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!