2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X aims for Pikes Peak production record
2026-06-19
This weekend, the 2027 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X takes on “The Race to the Clouds.” This race to the summit of Pikes Peak — a 14,115-foot Colorado mountain road with zero guardrails and 156 corners — marks yet another edition of one of motorsport’s most storied, romantic, and hair-raising events.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb has tested drivers and machines under brutal high-altitude conditions since 1916, but this year, a 2027 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X driven by IndyCar veteran and professional racer JR Hildebrand has just onemission: shatter the all-time production car record.
The ZR1X was built to conquer challenges like this. With 1,250 combined horsepower1 from its twin-turbo LT7 V8 and front-axle electric motor, delivered through an intelligent eAWD system, the Corvette ZR1X has already proven its capability. It has run the quarter mile in 8.675 seconds2 and set the fastest official Nürburgring lap ever recorded by an American manufacturer in a production-spec car. Now, it turns to Pikes Peak.
GM News caught up with Hildebrand, who was dialing in the car with the Corvette engineers ahead of race day on Sunday, June 21. Tickets to view the event in person are available on the PPIHC site, where you’ll find live timing information throughout the weekend.
What follows is an abridged version of the conversation, edited for clarity.
GM News: As a driver, what’s the draw to Pikes Peak? What makes it compelling compared to everything else you’ve done in racing?
JR Hildebrand: I like to race places where the challenge is simple and overt — places where you can write your own script in terms of what you show up with, what you’re racing, and who you’re racing against. Pikes Peak is just the… It’s like the ultimate mashup of those things. Pikes Peak doesn’t have the gigantic TV audience on Sunday, but just from a pure motorsport perspective, it just checks all of the boxes as a driver.
GM News: What makes the race so challenging, both for driver and machine?
JR Hildebrand: It’s a 12.42 mile course with 156 corners, where the start line is at 9,400 feet of elevation and the finish is in the clouds at 14,100 feet. The nature of the circuit itself is an enormous challenge.
And then, you string these corners together up the side of a mountain where the exposure is real, you know, the risk is really overt from that perspective. The altitude and weather are hard on the cars and drivers too; many cars each year simply can’tmake it up the hill.
GM News: The ZR1X has a twin-turbo V8 paired with a front electric axle. How is that powertrain responding to the specific demands of the mountain, like the thin air, which can affect cooling and impact engine power?
JR Hildebrand: Even during practice at 11,000 feet, it was just so in your face how powerful the Corvette ZR1X’s front axle was, and how much of a difference that electric motor was making in terms of the handling of the car, the ability for the car to get out of the course’s hairpins.
You just feel the front drive unit literally pulling the car up out of the corner into the ICE power band — and then it gets on the turbos and hauls the mail all the way up to the next corner. First run on the mountain, at kind of half commitment or whatever, I was like, ‘This thing is gonna rip here.’
As far as I’m concerned — this is the perfect weapon. You don’t get any of the downsides of existing at altitude. The ZR1X has got altogether a relatively small battery and it just does an incredible job of regenerating and deploying energy.
GM News: You’re running in the hybrid production class, but also competing in the production category more broadly. What’s the goal at the end of the day?
JR Hildebrand: Our goal is very simple, which is to be the fastest production car ever at Pikes Peak of any kind. 9:53 is the outright fastest production record of any kind — that’s definitely the number that we are unquestionably here to top. My goal is to lay down a heater that will be hard for anybody else to come after anytime soon.
GM News: To put it bluntly, Pikes Peak is a dangerous course with real consequences just inches off the side of the road. It means confidence in your car is paramount. How confident are you in the car as you head into race day?
JR Hildebrand: Absolutely. I have the confidence that we can go do what we’re here to do. First and foremost, it’s just the right tool for the job in the first place. On paper, it’s kind of perfectly suited to coming here. I think we’ve been able to do a really good job up to now to get to a point where I feel like we are unlocking that last little bit of performance.
That’s what I hope is our headline when this is all said and done — not just that we set a time that’s the fastest production car ever at Pikes Peak, but did so, so convincingly.
GM News: It’s wild to have that level of performance out of the box, isn’t it? I’m in awe of the performance of the ZR1X – the car you'll be driving at Pikes Peak offers the same performance as the car you can buy at the dealership. Crazy, right?
JR Hildebrand: That’s the other thing that’s so cool about it — we’re already like right there in the mix with full-on race cars on racing slicks. And we’re still running a totally stock production exhaust on this thing, and the Michelin Cup 2R tires that this car just comes on from the showroom floor3. We’re showing up to the race, within the regulations, with a car that you could literally go walk down to a Chevy dealership and buy.
1 1,064 horsepower from the LT7 5.5L V8 engine plus 186 horsepower from the eAWD (electric drive unit).
2 On a closed course. Based on initial vehicle movement. Requires available ZTK Performance Package.
3 Requires available ZTK Performance Package. Do not use summer-only tires in winter conditions, as it would adversely affect vehicle safety, performance and durability.
