear hatch shimmying side to side in the rear seal. A corvette being a loose collection of parts traveling in the same direction. They were very stable though, you could adjust the stereo comfortably over 150. The fasted I drove a car was in one of these moded ones, 186 according to the digital speedo and there was more to come, but not enough road. Zero steering feel though.

One of the great motors not in the best home.
Apparently the zr1 motor was as wide as a big block and as heavy.

[Minnis]

That GT1 Elise that was running in the American Lemans series was ZR1 powered. The last I seen it, Wire Wheel had it for sale.

[EliseCat]

Originally Posted by goldwing2000

Yep. My brother works there.

I blame him for the current state of my finances...

There used to be another engineering center in Plymouth, right across from where I work, but they closed it down last year.

Not to get off-topic, but what type of work do they do at the Lotus subsidiary in Ann Arbor?
My brothers and I go past it every year when we go up to the NAIAS.
We always stay in Ann Arbor.
I've always been curious about that place.

The ZR-1 was a cool car no doubt. I remember being a younger man
and seeing a few of them at the beach in Ocean City, NJ.
I used to walk past the house where it was everyday just to look at it.
Looks very dated today but still a cool car.

[goldwing2000]

Originally Posted by EliseCat

Not to get off-topic, but what type of work do they do at the Lotus subsidiary in Ann Arbor?
My brothers and I go past it every year when we go up to the NAIAS.
We always stay in Ann Arbor.
I've always been curious about that place.

Engineering and quality testing. Some for Lotus, most for outside companies who pay to have their stuff tested.

The recent DARPA Elise was designed and built there.

[dododge]

Originally Posted by rcollum

At the dealer this morning, I saw a 1995 Corvette ZR1 with what I assume is a reproduction of the original sticker.

I was in there the day before you for some scheduled maintenance and a mechanic told me a bit about that car. Here's the story I heard: it's a brand-new 1995 Corvette with about 10 miles on it. It's part of a private collection. The owner bought it back in '95, stuck it into his garage/warehouse, and then never got around to driving it. He was recently moving the cars to another location, and discovered that after a dozen years of sitting untouched it wouldn't start or run very well, especially with 12-year-old gas in it . So it was flatbedded to the dealership and they're giving it an overhaul to make it drivable, doing things like replacing cracked seals and the rusted gas tank.

[AdamT]

I too was in Criswell about the same time as you guys and saw the ZR-1. Heard the same story as you, dododge. Pretty incredible to think that this amazing car has just been sitting in someone's garage for 12 years wasting away. I just wanted to jump in the front seat and give that girl a ride! What's the point of collecting something if you can never enjoy it?

[Minnis]

It's official that the new Blue Devil is now named ZR1. 650hp $99k