DECEMBER 18, 2024

The original - and still our favorite - Autoextremist logo. 

The AE Quote of the Century: Everybody loves The High-Octane Truth. Until they don't. -WG 

(Chevrolet images)

With 1,064HP, the 2025 Corvette ZR1 is the quickest Corvette ever built, achieving 0-60 mph in 2.3 seconds with the available ZTK Performance Package. The ZTK-equipped ZR1 also runs the quarter mile in 9.6 seconds. The standard ZR1 - no slouch - sprints to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and finishes the quarter mile in 9.7 seconds. “The 2025 Corvette ZR1 yet again exceeded our expectations,” said Josh Holder, chief engineer, Corvette. “Combined with a top speed record of 233 mph – which is unrivaled by any current production car priced under $1 million – the Corvette ZR1 delivers on its mission to provide customers unrelenting power.”

A closer look demonstrates how ZR1 can be a standout track tool and a powerful grand touring vehicle all at once. ZR1 with ZTK, which includes the high-downforce Carbon Fiber Aero Package, bursts from a standstill on ultra-grippy Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires, taking a clear edge to 60 mph. The equally balanced standard aero ZR1 sails to a 152 mph quarter mile trap speed, 2 mph faster than the ZTK-equipped ZR1. All tests were done with 93 octane pump fuel and were performed on a non-prepped drag strip surface.

Quick, repeatable launches are enabled by Corvette’s standard Launch Control and Custom Launch Control features, found throughout the lineup from Stingray to ZR1. Launch Control is programmed to manage tire spin, transmission clutch application rate, and more, enabling rapid launches automatically. Custom Launch Control allows the driver to have more control to adjust for real-time conditions, optimizing acceleration runs by adjusting launch RPM and wheel slip targets from the steering wheel controls.

2025 Corvette ZR1 at a glance:

• A 5.5L, twin-turbocharged LT7 DOHC flat-plane crank V8 engine
• 1,064HP at 7,000 rpm and 828 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm, per SAE guidelines; the most power ever from a factory Corvette and the most powerful V8 ever produced in America from an auto manufacturer
• The fastest car ever built by an American auto manufacturer, capable of 233 mph
• Purposeful carbon fiber aero package creating over 1,200 pounds of downforce at top speed

Eighth-generation Corvette 0 to 60 mph stats:

• Stingray with available Z51 package: 2.9 seconds
• Z06 with available Z07 package: 2.6 seconds
• E-Ray: 2.5 seconds
• ZR1 with available ZTK package: 2.3 seconds

(Honda images)

Honda has announced that an all-new hybrid-electric Prelude sports coupe will be introduced to the U.S. market, but be prepared to wait, because it won't arrive until "late next year" - returning one of the brand's most iconic nameplates to the lineup. The new Prelude will mark the debut of Honda S+ Shift, an innovative new drive mode that further advances Linear Shift Control to deliver maximum levels of driver engagement, in keeping with the heritage of the Prelude line. The hybrid-electric Honda Prelude Concept made its first North American appearance at the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show, following its global debut at the 2023 Japan Mobility Show, 45 years after the first-generation Prelude entered production in November 1978. Honda is celebrating 25 years of electrification – Honda introduced America’s first hybrid-electric model a quarter century ago.

(Alfa Romeo images)

Valtteri Bottas, Formula 1 driver and customer of the new Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, spent an intense and engaging day with the Alfa Romeo engineering team at the Balocco Proving Ground (Vercelli province), testing the “00 prototype” of the new custom-built supercar. Following the test session, Bottas said, “The opportunity to test the 33 Stradale was a very special moment. I hope my feedback can be useful to the experienced Alfa Romeo development team for the final tuning. Configuring my personal car with the 'bottega Alfa Romeo' was engaging and exciting, and testing it today was really exciting. All I have to do is wait for my 33 Stradale to be ready! I am extremely satisfied with the testing. Today's experience is close to perfection, which for me means total symbiosis with the car. The car immediately puts you at ease: extremely responsive, precise. The feeling with the car is immediate, extremely easy and fun to understand, and you certainly don't need to be an F1 driver to experience it. In addition, its sound envelops the passenger compartment and is unmistakably Alfa Romeo." The test session served as another collaboration with Bottas, who has been involved in many of the decision-making stages since the beginning of the project. Bottas is a member of "Club 33," one of the 33 owners of the exclusive supercar. The venue for the event was the Alfa Romeo track at the Balocco Proving Ground in Vercelli province, the iconic track that has hosted the development and preparation of high-performance racing cars (Autodelta) since 1962, including F1, DTM and Super Turismo competitions. Watch the video here. 