This weekend, the 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X takes on “The Race to the Clouds.” This race to the summit of Pikes Peak — a 14,115-foot Colorado mountain road with zero guardrails and 156 corners — marks yet another edition of one of motorsport’s most storied, romantic, and hair-raising events.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb has tested drivers and machines under brutal high-altitude conditions since 1916, but this year, a 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X driven by IndyCar veteran and professional racer JR Hildebrand has just one mission: shatter the all-time production car record.
The ZR1X was built to conquer challenges like this. With 1,250 combined horsepower1 from its twin-turbo LT7 V8 and front-axle electric motor, delivered through an intelligent eAWD system, the Corvette ZR1X has already proven its capability. It has run the quarter mile in 8.675 seconds2 and set the fastest official Nürburgring lap ever recorded by an American manufacturer in a production-spec car. Now, it turns to Pikes Peak.
GM News caught up with Hildebrand, who was dialing in the car with the Corvette engineers ahead of race day on Sunday, June 21. Tickets to view the event in person are available on the PPIHC site, where you’ll find live timing information throughout the weekend.
What follows is an abridged version of the conversation, edited for clarity.
GM News: As a driver, what’s the draw to Pikes Peak? What makes it compelling compared to everything else you’ve done in racing?
JR Hildebrand: I like to race places where the challenge is simple and overt — places where you can write your own script in terms of what you show up with, what you’re racing, and who you’re racing against. Pikes Peak is just the… It’s like the ultimate mashup of those things. Pikes Peak doesn’t have the gigantic TV audience on Sunday, but just from a pure motorsport perspective, it just checks all of the boxes as a driver.
GM News: What makes the race so challenging, both for driver and machine?
JR Hildebrand: It’s a 12.42 mile course with 156 corners, where the start line is at 9,400 feet of elevation and the finish is in the clouds at 14,100 feet. The nature of the circuit itself is an enormous challenge.
And then, you string these corners together up the side of a mountain where the exposure is real, you know, the risk is really overt from that perspective. The altitude and weather are hard on the cars and drivers too; many cars each year simply can’t make it up the hill.
GM News: The ZR1X has a twin-turbo V8 paired with a front electric axle. How is that powertrain responding to the specific demands of the mountain, like the thin air, which can affect cooling and impact engine power?
JR Hildebrand: Even during practice at 11,000 feet, it was just so in your face how powerful the Corvette ZR1X’s front axle was, and how much of a difference that electric motor was making in terms of the handling of the car, the ability for the car to get out of the course’s hairpins.
You just feel the front drive unit literally pulling the car up out of the corner into the ICE power band — and then it gets on the turbos and hauls the mail all the way up to the next corner. First run on the mountain, at kind of half commitment or whatever, I was like, ‘This thing is gonna rip here.’
As far as I’m concerned — this is the perfect weapon. You don’t get any of the downsides of existing at altitude. The ZR1X has got altogether a relatively small battery and it just does an incredible job of regenerating and deploying energy.
GM News: You’re running in the hybrid production class, but also competing in the production category more broadly. What’s the goal at the end of the day?
JR Hildebrand: Our goal is very simple, which is to be the fastest production car ever at Pikes Peak of any kind. 9:53 is the outright fastest production record of any kind — that’s definitely the number that we are unquestionably here to top. My goal is to lay down a heater that will be hard for anybody else to come after anytime soon.
GM News: To put it bluntly, Pikes Peak is a dangerous course with real consequences just inches off the side of the road. It means confidence in your car is paramount. How confident are you in the car as you head into race day?
JR Hildebrand: Absolutely. I have the confidence that we can go do what we’re here to do. First and foremost, it’s just the right tool for the job in the first place. On paper, it’s kind of perfectly suited to coming here. I think we’ve been able to do a really good job up to now to get to a point where I feel like we are unlocking that last little bit of performance.
That’s what I hope is our headline when this is all said and done — not just that we set a time that’s the fastest production car ever at Pikes Peak, but did so, so convincingly.
GM News: It’s wild to have that level of performance out of the box, isn’t it? I’m in awe of the performance of the ZR1X – the car you'll be driving at Pikes Peak offers essentially the same performance as the car you can buy at the dealership. Crazy, right?
JR Hildebrand: That’s the other thing that’s so cool about it — we’re already like right there in the mix with full-on race cars on racing slicks. And we’re still running a totally stock production exhaust on this thing, and the Michelin Cup 2R tires that this car just comes on from the showroom floor3. We’re showing up to the race, within the regulations, with a car that you could literally go walk down to a Chevy dealership and buy.
11,064 horsepower from the LT7 5.5L V8 engine plus 186 horsepower from the eAWD (electric drive unit).
2On a closed course. Based on initial vehicle movement. Requires available ZTK Performance Package.
3Requires available ZTK Performance Package. Do not use summer-only tires in winter conditions, as it would adversely affect vehicle safety, performance and durability.
