Juan Pablo Montoya’s ZR1 Drive – Video
Last week I wrote about Juan Pablo Montoya getting behind the wheel of a ZR1 and tearing up the Milfrod Proving Grounds. Well, thankfully, no one would let such an event occur without video, so here it is. Before the video, I thought I'd include a few more quotes from JPM after the event that I particularly enjoyed. I wont go in to any greater detail about the day at the track though, as I already did that in my last update. So without further ado, here are the quotes and the awesome video of JPM tearing it up with a ZR1.
"On Thursday I was at the GM Proving Ground (Milford, MI) driving a Corvette and scaring people around. That was a lot of fun. I scared a lot of people (laughs); that was fun. It’s a really, really cool little race track with up and down and off-camber corners. If you’re going to build a circuit, you should go and see that before you do something because it was wow.”
“Oh, they were sweating a lot and I was driving the car over two laps. I was kind of surprised (laughs). It was fun. I don’t know how they do it but I took all the tracking control and stability controls and switched everything off. You’re power-sliding and spinning the tires in fourth gear and things like that. When you’re trying to hang onto the car at 150 mph with a passenger beside you; you’ve got to be on it and you’re driving the car. I mean as a passenger, I wouldn’t be my own passenger. Put it that way (more laughter).”
"I leave always a little bit of margin, especially in the faster corners. The slower ones, I really go at it and do a little drifting here and there and it’s just fun. It becomes fun for me as well because you’re enjoying yourself and I was very impressed with the car. I was really impressed with the car. I drove a Corvette many years ago, but when you drive on the street you never really know what the car can do. And this was like a track day. And this was an awesome race track. So it was fun.”
Juan Pablo Montoya Tore Up Some Track in a Corvette ZR1
Read a recent article highlighting a day at Milford Proving Ground (also known as the Lutz-ring) with Juan Pablo Montoya behind the wheel of a ZR1. All in all, it sounds like an absolute blast, which I'm sure it was. Any time you have a race driver of that ability handling a vehicle with that much potential, the results are certain to be great. There's a lot of posturing on the history of both the GM owned course and the GM produced vehicle that I wont bore you with. Suffice it to say: this track is a tough but fun, 3-mile 17 turn raceway, and the Corvette ZR1 will turn you inside-out with its power and performance. The interesting part of the article, to me, was where we got word from J-PM on what he thought of driving the Corvette ZR1. Bear in mind before reading this that this is coming from a man whose job it is to handle a vehicle at 160 mph and who is well-documented for his love of European supercars. When I say super, I mean super too, like Porsche GT2 and whatever new monster Ferrari is producing. Well, the ZR1 is definitely the American equivalent of those supercars, and the quotes from Juan-Pablo listed in the article certainly highlight that. So, here we go, taken directly from Sam Abuelsamid's article on Examiner.com:
Montoya agreed as he climbed out of the Corvette with an ear-to-ear grin. "This thing is insane. You want to have fun and play around? It doesn't get any better than this."
For a driver like Montoya that is used to driving high-powered cars for a living to be this impressed with a road machine is saying a lot. He later referred back a Ferrari 360 he once owned, calling it "an understeering pig!" Discussing the Corvette "with a lot of European cars they are very precise and they don't really move, but you don't get the excitement of the driving. Yes you're going really fast but this car brings that out a lot more. It's exciting to drive and will get your heart pumping really fast. I do this for a living and I was stressed." Stressed in a good way though.
This writer has driven the ZR1 and other cars at high speeds on a variety of tracks over the years, but riding alongside Montoya in the ZR1 truly was a thrill ride better than anything you'll experience at Cedar Point. He had the ZR1 on its limits, drifting through every corner and fully compressing the suspension through the carousel. Watching a driver of Montoya's caliber working the steering wheel and steering with the throttle was a joy to behold and really put my own ample but clearly much more limited driving skill in perspective. Nonetheless it was a worthwhile way to spend an afternoon.
Very Cool!