New Corvette ZR1 Joins the Demon 170 in the Thousand Horsepower Club

Later today, the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 will make its grand debut. Since we gained the information early and since are not subject to any legal embargo, we can share it with you.

The ZR1 is obviously unlike anything that Dodge is selling now, but based on these leaked numbers, it seems as though the new ZR1 will unseat the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 as the most powerful American production car ever (in terms of horsepower).

The 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 was powered by a supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi that delivers 1,025 horsepower and 945 lb-ft of torque. The 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 uses the new LT7, a twin turbocharged, dual overhead camshaft 5.5-liter V8 engine with a flat plane crankshaft, which yields 1,064 horsepower and 828 lb-ft of torque.

If these early numbers on the new Corvette are accurate, the sleek Chevy will claim the title of the most powerful American road car ever made once it goes on sale, beating the Demon 170 by 39 horsepower. That supercharged Hemi still has a substantial advantage in torque, but most high performance marketing focuses on the horsepower number; in that category, it looks as though the new Corvette ZR1 is coming for the title.

The next question is whether the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 will be quicker than the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 in the quarter mile. This Corvette is engineered to compete with the world’s top supercars on any sort of racing surface, be it curved or straight, but the bottom line here is that it was not designed to be a drag car. It will likely be one of the world’s best-handling road cars, but as one of just two production cars offered by American automakers will more than a thousand horsepower, there is no question that the comparison of the 2025 ZR1 and the 2023 Demon 170 will come up often in the coming months.

The 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 has an official quarter mile time of 8.91 and in stock form, several owners have gotten into the 8-second range while most others are in the low-9s. The world record for the quickest C8 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 seems to be a 10.16 with drag radials and 10.26 with the factory tires, while the official time from Chevy is 10.6. That model “only” has 670 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque, and the ZR1 has almost 400 more horsepower and almost 400 lb-ft more torque. The two have the same dual clutch gearbox and while we don’t have a weight number for the ZR1 yet, we expect that it will be in the same general ballpark as the Z06 (around 3,500lbs).

A stock, single seat Demon 170 weighs around 4,100 pounds, so the Dodge weighs around 600 lb more. The Corvette has 39 more horsepower, but the Challenger has 117 lb-ft more torque. The Challenger was made for drag racing so the chassis and suspension components are tuned for the best possible launch; it may have an advantage in putting the power down from a stop. Will the Corvette’s weight advantage make up for the disadvantage in torque? We will have to wait and see once a few of them have reached owners, but in the meantime, it looks as though the Dodge Challenger finally has some company on the list of American production cars making over a thousand horsepower from gasoline.