Rumor: C7 Corvette Z06 Lapped the Nurburgring in 7:08

While some companies brush off the importance of Nürburgring lap times, General Motors has long been one of the automakers that is happy to show off their high performance cars on the legendary road course, so when the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 was introduced as the most track-capable Corvette of all time – it was widely expected that we would see a new Ring record time for the newest super-Vette.

However, with the C7 Corvette Z06 having been introduced well over a year ago, General Motors still hasn’t announced an official Nürburgring time for their newest supercar. Corvette boss Tadge Juechter has even stated on an enthusiast site that they have set a fast lap time with the new Z06, promising an announcement on that time but still, nothing has come from the automaker.

According to Autoweek, the delay in announcing the C7 Corvette Z06 Nürburgring time comes due to the ongoing saga of the new speed limit at the track after a spectator was killed earlier this year. Autoweek is also reporting that the same insider who explained why an official time hasn’t been announced claims that when announced, the official time for the new Corvette Z06 will be scorching fast 7 minutes and 8 seconds…or somewhere thereabouts.

What a 7:08 Ring Time Means
While we don’t know for sure if the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 actually ran a 7:08 lap at the Nürburgring, I am inclined to trust the insiders trusted by the folks at Autoweek. Plus, we don’t have anything else to go on and a time of 7 minutes and 8 seconds seems realistic enough – unlike the 6:59 reported by a fake automotive news site earlier this year.

Provided that the Corvette Z06 did run a 7:08 lap in Germany, it would be in very good company, as the Nissan GTR Nismo Track Pack turned in an official time of 7:08.69, so depending on the fraction numbers, the most track capable Vette could be the third quickest street legal production car sold in the world. The quickest lap time by a legitimate street legal production car is the 6:57 lap of the Porsche 918 followed by the 6:59.73 turned in by the Lamborghini Aventador SV a few months back. After the Corvette Z06 and the GTR at the 7:08 mark in 3rd and 4th, the 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR sits 5th among production road cars with a time of 7:12.13.

The next fastest Corvette around the Ring was the 2012 ZR1 which ran a 7:19.63 back in June of 2011 and the 2012 Corvette Z06 ran a 7:22.68 a few weeks after the ZR1 ran the 7:19.

It should be noted that the official street-legal Nürburgring lap times were turned in by the Radical SR8 cars and while their times of 6:48 and 6:55 were blazing fast – those are race cars which meet the requirements to drive on public roads in some countries. I think that it is demeaning to the true production road cars that have turned in incredible times to include the Radical cars. The Gumpert Apollo Sport also put itself in the hunt with a 7:11 lap, but the Apollo Sport is also only legal in some countries and it does not meet any of the traditional “production car” requirements.

Why GM Hasn’t Announced This Stunning Time
According to Autoweek, GM’s silence with regard to an official Nürburgring lap record comes due to the track management’s current decision to implement speed limits in order to improve safety measures for both drivers and spectators. Other reports have claimed that automakers have been refused access to the Nürburgring to attempt to set a new record lap time because those cars will break the newly added speed limits. If the Corvette Z06 really did run a 7:08 lap, it would most certainly would have had to exceed those new speed limits to get around the track that quickly, so since the record run would have broken the rules – even though the runs likely occurred before the new speed limits went into effect – GM may be cooperating with Nürburgring track management in keeping their lap times under wraps for now.

The good news is that rumors swirling around the automotive watercooler indicate that the Nürburgring management team will soon lift those speed limits, but only on special occasions – specifically when an automaker has reserved the track for record lap runs and testing. Unfortunately, this is all just based on rumors, but it sounds like the new Corvette has turned in a stunning time that we should hear about in the coming months.

Source: Autoweek