Corvette Report’s BREAKING NEWS from the week of of 8-9-25
Corvette Report’s BREAKING NEWS from the week of 8-9-25
This Corvette Report Breaking News post tracks the most important factory announcements, racing updates, special editions, and insider developments Corvette fans need to know.
- This Report covers: The 2026 “Quail Edition ZR1X
- 2026 ZR1X Sets New Nurburgring Record
- C8 Z51 Corvette vs Dark Horse Mustang vs BMW M2
- Motor Trend’s Top 10 Fastest Corvettes Ever Tested
The $241,395 Special Edition 2026 ZR1X “Quail Edition”
Typically, Chevrolet doesn’t start burping our special edition Corvettes until the initial rush to get the latest-greatest version of their favorite plastic-fantastic. But I think that “typical” is a thing of the past, such as September and October being the months when the new cars hit the showrooms.
In the past, special editions were typically a tasty meal featuring dedicated paint, trim, badges, accents, and a few upscale parts. The ZR1X could have been a special edition all by itself! The car has the best of the best, of everything Corvette engineering and styling could pour into the car.
The ZR1X Quail Edition proves there’s always more than can be done, especially in the appearance department.
The ZR1X Quail Edition gets you the following extra goodies: Blade Silver Matte paint, inspired by the 1957-1959 Inca Silver paint option (why not then call it Inca Silver Matte?); 3LZ interior trimmed in Sky Cool and Medium Ash Gray colors with orange accents Also, a special plaque denoting the production number on the center-mounted speaker; and orange painted brake calipers. You can get the ZR1X Quail Edition in the convertible configuration only.
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Shirts, Mugs, Caps, Hoodies & More
The “starting price” is $241,395! That means you can spend more if you like. Since we last told you that Corvette Chief Engineer recently said that the ZR1X isn’t the end of the line for the C8, it’s reasonable to expect an even more amped-up, more expensive C8 Corvette soon to come!
For the full story, CLICK HERE. – Scott
2026 ZR1X Sets New Nurburgring “Green Hell” Record! (Video)
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Nurburgring, Germany, is where all the performance car makers go to establish bragging rights. We told you last month that a shot at The Ring is difficult to schedule when you factor in weather, other manufacturers, and the expense just to be there. If a car sets records, the cost and effort are worth it. So, taking a machine to The Ring is a very big deal.
Here’s an interesting factoid. The drivers on the Corvette team are not professional race car drivers; they are Corvette engineers. Chevrolet prefers it this way because no one knows more about the extreme limitations of the ZR1X than the design and development engineers.
The ZR1X smoked the track and competition with a 6:49.27 run through the 12.9-mile snake pit.
To put some perspective on the ZR1X’s performance, here are the 3 faster cars to take on the Ring, and they’re all rarified, super-limited, special-production, quasi-race cars! They include: Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series (6:48.047), Porsche 911 GT2 RS Manthey Race Car (6:43.300), and the Mercedes-AMG One (6.29.090).
For the full story, CLICK HERE. – Scott
C8 Z51 Corvette vs Dark Horse Mustang vs BMW M2 (Video)
Comparison road tests go all the way back to the 1960s. It’s always fun to read (and now see, thanks to YouTube) how our favorites stack up against one another.
Sometimes, a brutally quick car can be no fun to live with (such as a Hemi Mopar). Some cars offer excellent performance but have plain plastic, uninspiring interiors. And other cars offer spectacular performance for their price, have beautiful appointments, but aren’t terribly useful cars.
The Z51 C8 falls into this category. But what does anyone expect? It’s a “SPORTS CAR”, it’s not supposed to be “useful”.
This is a fun shoot-out!
For the full story, CLICK HERE. – Scott
Motor Trend’s Top 10 Fastest Corvettes Ever Tested
I guess there’s a possibility that “working” for Motor Trend magazine isn’t as much fun as “reading” the exploits of the cars they test. That aside, this Top 10 list is interesting because of the ten Corvettes; four are C8s, three are C7s, two are C6s, and one lone C3, that’s a bogus throw-in.
The heaviest of the ten cars was the 2024 E-Ray, weighing in at a chunky 3,912 (just 88 pounds shy of the 4,000 Club!), and the lightest “real” production Corvette was the 2006 Z06, coming in at a svelte 3,147 pounds, including all the modern creature comforts.
Sorry, but I’m going to call out the Corvette Motor Trend that was put at the top of their “Top 10 Fastest Corvettes”. Why? Because it was a purpose-built, 1968 Corvette with the LT-2 454 all-aluminum big-block.
Check out this article from Motor Trend… “Dave Miller 454 Drag Vette: The 10-Second Trip” – Motor Trend, October 1969 – CLICK HERE
The LT-2 was the 454 version of the 427 ZL-1 engine that powered many championship Corvette road racing cars, including the Owens-Corning Fiberglas and Rebel Corvette race cars.
Plus, the car was built by Corvette engineers, the late Gib Hufstader and Tom Langdon. The car had open 360-degree headers, drag slicks, a racing version of the Turbohydramatic 3-speed automatic transmission, a host of other drag racing tricks, and was stripped down to just 2,808!
The car featured was the Dave Miller re-creation build, directed by the surviving men who knew more about the car, hand-built in 1969 as a special toy for automotive journalists attending the 1970 Press Preview in the summer of 1969. Motor Trend published the story about this most unusual car in the October 1969 issue, which you can read HERE.
Also, I wrote a story about Dave Miller’s re-creation for Vette Vues that you can read HERE.
And lastly, in the information block about the 2015 Z06, there’s a serious typo calling out the car’s weight at 5,367 pounds – WAY off. We’ll blame it on AI.
There’s also a bonus section covering two Honorable Mention, brutish Corvettes, including my favorite, the 254 mph 1988 Callaway Sledgehammer.
For the full story, CLICK HERE. – Scott
PS – You should go to the Corvette Report FREE Public Library! We have stacks of PDF documents of old car magazine articles about Corvettes. There are never any Library Late Fees because you don’t have to return the PDFs! I add new PDFs weekly! CLICK HERE!
Check out our Corvette art and swag in our Etsy store, HERE!
Check out our Corvette art and swag in our Etsy store, HERE!
We also have Zip Hoodies with C1 to C8 Corvette art in our Car Guy Merch Etsy store, HERE.
PS – Additionally, be sure to check out our new line of Corvette Entine T-Shirts, “I Still Play With Blocks” in our Etsy store, HERE.
And, we have a very cool collection of old, defunct car magazine covers, featuring Corvettes, as posters and art prints in our Etsy store, HERE!
We have over 55 Corvette magazine covers available as art prints and posters in our Etsy store, HERE.
We have over 55 Corvette magazine covers available as art prints and posters in our Etsy store, HERE.
Our Etsy store has over 95 Corvette engine art prints and posters in our Etsy store, HERE.