 

(Toyota images)

This may not be a big deal to most of our readers, but an all-new Toyota 4Runner is a very big deal to fans of the vehicle and to Toyota operatives. The high hard ones? The woefully underpowered 4Runner finally gets more juice in the form of the standard i-FORCE powertrain with up to 278HP and 317 lb.-ft. of torque and an available i-FORCE MAX with up to 326HP and 465 lb.-ft. of torque. (Order the one with more HP -WG.) Other stuff? Standard power rear window with an available hands-free power liftgate; new Trailhunter and Platinum grades now offered, although there are a total of nine grades offered, which is, to be blunt, flat-out ridiculous. An available 14-inch Touchscreen Display and Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 is standard on all models. The 2025 Toyota 4Runner has a starting MSRP of $40,770, plus $1,450 DPH, and it will be on-sale in early 2025.

 

As is AE tradition, watch our favorite Christmas commercial - “Frankie’s Holiday” - here.  

The AE Song of the Week.

Worked the bars and sideshows along the twilight zone
Only a crowd can make you feel so alone
And it really hit home
Booze and pills and powders, you can choose your medicine
Well here's another goodbye to another good friend

After all is said and done
Gotta move while it's still fun
Let me walk before they make me run
After all is said and done
I gotta move, it's still fun
I'm gonna walk before they make me run

Watched my taillights fading, there ain't a dry eye in the house
They're laughing and singing
Started dancing and drinking as I left town
Gonna find my way to heaven, 'cause I did my time in hell, oh yeah
I wasn't looking too good but I was feeling real well

Oh after all is said and done
I gotta move I had my fun
Let us walk before they make us run

After all is said and done
I did alright, I had my fun
But I will walk before they'll make me
I will walk before they'll make me (run)
I will walk before they'll make me (run)
I will walk before they'll make me run

So if it's all been said and done
I gotta move I had my fun
Let me walk before they make me run

So let me walk before they make me run
I want to walk before they'll make me run

"Before They Make Me Run" by The Rolling Stones from the album "Some Girls" (1978).* Written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind. Listen to it here.

*This is about the rock and roll lifestyle that got Keith Richards in trouble. The song was recorded while he was out on bail after getting caught with heroin and arrested for drug trafficking in Toronto in 1977. He was found guilty of the lesser charge of heroin possession, and sentenced to probation. Richards sang lead and did the majority of the work on this song. With Keith's drug charges pending, Mick Jagger took a lot of control on the album, but this song was pretty much all Keith. The original title was "Rotten Roll." Richard's vocals were double-tracked to make them stand out. This lyric in the first section is about Keith Richards' good friend Gram Parsons:

Booze and pills and powders, you can choose your medicine
Well it's another goodbye to another good friend

A member of The Byrds, Parsons died in 1973 at age 26 after taking an overdose of alcohol and morphine. His corpse was stolen and burned in the Mojave Desert. An engineer named Dave Jordan helped mix this song. He went on to work with groups like The Specials and The Pogues. This was one of the songs that took Keith Richards the longest time to work on in the studio. He explained in his book Life (2010): "For sheer longevity - for long distance - there is no track that I know of like 'Before They Make Me Run.' That song, which I sang on that record, was a cry from the heart. But it burned up the personnel like no other. I was in the studio, without leaving, for five days... I had an engineer called Dave Jordan and I had another engineer, and one of them would flop under the desk and have a few hours' kip and I'd put the other one in and keep going. We all had black eyes by the time it was finished... That's probably the longest I've done. There have been others that were close - 'Can't Be Seen' was one - but 'Before They Make Me Run' was the marathon." Editor-in-Chief's Note: It's also one of my all-time favorites. -PMD (Knowledge courtesy of Songfacts.com)

 

Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG