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by Hib Halverson
Photos by the GM Small-Block Team and the Author.
7 July, 2024
Like many Corvette Action Center members that day, I watched the 2025 ZR1 reveal video. Prior to the introduction, GM had been teasing the car as "unthinkable." When they announced that the LT7 engine produces 1,064 horsepower, I almost spit coffee all over my computer displays. I thought, "Wait–what?!" For a year or more, scuttlebutt about the C8 ZR1's LT7 engine–sometimes I call it "Big Gemini"–was 800-850-hp.
Small-Block Global Chief Engineer Jordan Lee and LT7 Chief Engineer Dustin Gardner, along with the entire Project Gemini team, blindsided the automotive media segment that covers GM engines. When the SAE-certified, power and torque figures were announced, about all most of us could think was, "Holy s**t!" or "WTF?!"
The complete performance specs are: 1064-hp at 7000 RPM and 828-lbs/ft torque at 6000 RPM–more than three horsepower per cubic inch, 3.17 to be exact.
Unthinkable, indeed!
That the Small-Block Team managed to fool all we "engine guys" in media who cover Corvette was well-played. After the engine was public, Jordan Lee told me that he, Gardner, and the rest of GM's Smallblockers were entertained by the rampant speculation on the Interweb about the "850 horsepower engine" coming for the ZR1 when they already knew the power level was 1000+.
Many CAC members, craving information about the unthinkable 1064-horsepower C8 ZR1, have long since read about it here or on social media. It would make little sense to post what you already know, so we queried our sources for secrets of the LT7 you may not find elsewhere.
Gemini Tales: Secrets of the C8 ZR1's LT7 Engine - Corvette Action Center
Hib Halverson takes a deep dive into the incredible engineering behind the C8 Corvette ZR1's LT7 engine and the people that made it happen
www.corvetteactioncenter.com
