It’s the age-old East vs West battle for supremacy. From Japan is Nissan’s heavyweight, the R35 GT-R. Don’t let its weight fool you though, this sumo can whistle its way through a lap of the mighty Nürburgring in 7m29s thanks to its complex AWD system and sophisticated suspension design, earning it the title of the world’s fastest mass-produced car. However the GT-R’s got a new challenger now, a bantamweight American upstart who’s here to spoil the Japanese supercar’s day.

It’s the 476kW supercharged Corvette ZR1, and it recently lapped the Nürburgring Nordschliefe in an astonishing 7m26.4s

GM fans have long waited for this day. Over in the USA, fierce debates have raged since the GT-R’s debut over which car is better, GT-R or Corvette. It appears we now have an answer, and Nissan die-hards might not like it.

Jim Mero, a development engineer on the ZR1 project, was the man responsible for driving that 7:26 lap and he accomplished it in a completely factory-spec car with standard tyres, standard suspension, alignment settings and a completely standard engine. The lap was timed not only with an electronic transponder, but also with two separate stopwatches and was a flying lap as opposed to beginning from a standing start.
After the lap Mero commented that there was a strong headwind on the final straight which may have cost him a few vital fractions of a second and that there were a few other parts of the track where he felt more time could have been shaved off.

The ZR1 has well and truly earned its supercar badge, at 7m26.4s the ZR1 is 1.4 seconds faster than a Pagani Zonda F. The fact that Mero believes the ZR1 is capable of slashing a few more seconds off what is already an epic lap is even more impressive and this news should be a real wake-up call for the more ‘traditional’ European supercar manufacturers. It should also be ringing alarm bells over in Japan too, as Honda and Lexus have long been aiming for the “fastest production car” title with their new NSX and LF-A. Nissan haven’t given up either and will be launching a lighter, faster and more powerful GT-R Spec V later this year, so the GT-R isn’t down for the count just yet.

See the ZR1’s 7m26s lap of the Nordschliefe here.

First posted on 12 August 2008.